NYSPHSAA SOFTBALL: STRONG DEFENSE, BIG HITS LEAD CORNING TO SUB-REGIONAL WIN (24 PHOTOS) (June 2, 2026)

BY BRIAN FEES
Southern Tier Sports Report
BINGHAMTON — While the bats took a little time to heat up, the Corning Hawks defense was keeping them in the game early as they downed Newburgh 4-2 in a Class AAA sub-regional game on Tuesday.

“The biggest thing was we came into the 5th inning and said here is the adjustment we are going to make at the plate and the kids did that and we started lacing the ball,” Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. said. “Early on you learn sometimes from your youngest players. Emelia Smith is hitting rockets and I said to the, what’s she doing and so they made the adjustment. It’s not rocket science sometimes. We had 6-7 hits, and Schooner hit a bomb. 

“I think Keana Mann made a heck of a play in right and Lauren DeRosa made a heck of a play in center and Sophie Schoonover made a heck of a play at third base and throwing over to first. Matti and she’ll be the first one to tell you she didn’t have her best stuff today, but she trusted in her teammates to get it done and she made 4-5 lineups right back to the pitcher’s mound, fielding her position, which was huge outs for us. I thought Bella Beres came to the plate in a pinch bat situation and moved the runner and that’s huge. Really proud of our kids and they kept battling.”

In the first inning Lauren DeRosa started flashing the glove with a diving catch in center field. 

“I really wasn’t thinking at all,” DeRosa said. “I don’t usually do when I’m on defense. I just play with the intentions of helping my team. I knew at the beginning of the game, I wanted to start out strong, and I wanted to help my team out and not let us get behind.”

Corning got on the board first as Emelia Smith lined a triple and then scored on an errant throw to make it 1-0.

Smith was the one bat hot early in the game.

“It was clutch of her, honestly,” DeRosa said. “She’s been one of our top hitters for a few years now. She’s been really consistent, so we just like to learn from her.”

Johnston Jr. knows how strong of a hitter the freshman is.

“She really hits the ball hard when she gets ahold of it,” Johnston Jr. said. “She had two really huge ones for us early in the game to get us out in front.”

Newburgh got a run in the third to tie the game and they went up 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning. 

Things could have been worse in the third inning as DeRosa made a leaping catch, flying into the fence and hitting the ground on the play. One run scored on the sacrifice fly, but DeRosa robbed Newburgh of a chance to score more. 

“I didn’t know the fence was there, I’m going to be honest,” DeRosa said. “I think that’s why I did fall over, because I did run into it. I really wasn’t thinking of anything else. I was thinking I need to catch the ball. I knew there were runners on base. But, I knew if I was going to be that far out I knew the runners was going to score, but I had to help my team by getting the out.”

Keana Mann also had a big diving catch in right field in the game and Johnston Jr. knows all those plays were huge as the outfielders made plays all game.

“They really did, and those were hits that could have gotten under those gloves and gone to the fences,” he said. “They laid out and trusted their teammates to back them up. You don’t blow teams out all the time. The further you go down the pecking order, the deeper in the postseason, the teams get better. The pitchers are better, the hitters hit harder, and they make plays in the field. You have to go out and keep fighting and clawing to the end.”

Down 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth Katie Grover drew a walk and moves to second on a Beres sacrifice bunt. After an out was recorded, DeRosa singled to tie the game and Schoonover then crushed a long home run to right to put the Hawks ahead for good.

“I made an adjustment from my first two at bats,” Schoonover said. “I didn’t have great first two and I made an adjustment, because Emelia was killing it in the front of the box. So, I made that adjustment, came to teh front, saw my pitch and just took it to oppo. But, I couldn’t have done it without my teammates on base.”

Schoonover didn’t know it was gone until she heard her teammates. 

“I typically just close my eyes and run and hope it’s over (the fence),” she said. “But, I heard the excitement, so I was hoping it was over.”

DeRosa was just hoping to chip away with small hits, but when she saw the ball go over the fence it was an exciting moment.

“It was so crazy,” DeRosa said. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting it. I was on second base and I knew we had two outs, so I was kind of just running right off the bat. I was really hoping it was going to be down, I knew we needed to just chip away. Just being able to get a single, just being able to chip away was what we needed to do.”

It helped seeing Smith get two hits early as the Hawks players listened to their coaches and made that adjustment.

“She definitely did some damage,” Schoonover said of Smith. “But, we work on making those adjustments and getting up to the plate and being great. That’s what we do every day.”

With a 4-2 lead, the Hawks faced a bit of a jam in the sixth with two Newburgh runners on and one out. 

Newburgh hit a grounder to third and Schoonover tagged third base and threw to first for the double play.

“I was just hoping to get the first out and try for the second, because it’s not always guaranteed,” Schoonover said. “But, I had a pretty good throw and our first baseman had a good stretch too. 

“We work hard every single day. There is no doubt we should be making those plays. Matti (Johnston) trusts us behind her, we just do our best to be as efficient as possible.”

“We put a lot of trust in each other,” DeRosa said. “I think we are really just here to help our team out. What we learn from our mistakes we liked to teach our teammates.”

For the Hawks the win was special.

“It’s super exciting,” Schoonover said. “We expect ourselves to keep winning and keep grinding. But, that was a great team and we really came out to play.”

Smith was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored and Schoonover had the two-run home run.

DeRosa had a hit, an RBI and a run scored and Mia Madden had two hits. Keira Brass had a hit in the game.

Johnston struck out six and allowed six hits and two runs, one earned in the game.

Corning plays in the regional final at 5:30 p.m. at Gates-Chili High School against the winner of Rush Henrietta, out of Section 5, and Lancaster, from Section 6. 

“We are going to come in with the same mindset we had here today,” Schoonover said. “We work hard everyday.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:



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