Liberty baseball team advances with 2-0 victory

Riley Vogt tags out an Estancia runner at third base in Tuesday's game.  Liberty won, 2-0. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Liberty High School baseball team won its second-round game of the CIF Division 5 playoffs Tuesday afternoon, 2-0 over the Estancia Eagles.

The first inning was quick and scoreless, with both teams just having four batters each, and getting one hit each, but leaving that runner on base.

The second inning was similar for the Eagles but the Bison scored their first run in their half of the inning with a triple from Ian Slater followed by a double from DiAndrew Anderson that brought Slater home.

“We really have been preaching an opposite field approach,” said coach Scott Montgomery about teaching his team to face Estancia’s aggressive pitching. “And pretty much all our base hits were to the right side.”

Liberty totaled six base hits in the game, Anderson being the only player with more than one.

In the third inning, Riley Vogt, starting pitcher for Liberty, got three straight outs, followed by three quick strikeouts from Estancia pitcher Andrew Mits.

The Bison scored their next and last run in the fourth inning after two runners got on base via a walk and a hit by pitch. Vogt then laid down a bunt to sacrifice and bring in Johnathan Garcia, who had stolen third.

“It was kind of unconventional for Riley. He’s a ‘sit back and drive’ guy,” said Montgomery. “But we saw it present itself and I proposed it to him and he was committed to it. To his credit, he executed it really well.”

The Eagles came close to catching up with two runners on by a single and a walk in the next inning but didn’t capitalize thanks to Vogt’s last inning on the mound throwing his fourth and fifth strikeouts of the game.

Liberty looked to build a cushion on the score margin in the fifth with a leadoff single and double from De La Riva and Feidner respectively, but Mits caught De La Riva stealing second and threw two more quick outs to end the inning.

Cody Smith then took over for the Bison on the mound and retired three batters of the five he faced, making Estancia leave two on base without scoring.

But Mits was still going strong and held Liberty to just their two runs with a quick three outs, one of which came from Montgomery sending Anderson to third on a double to right-center. Anderson was tagged out at third but Montgomery said that’s part of the game when you’re that far into it with just a two-run lead.

“At the end when you’ve got runners on base, you try to keep your foot on the gas pedal,” said Montgomery. “I got a little aggressive bringing [Anderson] around and getting him thrown out at third, but I only know how to play one way, and that’s aggressive.”

The Bison went into the seventh needing just three outs to end the game. After walking one, Smith then handed the ball over to Koehn Freitas, who Montgomery said was always their plan for pitching the last inning.

Freitas struck out his first two then gave up a single to left field.

With two runners on, two outs and just a two-run lead, Freitas threw five pitches—a ball, a called strike, another ball, a foul, and finally the third strike that ended the game.

“I felt the pressure come on and I just had to shut ‘em down,” Freitas said.

The three pitchers combined for a total of eight strikeouts in the game, with five hits and three walks. Mits put up nine strikeouts for the Eagles with three walks and six hits.

It’s well-known that Liberty is up and coming with just juniors as their upperclassmen this year. This baseball team is adding to that storyline with now being the only baseball team left of the four Menifee schools still competing in the CIF playoffs.

“I said it before; we’re coming,” said Montgomery. “I can’t say enough about my boys. This is all history for them. They haven’t been a part of a game this big before. This is playoff baseball they’re learning, and it’s great to be on the right side of this victory.”

“I want people to know that we’re in the quarterfinals, the only school left in Menifee still in it. We’re doing this well without seniors,” said Smith. “Everybody wants to beat us because we’re new, but here we are.”

The Bison will head to Peninsula High in Palos Verdes for the third round of CIF this Friday at 3:15 p.m.

Riley Vogt was the starting and winning pitcher for Liberty on Tuesday. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

 Relief pitcher Koehn Freitas delivers a pitch during the Bison's victory. (Photo by Rick Rowell)