By Christina Corrales-Toy
Liberty High School first baseman James Workman claps as he trots to home plate, after scoring the Patriots’ first run in a 10-0 win over Foster May 9.

Despite a regular season record below .500, and a seventh-place finish in the eight-team KingCo 3A/2A Conference, the Liberty High School baseball team is headed to state.

After a two-win day in the District 2/3 2A baseball tournament May 9, the Patriots are guaranteed a state regionals berth. They’ll continue district play next week to determine which seed they’ll get.

Liberty didn’t have to travel at all for first-round district play, hosting games at the high school on Saturday.

After playing mostly 3A teams in KingCo, the Patriots, as the KingCo No. 1 seed, began its first foray into the 2A playoffs with a lot of success. That’s what it’s called when you score 10 runs in the opening game, and toss a no-hitter while you’re at it.

Liberty needed only five innings to discard Seamount League foe Foster, 10-0, in the first game.

In a game that started relatively tame, with just 1 run scored in the first two innings, Liberty erupted for five runs in the third inning, and added four more in the fifth.

The Patriots opened the scoring in the second, when Nick Gunn drove in James Workman on an RBI double.

All nine Patriots came to the plate in the five-run third inning, highlighted by Newcastle resident Torey Anderson’s triple and a pair of doubles courtesy of Tyler Haselman and Workman.

Workman, Haselman and Gunn each led the team with two hits, while Gunn was the Patriots’ RBI leader with two.

Meanwhile, on the mound, Liberty pitcher Nate Steffens couldn’t be touched. Steffens threw five innings of no-hit baseball, struck out 10 Foster Bulldogs and didn’t walk a batter. He was just an error shy of a perfect game.

With one win under their belts, the Patriots played again later that day, defeating Olympic, 5-0, to advance in the winner’s bracket.

Against Olympic, Steffens showed he could do damage with his bat, too. Steffens, this time playing center field, went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

Anderson got the start for the Patriots this time and he went on to throw a seven-inning shutout. He, too, had a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

Gunn picked up two more RBIs in the Olympic game, while Eddie Delgado went a productive 2-for-3 with one RBI at the plate.

Liberty is back in action 1 p.m. May 16 against Fife at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. If they win, they’ll play in the district tournament championship at 4 p.m.

State regional play is May 23, and the final rounds of the state tournament, should the Patriots advance, are May 29-30 in Yakima.

Hazen bounced from districts

While Liberty went from a lackluster regular season, to some early postseason success, the opposite is true for the Highlanders.

After ending the season with a 13-1 conference record, and clinching a share of the Seamount League title, Hazen made a quick exit in the District 3/4 3A baseball tournament May 9.

Hazen lost to Kelso, 5-1, in the first round, before losing to Capital, 12-6, in the double-elimination tournament.

By Greg Farrar
Tyler Haselman, Liberty High School sophomore catcher, tags out Hazen’s J. Crosby in the top of the fourth on a spot-on throw from Liberty freshman centerfielder Torey Anderson.

It doesn’t have the same energy as the football or basketball rivalries, but anytime Liberty and Hazen high schools meet on the diamond, it’s always a battle between familiar foes.

Just three miles separate the two schools, and despite the fact they reside in different school districts, many of the students grew up together playing in youth leagues.

This time, it was the Liberty ball players who bested the Highlanders in a convincing 10-0 nonleague tune-up March 25.

“That was pretty amazing,” Liberty baseball coach John Martin said. “Hazen is typically a really good program, and usually battles pretty tough, if not comes out on the other side with a win, so that was pretty exciting.”

It took the Patriots just five innings to put away Hazen, which struggled to put together any momentum against Liberty’s winning pitcher, Lorin Archibald.

Archibald, a senior, was credited with the shutout, going all five innings and striking out four along the way.

“Archie looked good today,” Martin said. “He was the big part on our defensive side that led us to this win.”

The game remained scoreless after the first inning. Liberty secured the only runs it would need, though, in the three-run second inning.

Every Liberty starter came to the plate in the five-run third inning, chasing Hazen starting pitcher Ryan Gayte from the mound. Nolan Hoover, who also stars as the Highlanders’ quarterback, came on in relief.

“I think some of our mental approach was a little lacking, but I think we’ll be fine,” said Hazen baseball coach Mike Brundage said. “It’s a nonleague game, it is what it is. The key thing is to bounce back and have a short-term memory, and go out and start league.”

Hazen batters Brooks Jacobs and J. Crosby, a commit to play baseball at Pacific Lutheran University next year, were the only ones to come away with hits for the Highlanders.

In a moment of comic relief, during what was an otherwise lackluster game for Hazen, Highlanders’ shortstop Zack Hill quipped, “Give the quarterback his football helmet,” after pitcher Hoover took a bouncing ball to the face. Hoover was not injured during the play.

Hazen wasn’t happy with the game’s outcome, especially against a rival, Brundage said, but it was better to get this clunker out of the way before league play started.

“They’re frustrated with a loss like this to a rival on the hill, and it sucks, and it’s tough to swallow, but the fact of the matter is it’s a practice game and it’s built for that,” he said.

Liberty’s bats propelled the Patriots to 10 runs, led by junior Daniel Rodriguez, who had two hits and three RBIs. Junior Eddie Delgado also added a hit and two RBIs as well.

The defensive play of the game came from Liberty freshman outfielder Torey Anderson, who successfully threw a runner out at the plate with a spot-on throw from centerfield.

It’s not often that a Liberty freshman makes varsity, Martin said, but Anderson is special. Liberty’s down on numbers this year, he added, but that’s not to say Anderson made the team just because they needed bodies.

“He’s got pretty good foot speed, he’s got a nice strong arm, he’s at a real good place as a freshman and he’s got nothing but upside going forward,” he said.

Both teams began league play after the nonconference matchup. Hazen hopes to repeat last year’s success, when the Highlanders took the Seamount crown, while the Patriots will look to dig out of the KingCo 3A/2A cellar.