After a three-run first inning, Freedom held control of their quarterfinal matchup against Emmaus, but the Hornets finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three times to walk-off with a 4-3 win. The loss eliminated Freedom from the EPC Playoffs, and puts Emmaus into the semifinals against Parkland.

For six innings, Alec Huertas had things well under control. He started the seventh by striking out Zach Schrader and still had a shot at finishing the game under the 100-pitch rule. Unfortunately for Huertas and Freedom, Evan Marushak battled Huertas through a long at-bat that resulted in a one-out double, but also pushed Huertas to 104 pitches in the game, forcing him off the mound.

“I don’t look at, I know it’s there and I knew it would come into play, it always does,” said Freedom coach Nick D’Amico. “It’s a shame, because that’s a guy who was throwing well and he could have probably finished the game, but we have to step up and do the job and we didn’t do that.”

David Smith came on to pitch, inheriting a runner on second with one out and a 3-1 Liberty lead. A wild pitch and a line drive single to center pushed Marushak home and made it 3-2. Eric Cichocki followed with an RBI double to tie the game and Wyatt Henseler was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second for Taden Gery. The Emmaus third baseman lifted a long fly ball to left center field that sailed past the outfielders for an RBI double, plating the winning run for Emmaus.

Liberty had jumped on Emmaus starter Matt Lanzone for three first inning runs. Jonah Mateo walked on four pitches to open the game and then stole second. Jake Petro put down a perfectly executed bunt to put runners on the corners with nobody out. On a designed play, Petro took off early for second and when Lanzone threw over, Mateo broke for home and was gunned down at the plate for the first out of the inning.

Tim Healey then hit a ground ball to short that Cichocki threw to third in an attempt to get Petro, who initially was called out on the play, but after D’Amico argued the call, the umpires conferred and changed the call to safe. Evan Callahan then hit a long double to center field that plated two runs, and on a play at the plate, Callahan moved to third. Huertas followed with a sacrifice fly to left and Freedom quickly had a 3-0 lead.

Huertas allowed two first inning walks and hit a batter in the third inning, but didn’t give up a hit until the fourth, when Gery reached on an infield single. Kellan Tulio later singled to drive home Emmaus’ first run of the game, cutting it to a 3-1 lead for the Patriots. Huertas regrouped and retired seven straight hitters before he would give up another hit.

D’Amico was excited about his team’s play in the first inning, but would have liked to see more consistent approaches at the plate throughout the game.

“That’s a good pitcher, and we scored three runs early, then we kind of got a little quiet and he shut us down, and that’s a credit to him,” said D’Amico. “We’ve got to do a better job and put some pressure on him. We went one-two-three a few innings in a row and you can’t do that.”

Freedom is eliminated from the EPC Playoffs, but will return to play next week in the District 11 Playoffs. Their first opponent won’t be known until the district seedings are announced over the weekend.

“We have to learn from our mistakes,” said D’Amico. “Unless they win the EPC, we’re probably going see them again. They beat us twice now, so we have to come back and see what we can do to fix our swings against that pitcher and come back and do a good job against them.”