Liberty baseball team's season ends in 5-4 playoff loss

A Liberty player slides safely into second base during Tuesday's game. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Liberty High baseball team finished its season with a 5-4 loss against Montebello at home Tuesday afternoon in the second round of the CIF-SS playoffs.

The Bison had the lead as late as the bottom of the fifth inning, thanks to a home run from senior DJ Anderson that scored two runs and gave Liberty their first lead in the game with a score of 4-3. But the next Oiler at-bats had the bases loaded quickly and two runs in before they had their second out.

Although close, Logan Paad shut down the Montebello offense in the final inning, the Bison had only one answering hit and no answering runs and the game ended 5-4 for the Oilers.

Before the home run by Anderson, the Bison bats had a few bursts of energy, but nothing like the power of that hit over the center field fence.

“It felt great that it kept carrying and went over. It was nice to give my team the momentum change in the game,” Anderson said of his home run.

Evan Gonzalez, the designated hitter, and center fielder Luis De La Riva had the first run and RBI that got the Bison on the board in the bottom of the third with a double and single, respectively. Landen Spicer had a single in the fourth that tied the game at 2-2 before Montebello took the 3-2 lead that set the stage for Anderson’s home run.

From the mound, Liberty used four different pitchers: Starter David Kirk, Cody Smith, Koehn Freitas and Paad, who all threw over 50 percent strikes. Smith, who pitched to the most batters, threw 60 percent.

For head coach Scott Montgomery, his sadness in having to let seniors like Anderson go this year is slightly sweetened by the fact that each of those four pitchers will return next season.

“I’m excited for who we have coming back,” he said. “They’re buying in to what we’re preaching and it’s starting to show. They gained a great experience here for the following years and that’s a benefit for us.”

As for the offensive performance, the Bison actually out-hit the Oilers with 10 hits to their nine. But Montgomery said the outcome partly came down to nerves that had built up over the past week.

“It’s a blessing and a curse to get a bye game first round,” he said. “There was a little rust there.”

Ultimately, he feels like his team showed what really matters.

“I told the boys that I was really proud of the way they competed today,” he said. “The ball didn’t bounce our way a couple times but that didn’t defeat them and they continued to compete. I was happy with the character of these guys. It really showed through today.”
As one of the eight -- first ever -- graduating seniors, Anderson smiled as he talked about what this last game meant to him.

“I just feel like I really left it all out there on the field today,” he said. “I want people to know we’re a hard-working team and we’re resilient. I don’t have any regrets.”

Liberty finished the season with an overall record of 16-4, having clinched their league title with a 14-1 league record.

Liberty catcher Austin Cholodenko prepares to tag out a runner at home. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

 DJ Anderson connects for a two-run home run for Liberty. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

 Jake Feidner heads on his way to a triple for the Liberty Bison. (Photo by Rick Rowell)