MOORE HAVEN — After stranding a handful of baserunners during the first three innings, Moore Haven finally broke through in the fourth inning of the Class 3A-District 6 softball championship April 27 at Moore Haven High School.

Moore Haven captured its sixth consecutive district championship with an 8-1 win against Southwest Florida Christian Academy of Fort Myers.

The Terriers scored four times in the fourth frame, highlighted by a two-run home run from senior Sydnee Cypress, who drilled an outside pitch over the right-center fence for her second home run of the season which gave the hosts a 4-0 lead.

“I asked the kids all night to make some adjustments, and we’ve been working on some things in our swings, and Sydnee did exactly what she was taught,” said Moore Haven coach Clint Raulerson.

“It was nice to hit a home run in a championship game. We needed like a boost because we were really flat on offense,” said Cypress, who also reached base when she was hit by a pitch in the first and smacked a double to the right-center gap in the fourth.

Before Cypress’s blast, Sunni Bearden helped ignite the fourth inning. With Monica Devine on third base, Bearden walked, but never stopped at first base. As she sprinted toward second, she drew a throw which allowed Devine to beat the return throw home with headfirst dive that snapped the scoreless tie.

Bearden scored on an infield single by Makayla Strenth to make it 2-0.

Moore Haven tacked on two more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, which included a two-run triple by Darcie McRoy that brought home courtesy runner Morgan Yates and winning pitcher Olivia Everett, who tossed a complete game four-hitter with nine strikeouts.

Southwest Florida Christian’s Randine Osceola would have notched a single with a hard hit ball up the middle in the fifth, but a charging Bearden in centerfield scooped up the ball and fired a throw to second base to get a force out that ended the inning.