The Liberty Hurricanes were crowned Eastern Pennsylvania Conference baseball champions after defeating Bethlehem Catholic, 12-2, in six innings in the conference final on May 17 at DeSales University.

“We were disciplined at the plate tonight and we played good defense for the most part, ran the bases,” said Liberty coach Andy Pitsilos. “They’re a good team over there. Coach Corsi has them playing really well.”

Becahi took a 2-0 lead on Petros Tsihlis’ RBI double to the center field fence and Dylan Pyle’s RBI line drive to right field on his first pitch.

“Jumped on them early,” said Becahi coach Matt Corsi. “No excuses but battling some injuries all plays into it, and when you give a team like that a chance, they’re gonna capitalize on it. When you face good teams, you’ve got to limit the errors. They’re a very good baseball team. They’re not 10 runs better than us, but today they were.”

Franklin Pichardo’s RBI single put the Hurricanes on the scoreboard, and Paul Erfle’s RBI tied the game in the bottom of the third inning.

“I saw the first pitch great, and I was like, just give me a fastball, and I’m gonna try and jump on it, and that’s what he did, so I got all over it and tried to get it right up the middle,” Erfle said. “We were always confident, and we knew that two runs was never gonna be enough, so we just needed to do our job and score runs.”

Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, Justin Goire walked and Dayton Aguiar reached first base on an error as Liberty’s fourth run scored.

Becahi pitcher Phil Taylor led off the fourth inning with a hit to shallow left field, but Liberty pitcher Luke Piripavel forced three straight outs.

“In the first inning, I didn’t have my curveball, but as the game went on, it got a lot better and it kept them off balance because they were hitting my fastball,” Piripavel said. “I had to bear down, and I realized I wasn’t throwing a lot of strikes, so I had to do the job.”

Becahi’s Jeremy Fyrer replaced Taylor on the pitching mound to start the bottom of the fourth inning when Erfle’s sacrifice fly plated one run for the Hurricanes.

“It’s really exciting,” said Erfle. “I love doing it with my guys. They’re all family, so it’s the best.”

The Golden Hawks left Collin Peacock and Caden Deegan stranded in the fifth inning when Michael Mariano, Jr. relieved Piripavel to close it out.

“All year, I’ve been relief, mainly, and I’ve been put in a lot of tough situations throughout the year, and I’ve been able to make the best out of it, getting out of innings, doing my part as much as I can do, so it felt really good getting the opportunity to be in a championship game, under the lights, and finish this game off for the boys,” Mariano said.

Tsihlis pitched the bottom of the fifth for the Hawks when Liberty increased its lead on a 2 RBI line drive up the middle by Jacob Rivera, two Becahi errors, Erfle’s base hit to right field, and a 2 RBI double to the center field fence by Piripavel.

“We were up a lot, but you always want to have a good at bat and that’s what I tried to do,” said Piripavel. “I could definitely tell it was hit good.”

Mariano struck out Becahi’s first two batters in the top of the sixth inning before Joseph Casciano’s single up the middle and a ground out.

“Only fastballs. That’s all you really need to get the job done,” Mariano said. “It feels great. It’s my first medal and hopefully not my last. Every kid dreams of winning a championship and it feels great.”

Nicholas Zumas reached first base in the bottom of the sixth after his fly ball dropped in a collision in Becahi’s outfield, and Noah Gyauch-Quirk’s single to right plated the mercy-rule run for the Hurricanes.

“The heart in the guys...They got down but they kept fighting and our offense kept pounding away, and we were fortunate to come up on the winning side,” Pitsilos said.

Also on the winning side was a substantial student section supporting the Hurricanes.

“A lot of these guys are my best friends. A lot of them play other sports, and we go to their games, so it’s awesome to see them here,” said Piripavel.