The Liberty Bell High School boys split a baseball double-header with the Lake Roosevelt Raiders on Friday afternoon (March 31) in the Mountain Lions’ home opening series. Liberty Bell won game one, 7-3, and the Raiders took game two by a score of 8-6.
The Mountain Lions took advantage early of Raider miscues, scoring three runs in the first inning of the opener. Jake Grady’s touch of the plate was the only earned run of the game as Liberty Bell parlayed hits, errors and passed balls into three tallies.
Liberty Bell would score one run in each of the third through seventh innings, all unearned and fostered by fielding and throwing errors by Lake Roosevelt. The Raiders scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning, tagging starter Lucien Paz with four consecutive singles. But then, as quickly as Paz’s command on the mound went away, he suddenly regained control, earning a swinging strikeout, a grounder to shortstop and capturing the final out on a called third strike.
In game two, the Mountain Lions wasted no time jumping out in front to a 3-1 lead as pitcher Damon Alumbaugh recorded three strikeouts and got out of the inning unscathed after also giving up two hits.
The Raiders tied the game at three apiece in the top of the third. Crandall led off the Mountain Lion third legging out an infield dribbler to second base for a base hit, stole second and on a ground out to shortstop by Lucien Paz. Alumbaugh and Remi Paz both reached base on hits, scoring on a fielder’s choice compounded by an errant throw from first to home plate and Liberty Bell was up 6-3.
Then Tanner Kiser, Lake Roosevelt’s ace hurler, bore down, shutting out the Mountain Lions from the fourth inning on facing only 14 batters, surrendering just two hits and walking only one while the Raider bats came alive, scoring five runs on seven hits over those same four innings.
“We’re still struggling a bit at the plate,” said Liberty Bell coach David Aspholm. “But we did have some good defensive effort and our guys did pitch fairly well. We just have a few things to work on.” Indeed, both Lucien Paz and Alumbaugh pitched fairly well, but the two errors and the inability to come up with one or two keys hits in the second game seemed to be the differences between game one and two on a cool and somewhat blustery day.
The Mountain Lions take a week off for spring break, then pick up the home schedule again on April 11 as they entertain the Brewster Bears at 4:30 p.m. The Bears lead the CW2B at 6-0, and the Mountain Lions, at 3-3 in league and 3-5, overall are in a virtual tie with Lake Roosevelt in second place.
Softball
Lake Roosevelt’s Raider’s came into the valley last Friday afternoon to open the Mountain Lions’ home season and left with two solid wins over the young Liberty Bell team, 13-0 and 20-0. Both games ended prematurely on the 10-run mercy rule, the second game called in the second inning after a Lake Roosevelt player suffered a leg injury sliding into second base, significant enough to require response from the local ambulance service and transport to a hospital.
The Mountain Lions played a single game at Lake Roosevelt earlier on Tuesday, the Raiders winning that game 15-0. On Thursday it was on to Chelan for a single game, the Mountain Lions picking up their second win of the season with a 17-7 win over the Goats. Liberty Bell’s season record is 2-4 overall, 1-3 in CW2B action.
Tennis
Like softball, the Mountain Lion tennis team had a rough go of things in their home opener against a tough Manson Trojan team, both boys and girls falling by 4-1 match scores on the courts on the Methow Valley campus last Wednesday (March 29).
There were a couple of bright spots, though. Mountain Lions boys pair Connor Herlihy and Gannet Fisher continued their undefeated streak with a full-set 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win. The win runs their record to 6-0 for the season.
Amelia Evans picked up the only other match for LBH with her 6-4, 6-2 win. Ellie Blank dropped her match 3-6, 2-6, but the good news there is that she returned to the court after a short absence dealing with an aggravation of an injury.
The Mountain Lions will entertain Oroville this coming Monday (April 10) beginning at 4 p.m., followed by another 4 p.m. home match versus Lake Roosevelt on Wednesday, April 12.
Track and field
Liberty Bell athletes continued their early-season successes at the first of several Central Washington 2B league meets on a brand new track at Oroville High School last Thursday (March 30). Several more personal records were set by Mountain Lions, including Hunter Wolak in the 400-meter dash, Tristan Hover and George Chavez-Hernandez in the 800M, Hover again in the 1,600M, and Riley Lidey in the long jump.
On the girls’ side, new personal records were set by Nina Kominak, Valeria Huitron and Lucy Riggs in the 100M, Kominak and Nella Belcher in the 200M, Belcher in the 400M, Marit Nelson in the 3,200M, and Huitron and Kady Hammer in the shot put.
Audrey Roman (200M), Marit Nelson (3,200M), and Liberty Bell’s 4×400 relay team of Hernandez, Roman, Nelson and Leki Albright all took 1st-place ribbons in the girls’ meet. For the boys, Lidey in the 100M and long jump, Kyler Mitchell running the 400M, Aksel Thomson in the 800M, Will Halpin in the 1,600M and Fischer Edwards in the javelin all won 1st-place awards. Mitchell, Thomson, Morgan Spellman and Holden Riggs took 1st in the 4x100M relay. Mitchell and Thomson were joined by Halpin and John Chavez-Hernandez to win the 4x400M relay.
Coach Erik Brooks was once again pleased with his charges, and singled out some outstanding performances. “ Kady Hammer did an amazing job of filling in as our anchor leg on the first girls’ 4x200M relay that we have run since 2019,” wrote Brooks in an email.
Like all other sports, track and field takes a break for spring vacation and returns to action next at Cashmere on April 15.
