Liberty looking like the area’s best team
Due to COVID-19 issues, the Liberty High School baseball team joined many other Hurricanes sports programs in the 2020-21 school year in getting off to a late start.
While opening day for spring sports was March 26, Liberty didn’t get to play a game until 13 days later on April 8.
Suffice to say the Hurricanes (5-0, 4-0 EPC) are making up for lost time.
They routed Easton 12-1 Tuesday in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Northampton County game shortened to 4½ innings by the mercy rule to win for the fifth time in six days.
Liberty was the 2019 District 11 6A champs and figured to be strong again had the 2020 season been played. A year away has only made the Hurricanes hungrier.
Here are five reasons why they beat Easton and look like the team to beat in the EPC:
1. Pitching excellence: Senior Parker Frey was the latest in a long line of Liberty pitchers to give his team a quality effort. Frey gave up three hits, struck out six, and walked none in the victory over Easton. That followed a combined 5-hitter by Brandon Holzinger and Connor McLaughlin in a 14-4 blitz of Nazareth on Monday and a combined 7-hitter by Jack Rothenhausler and Braydon D’Amico in a 6-2 win over the Blue Eagles on Saturday. Rothenhausler punctuated that performance with 10 strikeouts.
In five games, Liberty has given up just 10 runs.
2. Solid defense: The Hurricanes have made just four errors in five games and have made a few spectacular plays defensively, but perhaps more importantly, they have made all the routine ones and feature an athletic team that covers a lot of ground both in the infield and outfield.
3. Booming bats from 1 to 9: Liberty is averaging 11.2 hits per game and getting production from top to bottom in the batting order. The Hurricanes are also doing a good job of putting the ball in play and are being selective at the plate. They have walked 24 times and struck out 22.
They had 13 hits, four walks, and a hit batter against Easton and took it to talented Red Rovers pitcher Justin Johnson right away in the first inning with two walks and four hits in taking a 4-0 lead.
“We’re getting good, disciplined at-bats and we’re swinging at our pitches and not the pitchers’ pitches,” Liberty coach Andy Pitsilos said. “They have been doing that really well and we’re on a little bit of a roll. Easton is so wellcoached and has a lot of talent. They are a perennial power, so for us to do that against them is a little shocking. But I have faith in my kids that they’re going to come out and play well every day.”
4. No give up or let up: Liberty didn’t let up after getting four runs in the first inning. They kept up the pressure and added five in the second and three in the third. The Hurricanes sent nine batters to the plate in both the first and second innings and eight in the third and they approached each at-bat as if it was still 0-0.
But while showing they can put teams away with fast starts they have also shown the ability to put things together to win games late. Against Nazareth on Saturday, they trailed 2-0 at the outset and found themselves in a 2-2 game going into the seventh when they scored four times.
Against Parkland, they got down 2-0 in the second inning but fought back to tie it at two and then got the winning run in the sixth inning. So, whether it’s a rout or a nailbiter, the attitude remains the same.
5. No sign of senioritis: Sometimes teams loaded with seniors, and Liberty has 10 of them, struggle in a spring sports season because the student-athletes already have one foot out the door and are more focused on what they’re doing in the summer and next year instead of their current team.
But that is not the case with Liberty, which desperately wanted to get back on the field and make up for what was lost due to the pandemic in 2020.
“We are going to take every game like it could be our last because it could possibly be our last with the pandemic still going on,” Pitsilos said. “That’s the way the kids are playing. They had that time off and honestly, they were scared their season could be gone. You could tell they play with emotion and a sense of urgency. I’m proud of them because they’re really playing hard and that’s all I can ask.”
Rovers rebound?
Easton lost its second in a row after starting 3-0 and fell to 1-2 in the EPC’s Northampton County Division.
“Right now, we need to re-evaluate everything from the coaches on down because that’s obviously an unacceptable performance,” Easton coach Carm LaDuca said. “Fielding, pitching, hitting, coaching, everything … the whole nine yards wasn’t good enough today. It’s on us as coaches to help us turn the page and I believe we have a lot of great kids in our dugout and we still have the potential to be a very good team. I still think you’re going to see that.”
Easton will be given ample opportunity to bounce back. The Red Rovers play Nazareth Wednesday, Northampton on Thursday, and Nazareth again on Friday.
“We still have a lot of faith in these boys,” LaDuca said. “It’s one of the things that happens in baseball where things didn’t go right today, but I know they’ll come back and give 100%. Today, you tip your cap to Liberty because they have played well since they started. But we need to be better.”