Coming off of big back-to-back losses to Tracy and Acalanes within the last week, Liberty baseball looked like they could’ve been a team that let the adversity of not having their head coach affect them.
Then came Monday’s game, in stormy weather, at Campolindo in Moraga.
The game was delayed an hour due to the rain throughout the Bay Area that day. However, instead of postponing or canceling the game, Campolindo insisted on playing Liberty. That decision to play might have changed Liberty’s trajectory heading into league play in two weeks.
“We got there and it was super rainy,” Lions pitcher Tristan Ainsworth said. “Their coach just wanted to play really bad. So, we got into a huddle before the game and (interim head coach Billy Rhodes) said that the coach wanted to play us because we’re down. He said to go out there and show them that we aren’t down and that we want to play.”
Rane Miller led off the game with a triple that turned into an inside-the-park home run as an errant throw to third brought him home. That run has sparked the Lions' turnaround, capped this week with their 6-2 tournament win at Las Lomas in Walnut Creek Wednesday afternoon in the final game of the Lamorinda Classic.
“I said we’d win three in a row,” Rhodes said. “I said we’re gonna sweep this thing. We are starting to roll a little bit and vibe and just mesh together as a team. I think it’s really helping the chemistry inside the dugout.”
Following back-to-back blowouts to Tracy and Acalanes who outscored the Lions 19-2, Liberty turned everything around through the last three days this week in the tournament. Miller’s triple-turned-inside-the-park home run sparked a Lions lineup that roared back for 15 runs in the last three days.
“Rane’s the spark plug,” Rhodes said. “Everybody on this team looks up to him as a leader. But they have a little fire in them and they’re playing right now like everybody’s out to get them, and everybody wants them right now because of everything that’s going on."
While the Lions' hitting has stepped up, their pitching has been just as stellar, allowing just three runs on a combined eight hits through the last three games.
Jake Farr threw the team’s first complete game on Monday, allowing a run on three hits, while Chayce Formosa and Miles Cornell combined for a three-hit shutout against Miramonte at home on Tuesday. Tristan Ainsworth and Josh Kelleher nearly combined for a no-hitter at Las Lomas until the Knights ended that with a bloop single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, then scored a pair of runs in the seventh to prevent the shutout.
The turnaround comes as head coach Andrew Lonsdale remains on administrative leave by the district due to alleged financial misconduct.
“We never forgot about him,” Ainsworth said. “Especially seeing him at school, you could tell he’s kind of down, so I think (the win streak) brings us up a little like, 'he’s gonna want to see us win'. We’re playing for him, knowing that his team is succeeding feels really good for all of us.”
Rhodes has taken over as the interim head coach through the last two weeks and the Lions are 4-2 with him at the helm. However, Rhodes remains steady that he is just keeping everything going until Lonsdale’s potential return.
”It’s still his job,” Rhodes said. “I’m not here to try to take anybody’s job. I’m going to keep us level and steady until he gets back here, and we’ll go from there.”
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