ATHENS — Westfall was hoping the third time would be the charm against Unioto, but the Shermans started strong and beat the Mustangs for the third time this season to claim a Division IV Southeast District title Thursday.
The top-seeded Shermans scored in each of the first three innings on the way to advancing with a 4-1 win over No. 3 Westfall.
Unioto won the regular season matchups with Westfall 6-1 and 3-2.
Unioto’s Jaxon Zickafoose opened the bottom of the first with a double, moved up on a groundout and scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 Shermans’ lead.
Callaway Ratliff opened the bottom of the second with a single and Caden Speakman added a one-out single to put runners on the corner. An error allowed Ratliff to score for a 2-0 Unioto lead.
Two hits, an error and a sacrifice fly led to two more Unioto runs in the bottom of the third for a 4-0 lead.
Westfall struggled to get baserunners Thursday. The Mustangs’ Brendan Biegler in the second and Mason Wright in the fifth each had singles to be the only Westfall players to reach base safely through the first six innings.
Westfall’s AJ Pluta and Jaden Towler led off the seventh with singles and Wright hit a grounder to short that was misplayed allowing the Mustangs to score their only run of the night. A flyball and a grounder to short — that turned into a double play — wrapped up the night.
Cory Green went the distance for the Mustangs. Through six innings he struck out six, walked three, gave up five hits and four runs.
KB Perkins, the pitcher of record in the two regular season games, got the win for the Shermans as he pitched all seven innings and struck out five, did not allow a walk, gave up four hits and one unearned run.
Westfall finishes the season with a 14-12 record.
The Shermans (22-6) return to Ohio University Tuesday to take on London in a regional semifinal at 5 p.m.