Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – The final play of Liberty High’s doubleheader with Class 3A top-ranked Dubuque Wahlert on Thursday was a summation of the entire night for the Lightning.

With two outs and the tying run on second base Liberty High junior Ava Tague smashed a line drive toward the left center field gap.

Dubuque Wahlert freshman leftfield Claire Brosius made a game-ending, back-to-the-infield catch that preserved a 4-3 win for the Golden Eagles.

That was Thursday night in a nutshell for Liberty High.

Close but no wins.

Dubuque Wahlert won the opener 7-5 and added the 4-3 win in the nightcap to sweep Liberty High in a Mississippi Valley Conference cross-division doubleheader in North Liberty.

We were close, we played really, really well and they were super fun games to watch we just didn’t get the breaks,” Liberty High coach Hannah Cole said. “We are leaving a lot of runners on base and they made a lot of really, really good plays but we are right there.”

Liberty High was right there all night.

The Lightning tied the opener at 5-5 in the top of the sixth inning on a two-out RBI single by Kinley Jones.

Dubuque Wahlert (20-2) scored twice in the top of the seventh on its way to a 7-5 win in the opener.

The Lightning got as close as 4-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth in game two but hit into some bad luck as Loxton Brohn lined into a double play to end the inning.

Liberty High has now lost four straight after being swept by 5A second-ranked Linn-Mar earlier in the week and dropped to 12-12 on the season with the two losses Thursday.

Still, the Lightning now they are close to a breakthrough.

“That has been our message to our team is that we all feel like we are right there,” Cole said. “We are on the edge of something truly, truly great but we have to keep battling and these close games are really good for us.”

There were plenty of positives for Liberty High in every facet on Thursday.

Starting pitchers Kaelyn Rickels and Ellie Tague both had solid starts, the Lightning played solid defense and made several exceptional plays in the field.

Rickels allowed seven runs, six earned on 11 hits with five strikeouts in the opener.

Tague gave up four runs, two earned, on five hits while striking out two and walking one in the nightcap.

“They both have been awesome,” Cole said of Rickels and Tague. “They work hard together and they challenge each other and they’ve been really great. They are stepping up in a big way.”

On offense Liberty High had 16 hits in the double header four coming from freshman Aubrey Robertson who had two hits and a double in both games.

“We didn’t give up and that’s a big thing for us,” Cole said. “We have a lot of people in new places and we’ve had a lot of things changing but we are having so much fun with it and the girls are working so, so hard to get over that hump and I think we are right there. I think we are about to come up on something great.”

Dubuque Wahlert took a 4-1 lead with a pair of runs in the sixth inning of the nightcap but Liberty High answered back.

Kennedy Connor led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and freshman Alice Freemole followed with a single.

Robertson had an RBI single to cut the lead and the Lightning added another run on a Golden Eagle fielding error.
Liberty High the bases loaded with one out in the sixth but Bruhn’s smash to first was caught by Hayley Lang who stepped on first for a double play.

Liberty High had a chance to tie in the bottom of the seventh when Katherine Prahm led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a Jones sacrifice bunt.

However, Brosius tracked down the deep fly ball by Tague on the warning track to secure the win.

“It excites me because I don’t think we’ve seen our peak yet,” Cole said. “I am so excited to see us peak because we are on the edge of something great and when we get there I am excited to see them soar.”

Game 1

Dubuque Wahlert              000  320  2  –  7  11  3

Liberty High                         100  022  0  –  5   9   1

W –Julia Roth                         L – Kaelyn Rickels

2B – DW: Sadie Schultz. ICL: Aubrey Robertson

Game 2                      

Dubuque Wahlert               010  102  0  –  4  5  0

Liberty High                         000  102  0  –  3  7  2

W – Camryn Theisen                    L – Ellie Tague           SV – Natalie Ruba

2B – DW: Sieverding. ICL: Aubrey Robertson

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