It was a run like no other. Somewhat expected though.

The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 baseball communities knew the Liberty High School baseball team was one of the best in the area in 2023, coming off a district title the year before. The Hurricanes proved their might during a dominant postseason run, which included five mercy-rule victories on their way to a second straight district championship last week.

Liberty, the second seed in the EPC tournament, took down Bethlehem Catholic 12-2 in the quarterfinal round, Nazareth 12-2 in the semifinals and then top-seeded Parkland 10-0 in the championship game. Entering districts as the first seed, the Hurricanes continued right where they left off, beating Northampton and then the Trojans, both 13-3, to take districts. They outscored their opponents by a total of 60-10 overall. Liberty is the first team to win both the conference and district titles since Parkland did it in 2015.

Liberty had three big innings and limited the Trojans to just one big inning, on its way to a five-inning victory last Wednesday night at DeSales University’s Weiland Park.

“Experience is a big advantage,” said head coach Kurt Weber. “Liberty went to the state final last year and returned everyone but one player.

“I knew last year at this time that they would be a huge challenge for us. And they added one player from injury who is now their ace pitcher and a sophomore catcher that moved in that is a Division 1 recruit. They are solid in all facets of the game. They can beat you in many ways. It was just a great team who got fire hot in the playoffs.”

After a scoreless first inning, Liberty’s JC Spinosa came through with the game’s first crucial hit. With the bases loaded and two outs, he hit the first pitch he saw just inside the foul line and to the wall in left field, clearing the bases with a three-run double. Reese D’Amico then had an RBI single in the next at-bat to push the lead to 4-0.

Parkland responded in the top of the third to the tune of three runs, all of the scoring it had during the game. Will Dobil led off with a single, which was followed by a walk to Michael Cole and a bunt single by Bo Barthol loaded the bases. Matt Razzis then brought home a run with a sacrifice fly, and Jaiden Wanamaker followed with an RBI hit. Barthol later crossed home thanks to an error to make it 4-3.

The Trojans also threatened to tie or take the lead in the top of the fourth, putting runners on the corners with two outs, but John Galgon induced a fly out to left field to end the frame and keep the score at 4-3.

“It looked promising there for a while, but they’re just a really good baseball team,” said Weber. “They do it in all phases: they pitch, they field, they run, they hit.”

In the bottom half of the fourth, the Hurricanes got some insurance thanks to a three-run inning, highlighted by a Spinosa RBI sacrifice fly and RBIs by Franklin Pichardo and Ayden Zabala for a 7-3 advantage.

Liberty then took full control of the game and put it away in the bottom of the fifth, batting around in the lineup, sending 10 hitters to the plate and scoring six runs. Spinosa, once again, had a big hand in the rally, lacing an RBI triple for his third hit of the night and fifth RBI.

Dylan Duborg was the starting pitcher for the Trojans and went three innings. Razzis was 2-for-2 in the lineup and each of Barthol, Wanamaker, Dobil and Andrew Klotz had one hit.

“Dylan did great for us,” Weber said. “There are no weak spots in their lineup. You can’t even catch a break or get to the bottom of lineup and say, ‘Hey, we have an easy inning.’”