The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
NORTH LIBERTY — This has been a season of firsts for the Iowa City Liberty prep baseball program.
A first divisional title. A program-record 32 wins. But there is still one more carrot on the end of the stick for the Lightning.
“We know what is ahead of us,” Liberty Coach Uby Martinez said after Class 4A No. 6 Liberty advanced to the state tournament with a 6-5 victory over Linn-Mar in a substate final Wednesday night at Liberty High School. “We have been there three of the last four years. We know what it is going to take to win. … That is part of the checklist. We want to be the first team to win a game at the state tournament.”
Liberty (32-9) was eliminated in both of its first two state tournament appearances (2022, 2023). After a 12-inning marathon defeat to Pleasant Valley in last year’s substate final prevented a third trip to state in a row, the Lightning – which earned a No. 5 seed for the this year’s 4A state tournament – are eager for another opportunity to break through Tuesday at 5 against fourth-seeded Waukee Northwest (27-10) in Sioux City.
“That is the expectation, get to a substate final and see where we go from there,” said Liberty senior pitcher Mason Waterbury. “Hopefully go to state and this year we did. It is always fun. Teams are great and it is always a battle.”
Waterbury (4-0) used a whopping 98 pitches to post five strikeouts in six-plus innings. The lefty took the mound in the seventh inning with a 6-3 lead, but base hits from the first three Linn-Mar batters signaled Martinez to bring in Brady Zimmerman to close out the game. Linn-Mar got within one run at 6-5, but Zimmerman induced a lineout to second baseman Evan Schmierer to start the celebration.
“Any time he is on the mound, as a defense we know he is going to give us his best,” senior shortstop Cooper Hughes said of Waterbury. “Tonight he did and that is why we won.”
After Linn-Mar evened the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning, Hughes snatched the lead back for the Lightning at 4-3 in the bottom half with a two-out single that scored teammate Pryor Reiners. Hughes helped Liberty tack on two more runs in the sixth inning with a double that again scored Reiners.
“He is just kind of getting the tip of the iceberg,” Martinez said of Hughes. “He was thrown into the last state tournament team as a sophomore at third base, so he has some experience. … This year, offensively, he has been clutch when we needed him.”
Linn-Mar (20-21) used Liberty errors to score a run in the first inning and two more in the fourth. Colton Bergen and Toby Cruz each drove in runs for the Lions in the seventh.
Schmierer and freshman Reece Rettig each used effective bunts to drive in runs in the second inning, while seniors Dallas Miller and Brayden Mayer also posted RBIs for Liberty.
“Play our ball,” Miller said. “Play small ball. That is what we do and we just have to execute on everything. No errors.”
Comments: (319) 368-8877, [email protected]
