Spring Hill’s Hunter Whitwell slides into home plate ahead of the throw to CPA catcher Philip Clarke during the second inning of Wednesday’s Region 6-AA championship at Spring Hill High School.
SPRING HILL — Defending Class AA champion Christ Presbyterian Academy sailed through the early portion of Wednesday’s Region 6-AA championship game.
It didn’t take long for host Spring Hill to turn the tide, though.
“Baseball is a crazy game, and it’s going to break your heart sometimes; you’ve got to understand that,” CPA coach Larry Nesbitt said. “Baseball will humble you, and we were humbled in that (fourth) inning.”
Sparked by Josh Wilkinson’s two-out single and aided by the five free passes issued by CPA pitchers Cooper Reynolds and Devin McKnight, the Raiders (28-8) used a four-run fourth inning to spark Wednesday’s 9-2 win and capture their first region title since 2013.
“We have scored a ton of runs with two outs here in the postseason, and obviously tonight — in this type of game — it was huge,” Spring Hill coach Paul Lamm said. “We’re kicking on all cylinders and we’re heading into Friday fully loaded, feeling good about it.”
Spring Hill, now just one win shy of clinching its sixth Class AA state tournament appearance in the previous seven seasons, will host Lipscomb Academy (17-15) in Friday’s sectionals.
The District 12-AA regular-season champion Lions, meanwhile, who split with Spring Hill during the regular season before suffering a 3-1 defeat to the Raiders in last week’s District 12-AA tournament championship, will travel to face District 9-AA champion Sycamore (31-4)
Reach Michael Murphy at 615-269-8262 and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports .