Opening day at the W.Va. State Little League Tournament was a good one for District 4 representatives Central Greenbrier and Princeton.
Central Greenbrier took the lead in the first inning and rolled past Tygarts Valley, 14-5 in Chapmanville, while Princeton won a tight battle with the tournament host Madison.
Michael Boothe staked the Greenbrier County boys to a 2-0 lead with a two-run blast in the top of the first inning.
Central Greenbrier started to pull away in the third when it added five more runs highlighted by a two-run homer from Hendo Bostic.
Tygarts Valley scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to trim the lead to 8-4, but the Randolph County lads could not hold down the bats from Central Greenbrier.
Scoring two runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth, Central cruised home for the win.
Boothe tallied four RBI and Bostic drove in three runs. Trenton Skaggs and Acen Workman also had an RBI.
Battling Madison on its home field, Princeton took the early 1-0 lead on a single from James Folmar in the top of the second inning.
Madison answered with a run in the bottom of the inning and one more in the third for its first and only lead of the game.
An error on Kade Vipperman’s fly ball enabled Princeton to tie the game in the fourth before regaining the lead in the fifth when Maxton Harvey raced home on a wild pitch.
Princeton added four more in the crucial sixth inning when Vipperman tripled with the bases loaded and later scored on a wild pitch for a 7-2 advantage.
Madison made it interesting in its final at-bat scoring three runs before Sam Lambert came on to record the final two outs and secure the win.
Josiah Tunstalle, Lambert and DeAundre Symns each had a double for Princeton.
Central Greenbrier will play the winner of Huntington and Fairmont, Saturday at noon in Madison. Princeton meets the winner of Barboursville and Belington-Barbour at the same time in Chapmanville.
