HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Highland Springs Little Leaguers honored their late teammate, Justus Lee, during their season opener on Saturday.
Teammates said they felt his presence as they took the field. To honor his memory, the players wore jerseys with the number 4 and angel wings sewn on them.
Justus' dad, Joshua Lee, threw out the first pitch, and the team went on to win the game.
The young outfielder, a first-grader at Fair Oaks Elementary, was killed in a car crash in January, just days before his seventh birthday.
"He was just a big ball of energy. The one that would entertain the whole family," Lee said in a previous interview. "Justus was my best friend."
The crash happened on Interstate 64 near Nine Mile Road in eastern Henrico County. Virginia State Police said a driver traveling eastbound lost control while on their phone and hit the center guardrail. A second driver traveling behind the first car lost control trying to avoid the initial crash.
Justus was inside the second vehicle with his mother, heading home from his grandmother's house. Police said he died at the scene.
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