The Liberty Patriots will head out on the road to challenge the Eastlake Wolves at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Liberty will be strutting in after a win while Eastlake will be coming in after a defeat.
Liberty will roll into the match after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up one run on Monday, then bounced right back against Lake Washington on Wednesday. The Patriots were the clear victors by a 10-2 margin over the Kangaroos. The Patriots have beaten the Kangaroos the last three times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Kangaroos has come to flipping the script.
Avery Huh was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over 3.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). Huh was also big at the plate, scoring a run while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Liberty let Emi Connell and Kaila Siu run wild. Connell went 1-for-3 with one home run and four RBI, while Siu went 1-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. That's the most RBI Siu has posted since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Isabella Rockey, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Eastlake came up short against Redmond on Wednesday and fell 8-5. The loss continues a trend for the Wolves in their meetings with the Mustangs: they've now lost three in a row.
Eastlake saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Macie Parthemer, who went 1-for-4 with three RBI and one double.
Liberty's record is now 9-7. As for Eastlake, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-6.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Liberty hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.9 home runs per game. However, it's not like Eastlake struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.8 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Liberty came out on top in a nail-biter against Eastlake when the teams last played back in March, sneaking past 7-5. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Patriots since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
