Hello, Final Four!

Before the Dixie Youth League Senior Boys World Series had begun, if someone had told Spring Hill skipper Mike Sollazzo that his team could take a free pass and be one of the final four teams left in the tournament, he would have jumped at the opportunity.

After beating Alabama in an elimination game at City Pond Park in Covington, Ga. Tuesday night, 7-3, the Spring Hill club (age 14) is one of those four teams left in the tournament.

"This is probably the best baseball we've seen," Sollazzo said after his team's third series win in four nights. "I've talked with a lot of people up here and they all agree that the four teams left are very good and all of them are just about equal."

On Tuesday, the Spring Hill club got four runs batted in from David Woop and solid pitching from Jon Gaffney and Ian Townsend to win.

The Florida State Champions advance to Wednesday night's semifinals against Georgia, a 16-3 winner over Louisiana Tuesday night.

In the Spring Hill game, Gaffney went into the seventh inning before getting last-out relief help from Townsend to win.

Gaffney threw the pitch-limit of 95 pitches in the game and came out of the game with the bases loaded and two outs.

But Townsend enticed a ground ball force out to seal the win and make his manager a happy man.

Sollazzo was asked if he thought about Monday night's game, when leading 4-1 going into the last inning, four Spring Hill pitchers gave up nine runs in a 10-4 loss to Louisiana.

"Oh absolutely, after last night, I was worried about things, but then Ian came in and saved it for us," he recalled.

The breakdown

Spring Hill scored one run in the fourth inning, four more in the sixth on a bases-loaded double by Woop and two more in the seventh when Louis Colaiacomo homered and Gaffney singled in a run.

"The kids played good. When we got down they didn't panic," said Sollazzo. "Gaffney pitched the game of his life and the whole team showed a lot of heart."

Now Spring Hill is one win away from playing for the World Series title, but Sollazzo says that he can see some signs of his team wearing out.

"I'm sure every team is running out of pitchers and I'm sure all the kids are tired," he shared. "But we're not that far away from winning this thing. We have to work real hard because now we're down to the four best teams. Now the pressures on and we get to see who can perform without making many mistakes."

DIXIE YOUTH LEAGUE AAA MAJORS WORLD SERIES SCOREBOARD RECAP

08-02:

Spring Hill 10, Tennessee 4

North Carolina 15, Ark. 6

Texas 8, South Carolina 7

Louisiana 10, Mississippi 8

Alabama 3, Virginia 1

Georgia 10,

Newton Co., Ga. 3

08-03:

Spring Hill 12, N. Carolina 5

Louisiana 11, Texas 7