On Wednesday, Palo Verde faced Liberty in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Palo Verde Panthers fell just short of the Liberty Patriots by a score of 6-5. Palo Verde was given a dose of their own medicine in this game as Liberty apparently hadn't forgotten their loss the last time these teams played back in May of 2022.
Drew Kaplan was huge while hitting and pitching even without the win. On the mound, he struck out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up no earned run off one hit (and only one walk). Kaplan has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Kaplan was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
In other pitching news, Mayson Reichartz was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out eight batters over 5.2 innings while giving up four earned (and one unearned) runs off three hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in five consecutive pitching appearances.
Back at the plate, Jace Jefferies made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole four bases while going 2-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Tanner Johns, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-4.
On Liberty's side, Nicholas Blakeney looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits (and only one walk).
At the plate, Liberty saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Shawn Mack, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, a triple, and an RBI.
Palo Verde has been struggling recently as they've lost four of their last five matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 15-10 record this season. As for Liberty, the win got them back to even at 13-13.
While Palo Verde had to take the loss, they won't have to wait long to give it another shot: the pair's next game is a rematch scheduled at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
