Stafford picks up win 500

The 4-3 win over Hamilton County for the Lady Bulldogs softball team was win 500 for coach Red Stafford. Five hundred wins is a number that very few coaches reach. It is a sign of his success as Harrisburg’s softball coach. 

The win for 500 was hard fought considering the same Hamilton County team had beat them just last year 13-3. The three runs that Hamilton County put up were scored in the first inning. According to the Daily Register Stafford gave the girls a talk, telling them, “They need to learn to compete against the better teams in Southern Illinois.”

After the first inning pep talk, the Lady Dogs went on to score three runs in the bottom of the first, leaving the game tied until the bottom of the seventh inning when Sidney Neal scored from third on a pass ball by Hamilton County’s catcher. 

“Our girls played hard and it was a really nice win for us,” Stafford told the Daily Register after win 500. 

This season marks 26 years of being Harrisburg’s softball coach. Stafford started coaching in 1994 as the assistant under coach Al Way and became head coach in 1996.