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.

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants Cy Young award-winning pitcher and former Liberty High School star, makes his pitching debut at Safeco Field June 16. By Greg Farrar

With their season on the line in a loser-out playoff game in the KingCo tournament, the 2003 Liberty Patriots knew they something had to give.

After being held in check for six innings, Liberty entered the dugout in the top of the seventh down 2-0. Fed up with the effort, third basemen Sean Webster entered the dugout with a message.

“I don’t want the season to be over,” he said.

Former Liberty ace and current San Francisco Giants star Tim Lincecum, who was in Seattle last weekend to pitch his first game against the Mariners at Safeco Field, said he knew from that point on that this team had something special.

“You could just see the relentlessness, the never-give-up thing,” Lincecum said in an interview at Safeco the day before the game. “I wasn’t really a part of the game at that point, I wasn’t a position player, I was just a pitcher, so that game I was pretty much watching at that point. And to see us score 10 runs in that last inning and win the tournament, and then go on and play against Yelm in the quarterfinals.”

‘We could win this thing’

Finishing fourth in the KingCo Conference that year, Liberty wasn’t exactly a favorite going into the state tournament, but they knew with a pitcher like Lincecum, nicknamed The Freak, anything was possible.

Current Liberty softball coach Brian Hartman was an assistant coach on the ’03 baseball team and recalled the moment that the staff realized that the team had a realistic shot to make a run at the state title.

While hanging around with the other coaches right after winning the KingCo tournament, the group looked ahead to the next few weeks. They quickly realized with the way the state tournament was set up, they had more than a fighting chance.

“So we were like, ‘Yeah, we could win this thing!’” Hartman said. “Tim’s going to win one game for us, we just got to figure out how to win the other one that weekend. So having him really set us up for that run, and that’s exactly what happened.”

On to the semifinals, on autopilot

They headed to Chehalis to play Yelm in the quarterfinals, and once they arrived they were greeted in full force by the Yelm faithful.

Since the two teams were unfamiliar with each other, the Yelm fans tried to get under Liberty’s skin early.

“You’re going down Liberty!” a heckler yelled. “You suck! We’re the Yelm Tornado!”

Of course, they’d never seen Lincecum pitch.

“I remember being pretty nervous that first inning,” Lincecum said. “I gave up a hit and was thinking that this team looks pretty good. I remember that shortstop was a pretty good baseball player. He was on the all-state team.”

After that first inning, Lincecum put it on autopilot and cruised to a 13-0 victory. He struck out 16 and walked only one.

No ordinary play

The next game, against West Seattle, was a little bit more of a nail-biter. Paul Routos took the mound and struck out six and walked two. The Patriots entered the final frame tied at 2-2.

With Liberty base runners on first and third, head coach Glen Walker put on a delayed steal. But as Lincecum remembers, it wasn’t an ordinary play.

“We had the guy on first fall over on purpose to get picked off and draw a pick throw,” he said. “So when he gets up he gets in a pickle. So the throw goes over to first usually, and at that level I’m not sure a lot of players are aware of what’s going on so the guy gets off third base and our guy on third just took off and scored the winning run.”

With the lead regained, Liberty won the game, 3-2, and moved onto the semifinals at Everett Stadium. But more immediately, the team moved on to their prom, which was held that same night.

“We had a huge group,” Lincecum said. “Probably like 40 or 50 people, so everyone was in the stands in their tuxedos and dresses, so it was kind of crazy to watch that.”

Lincecum said he had a good prom night, but suffered from a little bit too much excitement.

“I remember having the worst stomachache because of all the nerves and excitement,” he said. “But it turned out to be a pretty good night.”

‘The kind of stuff you come to watch’

Next on the checklist to the championship was the semifinal game against O’Dea.

“You have to pitch your ace to get there,” Hartman said. “And Tim pitched the day before in the semifinal against a very tough O’Dea team and just shut them down.”

“Shut them down” might be an understatement. Lincecum tossed a one-hitter along with 13 strikeouts and only one walk.

“It was a good game,” Lincecum said. “But the next game was much more special because Paul pitched his ass off. He threw a lot of pitches and he finished the game. We had like four double-plays turned, two people thrown out at the plate, so we were playing really good defense. It was just one of those games that was like this is the kind of stuff you come to watch.”

Liberty set the tone early. After scouting West Valley the day before, the team noticed how West Valley would take over center field for pre-game warm ups. So immediately after the game before them ended, the Patriots swarmed center field, letting West Valley know that this was their field.

“We were this scrappy little team and Timmy was the big name on it,” Hartman recalled. “We had several other good players but the thing about that team is that they were really, really a tough group. Very kind of dirtball, scrappy, no one would have picked us to beat West Valley. They were very polished and tall and college-looking boys, and we were just this scrappy little team from Renton.”

Ahh, the Mojo Ball…

Routos took the mound and knew that if he pitched like he knew he could, good things would happen.

“I’m a completely different kind of pitcher than Tim,” Routos said in a phone interview last week. “He just goes and strikes everybody out and shuts down hitters. For me it was, I’m out here with seven guys behind me, just let them put it into play and let my team do the work that we’ve practiced. I wasn’t as dominating as Tim, not even close.”

But with Liberty’s offense that day, he didn’t need to be.

“I think I had two runners on every inning at least,” Routos said. “I gave up 14 hits in the game — it was definitely a struggle, one of those days, where at the end of the game you just had to thank the rest of your teammates for being there, couldn’t have done it with out them. It was a long game.”

Liberty won the game with a final score of 7-4, and like with most teams, part of the credit went to a good luck charm, the Mojo Ball.

“The biggest thing I remember from that year was we had one of those giant baseballs,” Routos said. “It was probably a little bit smaller than a basketball, and we said it was our ‘Mojo Ball.’ The Mariners had the Sodo Mojo, and we had our own little mojo thing. We always had it with us and it was kind of our good luck type of thing. It was cool at the end, we all signed the ball and it was just something that kind of brought the team together.“

Lincecum also remembered the infamous Mojo Ball fondly.

“We signed it and we carried it everywhere with us and everybody would touch it before games just to get in the zone,” he said.

Lincecum returns as a big leaguer

On June 16, Lincecum returned to Seattle to pitch against the Mariners for the first time in Safeco Field.

Lincecum has had his struggles this year, posting a 2-8 record with a 6.19 ERA.

He was asked by the media upon his return if he had gone to his dad for advice, since his father Chris was the one who taught him his unique delivery and mechanics.

“I think our relationship become more about life,” Lincecum said. “Back in the day, he was my coach and my teacher and getting me prepared for this life, and now I’m on my own and he’s had to let go the last couple years. We talk to each other, not as much as I’m sure people would think, but we are still as close as we can be.”

Lincecum’s struggles continued on Saturday against a Mariners team that hadn’t won a game since its combined no-hitter against the Dodgers on June 8.

After giving up two solo home runs to Casper Wells and Jesus Montero in the first inning, Lincecum settled down, showing great movement on his changeup and sitting at about 93 miles per hour with his fastball.

But then came the fifth inning, where he surrendered two runs, tying the game at 4-4.

“I felt like I could have got out of the inning if I caught the ball that was right to me,” Lincecum said, talking about an Ichiro RBI single hit up the middle. “I just missed it. I should have caught it.”

‘It was awesome’

Lincecum was pulled from the game after allowing a lead-off single to Montero in the sixth inning. Montero came around to score along with two other Mariners runs and the game ended with a final score of 7-4.

Although Lincecum ended up with the loss, there were marked improvements and he looked like his old self for stretches, but to him the silver linings aren’t enough.

“I’m just going to be looking at that ‘L’ obviously,” he said. “Right now, I’m not happy about the loss, but there’s silver linings here and I’ll take those, but I’m still just pissed.”

One positive Lincecum can take away was that the people of Seattle still love him. Ovations were around every corner and fans cheered him the loudest when he walked back to the dugout after being pulled.

“I really didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “But to get that response at all, it was awesome.”

The game was played at Liberty.

Hazen was able to start the game strong with two runs scored in the top of the first inning by junior Jared Howell and senior Jimmy Schmidt.

Hazen senior Zac Kolterman and junior Cody Moorhead had one RBI each in the first.

Hazen added one run in the second inning with a leadoff single by senior Sam Cook, who scored on a game-winning RBI single by senior Kyle Arinobu to bring the score to 3-0.

The Patriots added their first run scored to the board in the fourth inning after an RBI-single by senior Blake Reeve.

Liberty closed in on the Highlanders in the fifth inning after an RBI-single by sophomore Loren Archibald, but Hazen pulled away from the Patriots to lead the contest, 5-2, after six innings played.

Hazen ended its scoring efforts with one additional run scored in the seventh.

Jake Kolterman, a Hazen sophomore, went on to be selected as the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association’s state athlete of the week for March 18-24 after he was one strike from a no-hitter before settling for a one-hit, 12-0 shutout against Kennedy Catholic High School on March 22.

Kolterman finished the game with 12 strikeouts and one walk.

Liberty High School athletic director Stark Porter announced Sept. 26 John Martin has been hired to be the Patriots’ new baseball coach.

Martin was a pitching coach at Liberty for several seasons and was on the staff when Liberty won the 3A state title in 2003.

Among his prized pitchers that season was future Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants.

Martin has spent the last several years as an assistant coach at Auburn Mountainview. He has also coached summer select baseball teams.

Martin replaces Steve Darnell, who directed Liberty to a 6-8 record last season, when the Patriots were knocked out in the first round of the KingCo Conference 3A tournament.

Gordon, a junior, took first in the 3A long jump with a 22-10 1/2 jump and second in the high jump, clearing 6-6.

The latter set a new personal best and a school record.

Devin Bennett, Liberty High School senior, flies in the air for his 44-foot, 8 1/2-inch triple jump, to take fifth place at the 3A state track championships May 28 in Tacoma. By Greg Farrar

“The last few weeks, I’d been really down, only clearing 6, 6-2, so to come out on a nice day and get that was really great,” Gordon said about the high jump. “It just felt really good. I just came off just flying through the air. I’m over the bar and I don’t feel it yet. It was just really a great feeling.”

The 4×400 team — Gordon, Devin Bennett, Joseph Bergmann and Hamilton Noel — took first place with a time of 3 minutes, 22.08 seconds.

Also, Liberty’s Hiron Redmon, a sophomore, took third in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:56.1; Bennett took fourth in the 400 with a time of 51.01; and Noel took sixth in the pole vault with a jump of 13-6.

Bennett ran in lane seven for the 400, which he said helped eliminate distractions at the start of the race, given that he started in front of most of his competitors.

“You don’t have somebody to pace you,” he said. “The competition is all on your inside. It makes you work harder.”

For the Liberty girls, senior Madison Birdsall took seventh in the 400 with a time of 58.78; sophomore Jessica Pickering took 12th place in the pole vault, jumping 8-6; and freshman Amy Broska took 15th in the 3,200 with a time of 11:51.73.

Softball team falls in first round

Liberty’s softball team advanced to the 3A SeaKing District Tournament, falling to Bishop Blanchet High School, 5-2, in the first round. The Patriots entered the game as a No. 4 seed from 3A KingCo; Bishop Blanchet entered as the No. 4 seed from Metro.

In the final game, both teams’ offenses were cold through the top of the fourth inning, when the Braves managed to score a run on a single to left center field. The Patriots struck back in the top of the fifth, when junior centerfielder Ana Faoro drew a two-out walk and freshman second baseman Liza VanCamp made it to first base on a dropped fly ball to third base.

With runners on first and second, junior shortstop Denise Blohowiak came to the plate. After a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance, Blohowiak hit a ground ball to third. However, the Braves’ third baseman stepped on the bag, mistakenly thinking there was a force-out on the bag that would end the inning. Faoro scored on the play to tie the game, and VanCamp made it to third without being tagged.

A foul-out ended the top of the fifth, and Bishop Blanchet just as quickly regained control of the game in the bottom half of the inning. The Braves opened with a single, and after a strikeout and a fielder’s choice, they racked up five straight hits, driving in four runs.

Liberty added another run in the sixth inning, but it was too little too late.

“My team has grown so much from the beginning to the end,” softball head coach Jessica Johnson said. “They’ve done everything I’ve asked them, from mental toughness to physical ability.”

The loss brought the Patriots’ final record for the year to 8-10. However, most of the team will be back next year, as the team has only three graduating seniors.

The Liberty baseball team’s season was cut short in the first round of the KingCo 3A tournament after a 10-1 loss to Mercer Island High School on May 10.

Liberty entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed on the heels of a five-game winning streak that included a 3-0 victory at home against No. 4 seed Mercer Island.

“We ran into a tough team tonight,” Liberty baseball coach Steve Darnell said after the game.

The Patriots baseball team lost 13 seniors after the 2010 season, and they entered this season with only five returning varsity players. The season began as an uphill battle, and Liberty entered the final five games with a 4-10 overall record.

“A few weeks ago, we couldn’t even talk about playing in this game,” Darnell said after the game. “It was really tough getting everybody to believe and play through that 21st out, but once we started doing that — scratching and clawing at all 21 — we really got it going.”

The boys soccer team did not advance to the playoffs, finishing the season 4-9-2.

Liberty High School’s baseball playoff run was cut short after a 10-1 loss to Mercer Island High School May 10, and Hazen High School’s boys soccer playoff run suffered the same fate after a 3-0 loss to Auburn Mountainview High School the same evening.

Liberty’s loss came in the first round of the KingCo 3A Tournament, and Hazen’s soccer loss came in a seeding game en route to the West Central District III Tournament.

Hazen’s baseball team faced off against Kelso High School May 10, falling 3-0 in the first round of the West Central District III Tournament. Hazen can still advance to the state tournament by winning three consecutive games. If it loses, its season will come to an end.

Hazen next plays Camas High School or Capital High School at 7 p.m. May 12 at Auburn Mountainview High School.

The Hazen High School boys soccer team took down Highline High School 3-0 in a tie breaker game May 7 at Renton Memorial Stadium for the final Seamount League playoff spot. The Highlanders next take on Auburn Mountainview High School at 7 p.m. May 10 at Harry Lang Stadium in Tacoma.

With a win in Tacoma, Hazen would take on Columbia River High School at 7:30 p.m. May 12 at Olympia’s Ingersoll Stadium. The winner would advance to the West Central District III Tournament to battle for a spot in the state tournament.

The Hazen baseball team dropped two games May 7, falling to Enumclaw High School 11-1 and Auburn Mountainview High School 3-1. Hazen now advances to the West Central District III Tournament as a No. 3 seed, and it will face off against Kelso High School at 7 p.m. May 10 at Auburn Mountainview High School.

This tournament is double-elimination.

Meanwhile, the Liberty High School baseball team will head to the KingCo 3A Tournament this week, taking on Mercer Island High School at 7 p.m. May 10 at Bannerwood Sports Park, 1730 132^nd Avenue S.E. in Bellevue. The loser will go home, and the winner will face off against KingCo 3A champion Mount Si High School at 7 p.m. May 12.

With a win against Mount Si, Liberty would advance to the state tournament. With a loss, Liberty would need to win two consecutive games to advance to the state tournament.

Liberty’s baseball team went 4-8 in April, bringing its conference record to 3-8 and its overall record to 6-10.

The softball team went 4-5 in April, bringing its conference record to 5-6 and its overall record to 6-6. The boys soccer team went 2-5-1 for the month, bringing its conference record to 3-7-2 and its overall record to 4-8-2.

In track and field, junior Josh Gordon led the way, setting three personal records in the long jump, beginning with a 22-foot, 7-inch jump April 8 at the Arcadia Invitational just outside Pasadena, Calif. He followed up the performance with a 22-foot, 8.5-inch jump April at the Eason Invitational at Snohomish High School, and a monstrous 23-foot, 7.5-inch jump at the Viking Relays April 23 at Curtis High School in University Place.

The latter was the longest jump recorded by a 3A athlete in the state this year.

Senior Madison Birdsall followed Gordon’s lead, setting school records in the 400-meter April 21 and 28 with times of 58.7 seconds and 58.3 seconds, respectively. The latter set a state 3A record for the year.

Meanwhile, junior Hamilton Noel set a school and state 3A record for the year with a 13-foot, 6-inch pole vault.

Sophomore Rachel Shaw became the second Liberty runner to ever break 12 minutes in the 3,200-meter, recording a time of 11 minutes, 53.96 seconds.

Liberty track and field also competed in the Issaquah School District meet May 5, after Newcastle News’ deadline. The team will next compete in the KingCo 3A championship meet at 3 p.m. May 11 at Juanita High School in Kirkland.

Liberty’s softball team was in fifth place in the 3A KingCo conference as of the News’ May 3 deadline. Liberty’s soccer team was in sixth place and the baseball team was in seventh place.

The soccer team started off April with a bang, whipping past Lake Washington High School with a 4-0 victory. However, after a 1-0 loss to Juanita High School and a 1-1 tie with Interlake High School, the team dropped four straight games. The team finished the month with a 1-0 win over Juanita.

The Patriots took on Mercer Island High School May 3, also after the News’ deadline.

Head coach Darren Tremblay said the loss against Juanita early in the month was a head-scratcher. It marked the Rebels’ first conference win of the season.

“It was a tough loss,” he said. “I really thought we played well enough to win the game. We just couldn’t put the ball in the net.”

The Patriots outshot the rebels 10-2 in the contest, and the Rebels’ goal came from a penalty shot with 15 minutes left in the game.

Senior forward Aaron Potoshnik leads the team with five goals for the year, followed by senior midfielder Blake Kessler, senior midfielder Danny Dapper and senior midfielder Riley Mackey. Kessler leads the team with five assists.

Liberty’s soccer team wraps up its season with a match against Interlake on the road May 6.

Jacob Hofferber, Liberty senior pitcher, throws out of jam during an increasingly rainy game March 18 against Issaquah. By Greg Farrar

Liberty and Hazen high school’s baseball teams are back and ready for springtime action.

Both teams will rely on younger talent this year, and they will face off against each other at 3:30 p.m. April 1 at Liberty High School.

Liberty

After 13 seniors — including some three-year varsity starters — graduated last year, Liberty will rely heavily on its younger players in 2011.

Among the big graduation losses was pitcher John McLeod, who now plays for Wake Forest.

There are just five returning varsity players, headed by Ryan Maio, who earned all-league honorable mention last season as a junior. Maio will pitch, play third base and be in the outfield. The other returning players are Jacob Hofferber, a pitcher and first baseman; Scott Zerda, a center fielder; Jason Hubbard, an infielder; and Ben Wessel, a pitcher and first baseman.

Among the players moving up from last year’s junior varsity are Chris Weik, an infielder; Izak Styskl, an outfielder and pitcher; Harrison Diemert, a catcher; Blake Reeve, an infielder and pitcher; and Monte Korsmoe, a pitcher.

The returning players and those advancing from junior varsity to varsity will look to build upon the Patriots’ 2010 season, in which the team finished in a three-way tie for first place in the 3A KingCo Conference standings.

“This year, there will be a lot more coaching going on because we’re younger,” Liberty coach Steve Darnell said. “But this is going to be a fun group to watch.”

With the addition of Lake Washington, the league figures to be tough from top to bottom.

“Our league is the class act in 3A,” Darnell said. “We have teams with great tradition, and we have our tradition, too.”

Among the highlights on Liberty’s schedule this season are games with district rivals Issaquah (March 18) and Skyline (April 16). Since moving up to 4A, Issaquah and Skyline have not been able to schedule Liberty in recent years.

“A lot of our players have grown up with the players from those two schools,” Darnell said. “I’m really excited about playing those two games.”

Liberty went 2-2 in March, defeating Auburn Mountainview High School, 2-1, in the first game of a double-header March 16 and Issaquah High School, 8-4, March 18. The Patriots lost to Auburn High School, 23-17, in the second game of the March 16 double header and Kentlake High School, 11-2, March 25.

Hazen

Hazen will also rely on younger players this year, since seven seniors — including five starters — graduated last year. Among the graduation losses were second baseman John Wall and shortstop Brenden Campbell.

“We lost some good talent,” Hazen coach Gary Jacobs said.

Last year, the team finished third in the Seamount League with a 15-7 overall record and a 12-4 conference record. The 15-win season set a new school record.

This year, the team will ride on the shoulders of returning all-league players Travis Johnson, a shortstop; Jeff Beckman, a catcher; and Jimmy Schmidt, an outfielder and pitcher.

The other returning varsity players include Keith Carlson, a catcher and outfielder; David Green, a first baseman and pitcher; Julian Li, a utility player; and Patrick Ward, a second baseman, outfielder and pitcher.

However, the team will have the help of two dangerous newcomers: sophomore outfielder Cody Moorhead and freshman pitcher Jake Kolterman.

“Those two, they’re impact players,” Jacobs said.

Moorhead, at 6-feet 4-inches and 225 pounds, is known for his work as a dominating lineman on the football team. Kolterman, a star in select baseball through middle school, stands at 6 feet and 175 pounds. He can rocket pitches well into the 80-mile-per-hour range.

“He’s actually pretty polished for being a freshman,” Jacobs said. “He’s got power if he wants to crank it up.”

The dynamics in the Seamount League have changed, since Mount Rainier High School — a baseball powerhouse — has grown from 3A to 4A and moved into the 4A South Puget Sound League. Hazen will be battling with Seamount frontrunners Highline, Kennedy Catholic and Lindbergh high schools for the league title.

Among the highlights on Hazen’s schedule this season are games against Liberty on the road (April 1), Kennedy Catholic at home (April 6) and Highline on the road (April 13).

As of Newcastle News’ March 28 deadline, Hazen was 5-1 for the year. After opening with a 6-4 loss to Sammamish High School, the team beat Kennedy Catholic High School, 12-2, March 14; Lindbergh High School, 4-2, March 18; Evergreen High School, 9-3, March 21; Highline High School, 9-5, March 23; and Tyee High School, 8-2, March 25.

The team was scheduled to play Foster High School and Tyee High School on the road March 28 and 30, respectively.