Liberty High Gets First Win Over City High in Emotional Season Opener

Ryan Murken Follow @rmmurken June 16, 2020

Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – On a night when it was easy to keep winning and losing in perspective, the baseball teams from Liberty High and City High honored Skyler Moss by playing a highly competitive season opener that was dominated by pitching.

Liberty High prevailed 2-0 as four pitchers combined for a no-hitter on Tuesday at Mercer Park.

Junior Cody Schroeder recorded the final three outs on the mound to secure Liberty High's first victory over City High in four tries.

Schroeder also scored the game’s first run in the fifth inning and drove in another run with a single in the seventh.

“I’m just glad we finally got to beat City High,” Schroeder said.

The circumstances surrounding Tuesday’s season opener were unusual to say the least.

In addition to playing during a global pandemic, and with new rules that adhere to social distancing, the game was also played with heavy hearts due to Moss’s struggle with testicular cancer that has now spread to his lungs.

Moss is an assistant coach for the Little Hawks, and a former standout baseball player at City High, and for the University of Iowa. And to see him fighting for his life has been rough on the players and coaches from City High.

City High head coach Brian Mitchell also served a one-game suspension on Tuesday for being ejected from City High’s final game last season in the playoffs, so he had to watch as a spectator, and with Moss on his mind.

Moss had been responding well to treatment, but Mitchell said Tuesday was a rough day for Moss, who graduated from City High in 2001.

“To able to get out here and play baseball, we’re here for the enjoyment of the game and I thought our kids really seemed like they enjoyed it,” Mitchell said. “But with Skyler on everybody’s mind, and understanding he had a rough day today, and hopefully, he’ll continue to bounce back.

“That’s what we talk about. Athletics prepares you for things down the road that you can’t even fathom and you’ve got to be tough.”

Moss, who pitched for City High in high school, was honored before Tuesday’s game, and then both pitching staffs honored him by performing well.

Senior Jacob Norris pitched the first two innings for the Lightning before being replaced by junior Keian Secrist, who then pitched three innings of no-hit ball.

Junior Ethan O’Donnell kept the no-hitter intact during the sixth inning and then Schroeder finished the job in the seventh.

“We were up two runs, I had two insurance runs and I just wanted to send them out,” Schroeder said.

Senior Tyler Dahm smacked a double over the head of City High centerfielder Eagan Smith in the top of the fifth and that allowed Schroeder to score from first base.

Dahm’s hit also seemed to energize the Lightning.

“We weren’t as aggressive, but then we started kicking in first strike fastballs and started putting the ball in play and making things happen,” Schroeder said.

Liberty head coach Tom Cronk wasn’t even aware of the no-hitter until listening to Schroeder be interviewed after the game.

“I had no idea until you just told Cody,” Cronk said. “We’re just trying to throw strikes and feel good. We had a plan. We have three more games this week, so we had it scripted on who was going to throw when and how it was going to go. We made a plan early in the week and now we’re executing it.”

Cronk had actually planned to use five pitchers in Tuesday’s game, but he used Secrist for three innings because his pitch count was so low.

“What it shows is we’ve got real good arm depth,” Cronk said. “I’ve got five, six guys that I feel real good about and then I’ve got other guys that can get outs as well. We’re just extremely lucky.

“These guys have paid their dues the last two years, and now physically, two years ago we were small and sophomores and now in two years we’ve worked hard and now we’re big and strong and we feel like we can play with just about anybody.”

Liberty was fortunate to get good pitching on a night when the bats for both teams were mostly silent.

Sophomore southpaw Cade Obermueller, who is the son of former Iowa and Major Leaguer pitcher Wes Obermueller, started on the mound for City High and allowed just three hits and had six strikeouts over five innings.

“It was a really good game,” Mitchell said. “I saw (Obermueller) on the mound throw one heck of a game. We know he’s going to be really good. Just to watch him compete on the mound was fun to watch.

“We made some minor mistakes here and there and they had great pitchers on the mound.”

The fact that Tuesday’s was even played was a victory by itself because the season appeared to be in jeopardy as the Coronavirus spread during the spring.

“It’s just fantastic,” Cronk said. “Our guys have been working hard for three years and they’re seniors and I’m so glad we had a season because they deserve it. Thursday night, we get to open up our new park and these guys deserve because they come to play every day and they work hard. And we’re lucky that the state is letting us play. There are a lot of states that aren’t getting that chance. We just feel extremely lucky and then you come out and we played real well tonight. Our pitching did a great job. That’s a real young team, but they are real talented and they’re going to win a lot of games.”