LIBERTY’S RUN MEMORABLE
Had school record 26 wins, trip to title game to earn Morning Call’s team of the year
The 2021 Liberty High Hurricanes were mashers.
They pounded their way through a 17-1 regular season with 11 double-digit run totals, followed by 13 runs in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference quarterfinals and 12 more in the District 11 6A quarterfinals.
At season’s end, they outscored foes 209-48, and yet had no championships to show for it after losing to Pleasant Valley in the EPC semis and to Parkland in the district’s final four.
Liberty graduated a dozen seniors and seven of nine starters in 2021, making 2022 a bit uncertain.
“This year, I wasn’t sure what we had going in, but I knew we were going to have to win differently than we did last year,” Hurricanes coach Andy Pitsilos said. “And we did. We won in all kinds of different ways. The only way I can sum it up is to say that we had to keep grinding. Some games we had to hold teams to no runs. Some games we had to score a lot of runs. Some games we had to manufacture a lot of runs or just outhit people. It was a very interesting season.”
A successful one, too, as Liberty ended up 26-3 and with a District 11 6A championship. The Hurricanes made it to the last possible game of the season, the PIAA finals at Penn State, and even a 6-4 loss to Warwick couldn’t diminish the remarkable run made by a team many considered to be in rebuilding mode considering the abundance of new faces.
Liberty’s school-record 26-win season, capped by three state playoff wins, made the Hurricanes an easy choice as The Morning Call’s Baseball Team of the Year.
The Hurricanes were the last local team standing in the 202122 scholastic sports year and the last Hurricanes squad to perform in the school’s 100th anniversary year. With their special run in trying to become just the second Lehigh Valley team to win a state gold, they galvanized the community.
It was not just the winning, but how they won that made them compelling.
“We won nine one-run games, four extra-inning games and just found a way,” Pitsilos said. “It’s a testament to the kids and how tough they were. They did not want to lose. They rose to the challenge in every big-game situation.”
Pitsilos said that while many of the players were new to varsity, several were from high-level youth and travel-league programs.
“When you know you have kids who are used to playing highlevel baseball from an early age, you can go into more detail with them right away with fundamental stuff,” he said.
That’s what was stressed after Liberty lost 1-0 to Nazareth in the EPC semifinals, when it looked like 2022 was going to be a repeat of 2021 in terms of the Hurricanes’ not being able to follow a strong regular season with postseason championships.
“After that loss, at practice the next day,” Pitsilos said, “I tried to bring everything down: ‘So, we didn’t do this right. Well, here’s what we need to do.’ It was something simple. It was stuff like ‘see the ball into your glove.’ That’s all we needed to. Back to the fundamentals. It’s no big deal. We just had to do what got us to that record.”
The things that got Liberty to 20-2 entering districts were the ability to make contact and put pressure on the defense while riding quality pitching and making plays in the field.
In the district tournament, little came easy. The Hurricanes had to fight off an upset bid by Pleasant Valley to win their quarterfinal-round game 4-2. They had to rally to beat Parkland 5-4 in the semifinals. They finally got a break when they didn’t have to face Emmaus ace Luke Deschenes in the final, and buzzed past the Green Hornets 6-1.
“I thought we played tight in that EPC semifinal against Nazareth, but the more we went through and got used to night coverage and TV coverage, the more relaxed we got,” Pitsilos said.
In state play, they had a riveting 1-0 win over Manheim Township in the first round, rocked defending state champ La Salle College 10-2 in the quarterfinals and then stunned a Hazleton team stocked with Division I-caliber talent 4-2 in the semis.
In the state championship game, some hard-hit balls by Warwick and uncharacteristic mistakes by Liberty put the Hurricanes in a 6-0 hole. But a lengthy rain delay seemed to refresh Liberty. The Hurricanes stormed back to 6-4 and had the tying run at the plate in the seventh when they felt the home plate umpire made some questionable ballstrike calls that defused their chances of a rally.
Typical of how badly they wanted to win, several Hurricanes didn’t want to accept their silver medals at first, but relented after Pitsilos said it was the proper thing to do.
“We showed we don’t give up,” senior pitcher Hayden O’Neill said. “We like to fight. We went down early and we still made it a game. I’m still very proud of our team and what everyone accomplished.”
Neill, one of the holdovers from the 2021 team, said he’ll never forget the run this year’s team made. With most of the roster back next year, he expects the Hurricanes to have more success and possibly make another run at Penn State in 2023. He’ll be watching from Widener, where he intends to continue his career.
“Anytime I can come back from college to watch a game, I’m going to be here,” O’Neill said. “I’m going to root them on and hope they can get back here. This is my family.”
PAST TEAMS OF THE YEAR
2021: Emmaus
2019: Notre Dame-Green Pond 2018: Northwestern Lehigh
2017: Liberty
2016: Bangor and Easton
2015: Parkland
2014: Parkland and Notre Dame-GP 2013: Salisbury
2012: Nazareth
2011: Salisbury
2010: Pleasant Valley
2009: Parkland
2008: Whitehall
2007: Bethlehem Catholic
2006: Nazareth
2005: Emmaus
2004: Whitehall
2003: Tamaqua
2002: Liberty
2001: Bethlehem Catholic
2000: Emmaus
1999: Emmaus
1998: Northampton
1997: Catasauqua
1996: Bethlehem Catholic
1995: Northampton
1994: Northampton
1993: Easton
1992: Jim Thorpe
1991: Liberty