Lake County Liberty ringing up the wins
After winning both of its games in the recent rain-shortened Oak Lawn tournament, the 18-and-under Lake County Liberty of the Lake County Fastpitch Softball Association returned from the 2008 Pennsbury Invitational victorious again.
Playing a few miles from the Liberty Bell in nearby Philadelphia, the Liberty rang up a first-place finish, going 5-0.
Pennsbury, one of the most highly regarded college showcase tournaments in the country, was host to 90 teams and over 200 college coaches. The invitation-only tournament was preceded by a National Fastpitch Coaches Association recruiting skills camp.
The Liberty never trailed in any game during the entire event. Lake County bats pounded out 40 runs and 53 hits in the five-game tournament, while Liberty pitchers pounded the strike zone for 36 strikeouts, allowing only 3 walks and 8 runs.
The Liberty started the tournament by pulling the plug on the Pittsburgh Power in a five-inning 13-1 jolting. Lake County belted 18 hits, led by Alex Booker's 4-for-4 performance.
Booker, an incoming junior at Warren, started the scoring with one out in the top of the first by slamming an opposite-field home run to left field. She added a double, scored 4 runs and drove in three.
First baseman Lindsay Callanan (Antioch), who will play at the University of Northern Iowa, added a single, double, 2 stolen bases, 3 runs scored and 2 RBI. Missy Green (New Trier) ripped a single and triple and drove in four. Hannah Karstedt (Lakes), Meghan Iles (McHenry) and Maddi Tropp-Bluestone (Glenbrook North) tallied 2 hits apiece.
Winning pitcher Emily Ott (Maine West) helped her own cause with a run-scoring double and allowed only 1 run on 3 hits in going the distance for the victory.
In its second game, the Liberty took on New Jersey's West Deptford Storm. Again the Liberty jumped on the board in the first inning, scoring 4 runs en route to a 12-1 five-inning romp behind the 2-hit pitching of Courtney Ryan (Carmel). Ryan also chipped in with 2 hits. Ott (3-for-3) had a second-inning bases-loaded triple and added another RBI two innings later.
Ott also mopped up in the circle, striking out the side in her only inning of relief. Booker had 3 hits, 2 stolen bases and 3 runs scored. Iles added 2 hits and 2 RBI. Maggie O'Brien (Cary-Grove), Maddie Riordan (Lakes) and Dani Gore (Hersey) each contributed a single.
Game 3 saw the Liberty pitted against the Massachusetts Fire N Ice from Boston. For a second consecutive game the Liberty scored 4 first-inning runs and never looked back, beating the Beantowners by a 4-1 final.
Ott fanned 11 as she cruised to another complete-game victory. Her 2-run double in the first provided the winning runs. Callanan singled and drove in a run, while Jessi Borre (Lake Zurich) scored the fourth run with a hard slide under the catcher's tag on a bang-bang play at the plate. Kyra Boyer (Lake Zurich) added a single and stolen base, and Jenna Depa (Maine West) also had a single and started a rally-killing double play.
The Jersey Revenge was Lake County's next opponent and held the Liberty close for the first two innings, before the Liberty prevailed 8-4.
Ryan picked up the win in relief of Iles. Ott closed out the game by whiffing four of the five batters she faced.
After the Liberty scored three in the top of the first on hits by O'Brien, Booker and Ott, Jersey got revenge with three of its own in the bottom of the frame. The Liberty regained the lead on a towering solo home run by Tropp-Bluestone in the second, only to see the Revenge get even at 4-4 later that inning.
Lake County finally broke out with 4 more runs in the third to seal the victory.
O'Brien starred for the Liberty with 2 hits, 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored, one of which came on an acrobatic dive to touch home plate after eluding the catcher's tag. She also made a highlight-reel diving catch in deep left-center to thwart a late-inning Jersey rally.
Callanan had a single and 2 RBI. Booker, Riordan, Ott, and Dani Gore each chipped in with a hit.
Against the undefeated hometown Newtown Rock in its final game, the Liberty took a 1-0 lead in the third, which Depa started by drawing a walk. Consecutive singles by Booker, Callanan and Ott put Lake County on top.
The Rock answered in the bottom of the third on a two-out single to left to tie the game and had the lead run racing for the plate. However, the Liberty belles refused to crack. A strong throw home by left fielder Karstedt to catcher Tropp-Bluestone sent the would-be lead runner retreating to third base where she was nailed by a Tropp-Bluestone throw to third baseman Missy Green.
Gore then led off the fourth inning for the Liberty by getting hit by a pitch. Tropp-Bluestone promptly launched the next pitch over the left-field fence for a long home run to give the Liberty a 3-1 lead it never relinquished. Ott shut down the Rock the rest of the way, striking out five in picking up her third complete-game win and a first place finish for the Liberty.