Peter Aspholm pitched six strong innings and drove in 3 runs as the Liberty Bell High School baseball team claimed an 11-1 home field win over Tonasket last Thursday (April 26).
Aspholm allowed only 3 hits and struck out 14. He didn’t walk a batter and the only Tonasket run was unearned.
Leo Shaw, Sam Neitlich, Quinton Knox and Aspholm each had 2 hits. Finlay Holston tripled and batted in 2 runs.
“The boys came out and swung the bats well,” Liberty Bell coach Michael Wilbur said. “We jumped on them early for five runs and then they brought in Ben Williams who shut us down for a few innings. We put together some better at bats as the game went on and were able to break out for more runs. This is a deep lineup, with guys up and down who can do damage.”
Aspholm’s ERA for the season now stands at 0.42. “I feel like he’s the best pitcher in the league right now and he seems to be just getting stronger,” Wilbur said.
“Tonasket is a playoff team and we went out and took care of business against them,” the coach added. “We felt like it was important not only to get the win but to win definitively and we managed to do that. We’re starting to find a little bit of swagger and I think that’s a good thing for us.”
Earlier in the week, Liberty Bell trampled Soap Lake, 21-5, in a road game. The Mountain Lions’ hits were spread evenly through the lineup, with Dusty Patterson and Shaw getting 2 each. Patterson had a double and batted in 4 runs. Reid Wengerd had a triple and 3 RBIs, while Aspholm, Cole Rhoades and Shay Crandall each batted in 2.
The Mountain Lions had 12 hits and 11 walks. Soap Lake committed 6 errors and only 11 of Liberty Bell’s runs were earned.
Knox started and was the winning pitcher, with 3 strikeouts in two innings. David Kominak pitched two innings and Rhoades finished up the final frame in the five-inning game.
Liberty Bell won a home field double-header by default on Saturday (April 28) when Oroville was not able to field enough eligible players.
The Mountain Lions, 13-2 in league play and 16-2 for the season, hosted Soap Lake on Tuesday (May 1) in the last regular-season game of the year. Playoffs start this weekend, with seeding depending on where qualifying teams finished in league standings. Liberty Bell looked to have second place locked up behind Brewster, the only team that has defeated the Mountain Lions this year.
