Liberty softball team ‘smacks the ball pretty good,’ uses three home runs to overtake Pittsfield

LIBERTY, Ill. — Ally Lefringhouse’s home run sparked the Liberty softball team’s comeback, Chandler John’s homer completed it, and Claire Obert’s slam put an exclamation point on it.

Lefringhouse got the Eagles within a run with a solo blast in the bottom of the third inning, John gave the Eagles a one-run lead with her three-run blast in the fifth, and Obert’s first career grand slam gave Liberty more than enough cushion to hold off Pittsfield 12-7 on Thursday.

“When we get on a roll, we can smack the ball pretty good,” Eagles coach BJ Fessler said.

Lefringhouse smacked the first pitch from Emma Wombles with two outs in the bottom of the third about 30 feet over the left-field fence, a far cry from her go-ahead home run in Liberty and Pittsfield’s first matchup of the season. Her two-run home run in the top of the eighth of that April 29 game bounced off the top of the center field wall.

There was little doubt about the most recent of her six home runs this season.

“She actually laid into that one,” Fessler said.

Lefringhouse was happy to see the ball sail well out of the park.

“I’m glad it wasn’t (a wall-scraper) because that one last time at Pittsfield kind of scared me,” Lefringhouse said.

There was also little question as to whether John’s lead-changing home run in the fifth that gave the Eagles an 8-6 advantage was going to leave the yard in left center. John made up for two tough at-bats prior to that homer.

“I wasn’t really having a good time hitting before because I’d struck out twice, but I really just went up there trying to get a bat on the ball, and I guess it worked,” John said.

As loud as the eruption from the Eagles players and fans was after John’s go-head longball, it was even louder when Obert belted a two-out grand slam in the sixth to stretch the Eagles’ lead to the final tally of 12-7.

Obert admitted if it was not for the strong breeze blowing out to left field, it likely would have been a double at best, if not a flyout.

“It hit off my handle,” Obert said. “I did not think it was gone at all.”

All Obert had to do was let the wind do the work.

“I did not think it was going over, but I was pretty hyped,” Obert said.

Fessler was just as excited in the third-base coaching box and was grinning from ear to ear as Obert rounded the bases.

“When those girls start smacking the ball around, I get pretty pumped up,” Fessler said. “They are fun to watch when they’re smacking the ball around.”

Pittsfield scored four unanswered runs in the second and third innings to take a 4-1 lead and drew within a run the half inning after John’s go-ahead home run. A Taylor Peebles two-out walk followed by a Josie McClintock infield single provided a minor scare to the Eagles in the seventh, but Anna Dietrich snared a line drive off the bat of Sophie Gengler to end the game.

Even with the loss, Saukees coach Ariana White believes her squad, which won its 20th game on May 10, is primed for postseason success.

“I think they’re ready to go,” White said. “They’re hitting the ball, and they’re doing the little things they need to be doing, so I think we’re ready for the postseason.”

The Eagles were just a few swings better in this matchup of teams that began the day with combined 40-12-1 records.

“The Liberty-Pittsfield matchup is never going to disappoint,” Fessler said. “It’s always going to bring the energy, always going to bring a bunch of hits and pitching power. It’s always going to be a good game.

“This helps us in the postseason, for sure. The more we can battle and trust ourselves that we can do it, the more that’s going to help us in our postseason run. The girls knowing they can do it, that should give them all the confidence they need to make that good postseason run.”

Eight of the nine Liberty starters recorded a hit, with Dietrich and Riley Fessler the only Eagles notching multiple hits.

Pittsfield leadoff hitter Torie Stambaugh had a hit and two walks and scored each time she was on base. Wombles, Simon and McClintock each had two hits, and Wombles led the Saukees with three RBIs.