Finish third in district
SPOKANE – Fast bats and stout defense moved the Liberty Lancers through the first two games of the 2B Bi-County District Tournament on May 20 at Merkel Sports Complex. Finishing third in district by the end of the day, they just missed a trip to state this season.
The Lancers knew they would have a lot of work to do going into the tournament, as they took the field to face off against the Asotin Panthers. A high-powered offense put the ball in play early and often, putting the Lancers out in front by a sizeable margin.
Liberty would go up by as much as 10 points by the fourth inning, but the Panthers would try to mount a comeback. An effort that was squashed after Asotin was able to bring in four runs.
The Lancers weren't finished however, and a late game home run put another tic on the scoreboard taking the score to 15-8 in favor of Liberty.
Between games, a pair of Lancers were awarded with all team honors. Hailey Carter was given Second Team All-League Honors, and pitcher Jordyn Jeske was added to the ballot for First Team All-League Honors.
After taming the Panthers, Liberty moved on to face Chewelah after the Cougars defeated the Lind-Ritzville Broncos.
The Cougars held Liberty scoreless for the first three innings in this matchup. With zeroes across the board however, the Lancers would get two runners across the plate after a triple to right field.
Chewelah didn't back down and was able to score a run in the bottom of the fourth. The Lancers added two more in the fifth to get a little breathing room, and their defense would stand strong for the remainder of the game.
Liberty pitcher Jordyn Jeske worked the plate and chewed up the Chewelah batters, allowing no more runs for the game.
Adding three more runs in the final inning, the Lancers won that game 7-1 then went on to play their third game of the afternoon.
The toughest matchup of the day came next as the Lancers had to square off with the Colfax Bulldogs.
Colfax played a very strategic game at the plate early on. The Bulldogs did some intelligent baserunning as well, advancing at every opportunity.
The Lancers couldn't slow the steady advance, and through bunting, stealing bases, and playing a smart game all around Colfax shut out the Lancers 11-0 bringing their season to an end.
Matthew graduated from West Virginia University-Parkersburg in 2011 with a journalism degree. He's an award-winning photographer and enjoys writing stories about people.
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