Red Bay pitcher Lila Blackburn signed a scholarship this past week to continue her softball career at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi.

Copiah-Lincoln is located in southwest Mississippi and is home to the nationally–ranked Wolves softball team.

Blackburn, in her sophomore and shortened junior season, had a record of 7-4 with two saves. She had an earned run average of 3.29 as a sophomore and struck out 85 batters.

Offensively, Blackburn had a .529 batting average with 45 hits, including 12 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 46 runs batted in.

“I feel honored to be able to play after high school,” said the Red Bay senior. “I know not many people get the opportunity to do so, and to know all the work I have done is finally paying off in more than one way is a huge deal to me.”

Blackburn said she recognizes pitching at the college level requires honing her current skill base and adding new skills.

“I am working hard to gain even more velocity and control pitching,” said Blackburn. “I need to work at adding another pitch that should help me be successful at the next level. I’m also working on fine tuning my hitting mechanics to be able to hit a more elite level of pitching.”