Liberty Bell’s Eli Neitlich put the tag on Brewster’s Jeff Sonnegan at second base in the Mountain Lions’ 10-0 loss to the Bears.
The Liberty Bell High School baseball team stopped a three-game losing streak with a 7-1 win over Manson in the second half of a double-header at the Trojans’ home field on Saturday (April 13). Earlier in the week the Mountain Lions lost 10-0 at Brewster on April 10, and dropped the first game at Manson, 2-1.
Against the unbeaten, first-place Bears, Liberty Bell managed only two hits and had an uncharacteristic seven errors. Brewster scored its runs on just five hits. The game went five innings under the 10-run lead rule.
“I don’t have a lot to say about the Brewster game other than the boys did not play well enough to win,” Liberty Bell coach David Aspholm said. “It was one of those games that was not so much a win for Brewster as a loss by us. We had way too many physical and mental errors and their pitcher did an excellent job of keeping us off balance throughout the game. The Brewster team is very solid in the field, on the mound, and at the plate.”
Brewster is always a tough challenge for Liberty Bell, although the Mountain Lions had success against the Bears last season.
“They are disciplined and can hit the ball well,” Aspholm said of Brewster. “But I think we have a mental hurdle to overcome when we play them. We did not play loose. We had it in our mind that we needed to play a perfect game in order to win. Hopefully we can come back, have fun and play some baseball with them this coming Tuesday.”
Noah Holston and Leo Shaw had the Mountain Lions’ only hits. Brewster star Joe Taylor pitched all five innings, striking out eight.
Liberty Bell’s hitting drought continued in the first game at Manson, where the Mountain Lions again recorded just two hits. But they cleaned up their fielding with only one error, and pitcher David Kominak went 5 1/3 strong innings and had five strikeouts.
“Manson has seven seniors and the maturity showed in the field, at the plate and perhaps most importantly on the mound in the first game,” coach Aspholm said. “We came out a little flat and just could not get the bats going. They did not hit it much better (only four) but had just enough to win as they drove in the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.”
“I think we had multiple runners on base almost every inning but we just could not find a way to push them across the dish,” the coach added. Sam Neitlich and Shay Crandall had Liberty Bell’s hits.
“In the second game, we turned things around and the bats came alive,” the coach said. Starting pitcher Shay Crandall pitched 4 1/3 solid innings with eight strikeouts, allowing one run on three hits. Kominak and Peter Aspholm each had two hits as the team totaled 10.
“I was happy to see us rebound with some energy at the plate and really happy to see Shay throw the ball well,” coach Aspholm said. Aspholm also cited stellar defensive plays by Brady Moriarty, Jed McMillan and Kominak.
Liberty Bell is 3-3 in league play and 3-5 for the season. The Mountain Lions hosted Brewster on Tuesday (April 13), and will stay at home to face Waterville in a double-header starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday (April 20).
Brewster 10, Liberty Bell 0
Liberty Bell 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7
Brewster 0 2 2 3 3 10 5 1
Manson 2, Liberty Bell 1
Liberty Bell 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 1
Manson 1 0 0 0 0 1 x 2 4 4
Liberty Bell 7, Manson 1
Liberty Bell 1 0 0 0 2 2 2 7 10 1
Manson 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 4
