“Their pitcher threw me a first pitch fastball, and I could see it in his eyes and him smiling,” Lineback said.
“He got me the first at-bat with a fastball up. I didn’t let him get it past me again.”
West Side advances to play Boardman, which beat Tallmadge 5-0, on Sunday at noon in Boardman.
“This was good,” Lineback said. “We had high hopes going into this. As you can see, we did pretty good. We came out for the first game.
“This gets us in the right mindset — gets us locked in.”
West Side starter Preston Baker and relievers Bobby Frazier, Gavyn Spears and Oakley Turner combined to pitch a one-hitter with four strikeouts.
West Side went up 1-0 in the top of the first when Jordan Malloy walked and later scored on a wild pitch.
West Side’s scoring spree in the top of the third put the game out of reach. The inning was highlighted by Anthony Saurber’s RBI triple, Lineback’s grand slam and Lennox Brown’s RBI double.
“That inning was really good,” Lineback said.
West Side added five more runs for good measure in the top of the fourth.
West Side gave up its first hit in the bottom of the fourth, but ended up closing it out to put the run-rule into effect.
“Our pitching gave us something to play for,” Lineback said.
West Side (3-0) has outscored its three postseason tournament opponents 48-0 and has 27 total hits.
West Side has 21 state titles and made trips to the Little League World Series in 1991, 1993, 2007, 2010 and 2021.
The state tournament winner advances to the Great Lakes Regional, which takes place Aug. 2-6 in Whitestown, Indiana. West Side was eliminated from last year’s regional tournament when its comeback fell short against Jasper (Ind.) in a 4-3 loss.
The Little League World Series is Aug. 13-24 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
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