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Believe It!

Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

HCA’s Ian Townsend paced the Florida State Champions, Spring Hill Senior Boys (age 14), to its fourth World Series win in five nights, with four runs batted in Wednesday night in Covington, Ga.

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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: August 7, 2008

In the recent history of Dixie League baseball, Hernando County teams have been close to winning a World Series title, but for some reason or another, they seem to come up short in the end.
Wednesday night in the Dixie League Senior (age 14) World Series in Covington, Ga., the Spring Hill team under Head Coach Mike Sollazzo will get a chance to bring home a national title.
No Spring Hill-based team has ever toted home a Dixie World Series crown in 53 years.
Late Wednesday, Spring Hill defeated Covington, Ga., 14-6.
With three teams left in the tournament with one loss each, an official's meetings decided what two teams would play first on Thursday and the Spring Hill club drew the coveted bye, which places them in the final Thursday night at approximately 8 p.m. playing the winner of the Covington, Ga.-Sumter, South Carolina game.
Unbelievably, Sollazzo also said this was the third time in post-season play this year he had drawn a bye.
"Everybody later asked me for three numbers and then went and played the Georgia Lottery," smiled Sollazzo.
The Spring Hill manager also said that he has all his pitchers available tonight for the title game. "Hopefully, we can go out as No. 1, or at worst we'll be a No. 2 and I've got no complaints about that.

Townsend leads

In the semifinal game Wednesday, Spring Hill (13-3 overall, 4-1 series) won its fourth game of the double-elimination event as Ian Townsend drove in four runs, J.T. Simpson drove in three and Julian Perez plated two runs.
"Georgia was a good team and I wouldn't be surprised if we see them again tonight," said Sollazzo. "We got down 4-1 after two innings and we could have folded the tent right there. But they just kept pounding away."
Spring Hill trailed 4-1 after two innings thanks to a two-run homer and a two-run triple by Georgia. Then in the third, Spring Hill tied the score at 4-all.
Townsend had an RBI ground out and Simpson followed with a two-run single.
In the fourth, Perez brought in two runs for Spring Hill with a triple and added another run in the fifth with an RBI triple by Thomas Tambasco.
In the sixth, Townsend drove in one run with a triple and Simpson got another run across with an RBI double.

Icing it

Spring Hill closed the game out in the seventh when they scored five runs. Louis Colaiacomo had an RBI single, Townsend got two more runs in with a two-run single and Simpson added a run-scoring double.
"We hit, these boys know how to hit and they know how to play," said an elated Sollazzo.
For those who can't be in Georgia tonight, the Internet site Jockjive.com will broadcast the final game.

Dixie Youth League
Senior Boys (age 14)
World Series Scoreboard Recap

08-02:
Spring Hill 10, Tennessee 4
North Carolina 15, Arkansas 6
Texas 8, South Carolina 7
Louisiana 10, Mississippi 8
Alabama 3, Virginia 1
Georgia 10, Newton County, Ga. 3

08-03:
Spring Hill 12, North Carolina 5
Louisiana 11, Texas 7
Georgia 11, Alabama 6
Tennessee 19, Arkansas 6
South Carolina 16, Mississippi 6
Virginia 3, Newton County, Ga. 2

08-04:
Louisiana 10, Spring Hill 4
Alabama 7, Tennessee 6
South Carolina 9, Virginia 6
North Carolina 10, Texas 8

08-05:
Spring Hill 7, Alabama 3
Georgia 16, Louisiana 3
South Carolina 11, North Carolina 1

08-06:
Spring Hill 14, Georgia 6
South Carolina 7, Louisiana 3

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