CRESTVIEW — Davis Champion lived up to his last name Thursday night.
Crestview High School's senior pitcher went the distance on the mound and Dakota Dean had a pair of hits and scored a run as the Bulldogs beat Mosley 3-2 to claim the District 2-6A baseball title.
Photo gallery>>> Crestview wins District 2-6A baseball championship.
The district title was the second in three years for the Bulldogs who won the District 2-5A championship in 2011.
Crestview (21-5) will host Tate on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Class 6A region quarterfinals.
"It feels great to get our second championship in three years," Dean said, "especially since I'm a senior."
Champion earned the win the hard way scattering 11 Dolphin hits to go along with just four strike outs. But Champion made the Mosley batters work to reach base as he didn't allow a walk.
"This is the greatest feeling ever," Champion said. "I was ready for it. I was ready to take the ball. This was four years in the making.
"This team has just bonded completely together. It's the greatest team out there now."
Crestview coach Tim Gillis couldn't say enough good things about of Champion's effort.
"He was just awesome," Gillis said. "Every pitch was working for him. I can't say enough for the way he stepped up and got the job done."
The Bulldog defense helped the cause with a pair of double plays. Crestview also came up with a big play at the plate in the second inning when Mosley's Connor Green was thrown out trying to score from second base on a base hit by Jordan Larry.
Bulldog right fielder Justin Rebholz made a perfect throw to cut off man Seth Thomason. Thomason then fired a strike to catcher Austin Armstrong for the out.
The Dolphins (24-3), the No. 1 Class 6A team in the state, looked as if they were going to make short work of things with four-consecutive one-out hits in the first inning. But Mosley only got one run out of the threat as the inning ended on the first double play.
The Bulldogs tied things up in the third inning as Dean tripled and scored on a passed ball.
Mosley strung together three more hits good for another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but another double play snuffed out the threat.
Crestview got back-to-back doubles from Tate Sweatt and Roman Donofro to lead off the fifth inning and tie the game up. A two-out single by Corey Armstrong scored Donofro with the game winning run.
Mosley had a runner in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Champion and the Bulldogs wouldn't be denied as they kept the Dolphins off the scoreboard to claim the win.
"We won a big game on Tuesday night (beating Niceville in the semifinals) and these kids didn't get satisfied," Gillis said. "It's going to be a tough row to hoe (in the playoffs). We are just happy to be in it and we are going to give our best effort every day.
"We've got a lot of real good players on this team. I tell them we don't have to be great every night, we just have to be good enough. Tonight we hung in there and we are very fortunate to get a win."
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Heart of a 'Champion' (photo gallery)