In preseason, things seemed to be going well for the Liberty boys baseball team. The team started 3-0 and were confident going into Kingco league-play.
And then they lost three games in a row.
Morale on the team took a hit, and suddenly the team wasn’t quite so sure about how the rest of the season was going to go. Luckily, team manager Koko Haselman knew just who to call: her father, ex-MLB player and coach Bill Haselman.
“He told us to play the game the way we’ve always played it: with heart,” senior pitcher Chase Archibald said. “When you mess up on a play, you keep your head up and get the next one. When your teammates mess up, you pick them up too.”
With this advice in mind, the team has won eight of their last nine games and has implemented Coach Haselman’s philosophy in their practices and games.
“It has given us the ability to believe in ourselves even at our lowest points,” Archibald said.
Regardless of the slightly rough start, following this advice, the Liberty boys baseball team has been hitting the ball out of the park with their success this year, with an overall record of 13-5.
The team’s success has stemmed from a multitude of places. With a strong core of nine returning seniors this year, the team has a solid foundation and a sense of trust developed over four years of playing Liberty baseball together.
“A lot of our success has to do with experience and the chemistry of the team. We’re really comfortable around one another, and it has led to a good sense of camaraderie,” senior captain Parker Coleman said.
With so many seniors on the team, leadership has flourished as the upperclassman help in the development and mentoring of younger players in both the technical and mental aspects of the game.
“The seniors are very inclusive to the underclassmen on both the Varsity and JV teams. We practice together every day so the seniors mentor and teach the underclassmen on aspects of the physical and mental parts of the game,” head coach John Martin said.
This has ultimately culminated in much success on the field, particularly in the pitching and hitting aspects of the game. The team has an overall batting average of 0.309 percent with seniors Kai Alberghini and Jacob Thorensen and sophomore Brandon Toy leading the team in hits with 20, 17, and 17 hits respectively. On the mound Chase Archibald leads the team as the pitcher, striking out 39 batters.
Overall, the team is motivated to continue their success and is looking toward the rest of the season with high hopes and heads held high.
“Our ultimate goal this season is to win the state championship,” Martin said. “We will take it one game at a time and continue the journey to the next level.”