Liberty takes AA Region 3 Softball opener against Wyoming East

Glen Daniel - If you had a slugfest on your bingo card for game one of the Class AA Region 3 softball championship series, you were in luck.

Monday night Liberty and Wyoming East combined for 33 hits and a total of 20 runs.

Fortunately for the home team, two of those hits and four critical runs came off of the bat of junior centerfielder, Emma Hartshorn.

Narrowly missing a home run, Hartshorn ripped a bases loaded triple to give the Raiders what appeared to be a comfortable lead in the fourth inning.

As it played out, those three big runs were the ultimate difference in an 12-8 win for Liberty.

Game two moves to New Richmond Tuesday night.

"Wyoming East can hit," Liberty head coach Mary Green said. "We had an error there that cost us a couple runs, but other than that, we played pretty tight. Wyoming East got in a groove and started hitting for a minute. I told the girls to just tighten up and that calmed them down a little bit. They did what they had to do."

Prior to a rally from Wyoming East, Liberty ran out to an 11-2 lead, putting the visitors in danger of being run-ruled heading to the fifth inning.

The Raiders began to separate the game in the bottom of the second inning when Hartshorn ignited a five-run inning with her first triple of the game, scoring Maddie Cox.

A double from Maddie Toler scored Hartshorn and Katie Mullens drove in two runs with a solid single up the middle.

A single from Stella Brown moved the lead to 8-2 in the fourth before Hartshorn stepped in with the bases loaded, building what looked to be a comfortable nine-run lead.

"We usually don't do it, but we gave her a game ball today," Green said. "Emma came out swinging. She is always good, but she lit it up today. Her hits turned it around for us."

Needing two runs to stay alive in the contest, Wyoming East avoided the eight-run rule after five innings on a three-run homer from Alivia Monroe.

An inning later, the Warriors scored three more runs, capped by Mak Hatfield's third hit of the night and second RBI.

However, following a couple of tough innings, Liberty starter Maddie Cox returned to form securing the win with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out.

"She does really good under pressure," Green said about her pitcher. "You get her mad, or get her upset, that is when she starts throwing really, really good. We try to fire her up a little bit."

For Wyoming East head coach, Robert "Doc" Warner, it was a frustrating night with a close call that did not go his way and a pair of miscues in the outfield.

"We got a bad call at first base on a double play, and they scored four more runs after that," Warner said. "Then we had a (misplayed) fly ball out, and a (misplayed) fly ball on another out. We gave eight runs on a couple of bad plays."

The Warriors must win Tuesday to extend the series. A win for the Raiders will send them to the state softball tournament at Little Creek Park in South Charleston.

"We know what they got and they know what we got," Green said. "I think it is just going to be who makes the least amount of errors, for us anyway."

Warner is convinced it will be another slugfest at the War Zone.

"If we keep hitting the ball like today, we have a chance," Warner said. "It's going to take like 13 runs. We have to play clean though."