Little League Baseball: Shady Spring tops Sophia to advance to the District 4 Championship

Photo courtesy of Shady Spring Little League

Lewisburg - For two nights in a row Sophia had used some late game magic to stay alive in the District 4 Little League Baseball All-Star Tournament.

Thursday night, however, with a trip to the championship game hanging in the balance, it was cross-county rival Shady Spring that did the late inning heavy lifting.

Scoring five runs across the last three innings, Shady Spring beat Sophia, 8-3 in the elimination clash.

Shady Spring will now play Central Greenbrier Friday for the District title. Central needs one win for the crown, while Shady will need to win twice.

Both teams have secured a spot in the West Virginia Little League State Tournament played in Elkins, starting July 11.

Shady Spring took the quick lead in the top of the first when Cohen Thomas tripled with the bases loaded for a 3-0 lead.

Sophia fired back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run blast from Blake Stewart, trimming the deficit to a single run.

Park Winkler and Ryder Hall restored the three-run advantage for Shady Spring with RBI-singles in the fourth inning.

Aiden Lawson knocked in Sammy Sallaz to make it a 5-3 game, but that was the closest Sophia could get the rest of the way.

Greyson Walls gave Shady Spring some much needed breathing room with a two-run homer in the fifth inning before Thomas hit a sacrifice fly scoring Lincoln Cook in the sixth. Cook had doubled to open the at-bat.