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WEIRTON -- The Red Riders are one win away from regionals.
After falling behind in the fourth, the Weir High softball team came storming back with a huge fifth inning and topped Oak Glen, 8-2, in Region 1, Section 1 tournament action Thursday at the Roberta "Birdie" DeFrancis Softball Field.
The win is the Red Riders' third of the season over their county rivals and puts them into Saturday's sectional final, which they will host and have to be beaten twice.
The Golden Bears took a 2-0 lead by breaking a scoreless tie when Addie Smith's groundout brought home a pair of runners.
In the bottom half of the fifth, however, Weir's bats woke up and produced a lot of two-out magic and the Red Riders (19-9) plated all eight of their runs with two outs.
Eliza Utt started the rally with an RBI single to cut the lead in half, then Bella Weber came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a three-run double.
After Elle Maley's RBI groundout made it 5-2, Gigi Paladina blasted a three-run homer over the fence in left to provide the final margin.
Utt went the distance for the win in the circle, striking out seven and walking just one.
For Oak Glen (13-10) Mattie Carney struck out six in 4 2/3 innings, while Danica Holden took the loss in relief. Carney produced a pair of doubles.
Weir's Loganne Barton and Kylie Dean each had a pair of hits, as did Paladina.
"We started very slow but just as the kids have done all season they battled and found a way to get it done," Weir coach John Leary said. "Bella Weber had big clutch hit and Gigi Paladina had a tremendous at bat when she hit the three-run home run. Everyone contributed in the eight-run fifth inning. Eliza Utt pitched another very solid game for us.
"I'm very proud of a total team effort. That's how good teams play."