Corbin limited Bell County to just two hits in their opening round regional tournament game on Monday en route to defeating the Bobcats 15-0 in four innings to earn a berth into the 13th Region semifinal on Tuesday.

“We made it here for the first time in 10 years,” said Bell County coach Scott Chaney. “We were happy to be here today. We didn’t play bad today, it’s just hard to contend with a team when they have 13, 14 or 15 hits on the day. I think we had one or two. We only made about two errors on the whole day. We played a clean game. We just couldn’t get it going on the sticks.

“They out hit us today and there really wasn’t much we could do about it. We are going to leave out of here with our heads held high. It’s a one-step-at-a-time process for our program right now, and hopefully we can continue to be successful and make it back here next year.”

“It was a great win for us,” said Corbin coach Cody Philpot. “Nate (Steely) came out and pitched a great game for us today. He threw strikes and did what we needed him to do all day. Offensively, we did our jobs. We came out and put up runs in every inning and we stayed focused at the plate.

“We are going to make sure that we take care of our bodies after this game in order to be ready for the next one, we’ve been preaching that all year. We don’t know who we are going to be playing in the next game yet, but that doesn’t matter, we’ve got to come out and play our game. We are going to come out and do the best we can, and we will take our chances against anyone.”

Corbin came out hot in the first inning. After retiring three straight Bobcat batters, the Redhounds put up three runs in the bottom half of the inning to give themselves an early 3-0 lead.

Bell County continued to struggle during the second inning, again, being retired in three straight batters. The Redhounds took advantage of the Bobcats’ struggles on offense and added three more runs in the bottom half of the second inning, extending their lead to 6-0.

Corbin held Bell County to just two hits all afternoon; a single and a bunt. With trouble on offense, the Bobcats failed to add any runs. The Redhounds added two more runs in the bottom half of the third, including a home run that sailed over the left-field fence. After adding two runs in the bottom of the third, Corbin lead 8-0 heading into the fourth inning.

Corbin added seven runs in the bottom half of the fourth to take a 15-run lead, ending the game.

“This whole season had been up and down,” said Chaney. “We’ve looked great one day and then not so great the next, we just had trouble finding consistency this season. We beat some pretty good teams this year but took some losses to some teams that we could have beaten. I’m proud of this senior bunch. They lead us to the district title game and then the regional tournament. That will be a memory that they have for the rest of their lives, and they will always remember playing in these games. We are going to miss these guys.”

Bell County’s season ends with a record of 7-18, including a 6-15 mark in regional play. With the victory, Corbin advanced to the 13th Region semifinals with their opponent still to be determined. The Redhounds moved to 27-10 on the season, including a 14-2 mark in inter-regional play.

———

Bell County — 000 0. 0. 2. 2.

Corbin — 332 7. 15. 16. 1.