Top of the ‘Hill: Colonels Ride Junior Back to 8th District Championship

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Elijah Underhill’s magical season continued Tuesday, leading the Christian County High School baseball team to its first 8th District Championship since 2019. Underhill held rival Hopkinsville hitless through five innings, went 3-for-4 at the plate, and helped the top-seeded Colonels earn a 7-3 district title-clinching victory at Hopkinsville High School.

Underhill (6-1) overcame his five walks on the bump by striking out nine in the victory. He now has 122 K’s this season, which is second-most in the state. Offensively, Underhill singled to start the bottom of the first and scored on Joshua Snorton’s RBI double to give CCHS an early 1-0 lead. County would never trail again.

The Western Kentucky University commit Underhill proceeded to strike out the side in the second, then scored on Carter Sholar’s two-run double in the third that put Hoptown in a 3-0 hole. The Christian County dual-threat star found shaky ground in the top of the fourth inning, when he walked four straight — including Kaden West with the bases loaded — to bring the Tigers within 4-1, but got it right back in the bottom half with a two-run base hit to give his squad a five-run cushion.

Hopkinsville, which had won five of its last six games coming in, finally woke up its bats in the sixth, starting with a leadoff double from Zach Moss, RBI single by Joseph Boor, and Tim Cansler walk — all with no outs — to breathe new life into the game. Jacob Dilday then cut County’s lead to 6-3 with a one-out RBI single, but CCHS relief pitcher Aiden Lewis induced consecutive fielder’s choice grounders to end the threat.

Christian County got an insurance run in the sixth inning after JaSean Riley (running for Robert Irving) scored on a passed ball for a 7-3 Cols lead. Moss walked with two outs in the seventh to try and spark a final rally, but Lewis got Boor to fly out to end the contest in favor of the No. 1 seed.

Dilday (2-6) did strike out eight and walk just one as Hoptown’s starting pitcher, but five of the six runs he allowed were unearned, thanks to a couple timely errors by the Tiger defense. Moss scattered three hits and struck out four more in 2 2/3 innings of relief.

Both County (26-7) and Hoptown (13-15) advance to next week’s 2nd Region Tournament. They wouldn’t play again until the championship game.

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