Westfield High School is known for their excellence in football, capturing three straight state titles from 2015-17. Now, the baseball team is taking center stage, sitting one win away from a Championship after holding off a rally from Ocean Lakes to defeat the Dolphins 9-7 on Friday afternoon.

Ocean Lakes and Westfield resumed their game after a week-long weather delay caused their Class 6 semifinal game to be picked up in the bottom of the second, with Westfield ahead 7-0. This was the third try to finish the game between these two programs as both the Bulldogs and Dolphins made the trek to the Richmond area on Thursday morning, only to find out Mother Nature would postpone the match another day.

A 7-0 game quickly turned to 7-6, however, after two RBIs by Aiden Pinto and a grand slam by Jonny Wall before the Bulldogs of Westfield came back on RBIs by Nick Lottchea and Travis Blee brought the game to 9-6.

With three outs left for Ocean Lakes, they looked down the barrel of a 9-6 deficit. Aiden Pinto added another RBI to make it 9-7 but Danny Leo struck out the final two batters to secure a state championship game birth for Westfield and coach Rob Hahne.

“I think it was strange for both teams,” Hahne said. “It was very impressive the way they (Ocean Lakes) came back and competed, but to come back here a third time to get this game in, our guys played great.”

Lottchea was instrumental to the win, both pitching and knocking an RBI.

“It feels wonderful my team had my back after they (Ocean Lakes) got a few runs early, my guys really had my back,” Lottchea said. “ It’s a testament to how their coach (Zell) teaches them (Ocean Lakes) but my team had my back and they picked us up, god love them.”

A storybook season for the Region 6A Champion Dolphins comes to a close at 18-7 overall. The Bulldogs - who have won each of their past four postseason games by two runs or less - move to 24-3 overall.

Westfield will play Lake Braddock, a 9-6 winner over James River in the other semifinal, on Friday evening for the Class 6 State Championship.