The Class AA Region 3 championship series featured more of the same.
Despite out-hitting Liberty 14-12, Wyoming East dropped the first game of best-of-3 series 12-8 Monday in Glen Daniel.
The series now shifts to New Richmond on Tuesday where Liberty can clinch a berth in the state tournament with a victory.
East head coach Doc Warner hoped a stellar defense that backed a perfect game by starter Carli Raye in the sectional title game would be present again Monday, but that wasn’t the case. Of the 12 runs the Raiders scored Monday, six were unearned.
We had a double play at first that was called safe and it was out and they got four more runs,” East head coach Doc Warner said. “We had fly balls dropped and gave up four more runs. (Liberty) hit the ball well though.”
As it nearly always does, a leadoff walked proved to be the first domino in Liberty’s first big inning.
Tied 1-1 after a frame Maddie Cox drew the leadoff free pass in the second, scoring when Emma Hartshorn opened her big day with a double to score Cox’s courtesy runner. Maddie Toler followed with a double that made it 3-1 before an error on an Alyssa Scrabro fly ball put a pair of runners in scoring position. Two batters later, Katie Mullens singled through the hole at short to make it 5-1.
When the dust cleared the hosts held a 6-1 advantage after two innings.
The inning was indicative of how the Raiders fared most of the night with all nine starters registering a hit.
“I told them we had to get up,” Liberty head coach Mary Green said. “Every time we get up in a game they get going but if we get behind, they struggle. I told them we had to get up there’d attack the ball, and they did. Emma came out rocking. She hit the fence twice. She’s always good getting on regardless but she hit some bombs today and those couple of hits helped us out.”
East got one back in the top of the third on a Mak Hatfield sac fly but Liberty answered in the bottom of the frame with an RBI groundout for a 7-2 advantage before putting the Lady Warriors in a dire deficit.
Stella Brown kicked off a four-run fourth with an RBI single that scored Mullens before Hartshorn just missed a grand slam, hitting a liner off the top of the outfield fence for an 11-2 lead.
Needing a run to stay alive, East found the sticks and delivered three, courtesy of a three-run home run from Alivia Monroe. The momentum carried into the sixth inning with Carlee Rollins and Hatfield collecting RBI singles but the Raiders recorded two more outs to stand a pair of runners in scoring position.
From there thy allowed just one more base runner, a two-out harmless single in the top of the seventh.
“I walked out and calmed them down,” Green said. “I went out and said, ‘Guys, we’re still up and we’re still winning this game. We just got to get two outs.’ Sometimes you’ve just got to calm them down. They like to self implode sometimes when they think they’re losing control so you have to tell them it’s okay. I always tell them to not let the fun come out of the game.”
The charge back wasn’t all that much of a surprise though for teams that played a 19-13 slugfest matchup in March.
“It’s been that way both times we played them,” Green said. “We went back and forth so many different times and the kids dig deep. they make the opals when we have to get out of big innings and (Cox) did greta. She was throwing well at the end of the game so I’m real proud of them.”
Hartshorn led all players with four RBI while Toler and Mullens drove in a. pair of runs each.
Hatfield led East with three hits and two RBI while four additional Lady Warriors notched two hits each.
