Liberty baseball wins on wild pitch over Kentridge

Published 10:53 am Friday, March 20, 2026

Starting pitching reigned supreme on a Thursday afternoon as Liberty High School’s baseball team faced its toughest challenge yet — and passed the test.

The Patriots (3-0) rode momentum behind a strong start from sophomore Tate Tuininga and eked out a 2-1 victory over Kentridge (1-2) on March 19. It’s a regional rivalry in terms of distance between these schools and some familiar faces for Liberty head coach Zach Beatty.

“This is the best team we have played out of the three. I went to Kentridge so I know these guys (Sheldon and Shane Stober) very well and played with them growing up. … We pulled it together when we needed to and made plays when we needed to,” Beatty said.

Liberty went into the seventh with a 1-0 lead, but after a Kentridge run tied the game in the top half of the final inning, Liberty responded. With two outs, and Brady Carroll on third base, a wild pitch escaped Kentridge catcher Josh Lueck and Carroll used his speed to walk-off the Chargers.

Runs came at a premium during the game, and taking the elements into account offense was going to be hard to come by. Elements aside, this was one of the best starting pitching matchups of the year.

Tuininga was paired up with Kentridge junior Akoni Nazarino, both right-handed flamethrowers. In his three innings of work, Tuininga struck out six, and didn’t allow a hit or run.

“Props to him, he threw a gem. I wanted to compete at the same level as him,” Kentridge starter Akoni Nazarino said.

Only two Kentridge hitters reached base, one via an error and the other a walk. His fastball was dominant and when his off-speed and breaking pitches supplement the fastball, the sophomore is as dominant as one gets.

“He settled in and was grooving. … It was a pitcher battle for the first five innings, but Tate looked great,” Beatty said.

On offense, Liberty couldn’t quite put enough hits together to mount a rally until the fifth inning. Connor Mayer reached base twice and Tristan Klein also reached base twice. But Mayer in that third spot in the order looked the part against the Chargers.

“He’s our de facto leader, he’s our senior. He does what I expect him to. That is exactly what we need out of him,” Beatty said.

The game’s first run came from an unlikely source, Matthew Bligh. The freshman was called up from junior varsity before the game and was told to pinch hit with one out and a runner on third base. Bligh slapped a single to right field, sneaking through the Charger infield, which was in for the play at home.

“It’s a good feeling when you’ve got a freshman and you feel like you can trust him. He’s got some good bat to ball skills, so it felt like the right moment to bring him up and he got the job done,” Beatty said.

Kentridge manufactured a run with one out and runners on first and second, with a single to left field, to tie the game at 1-1. The bottom of the lineup would come through once again for Beatty in the home seventh. After being subbed out for his last at-bat for Bligh, Brady Carroll was hit by a pitch and advanced to first to start the two-out rally.

After two wild pitches, he moved up to third base. With two out and two strikes on Griffin Ellsworth, extra innings were knocking on the door. But on Landon Todd’s 2-2 pitch, it narrowly got out of the reach of the Kentridge catcher Josh Lueck and Carroll sprinted home for the winning run.

“That’s our little speed demon. That kid’s got wheels. … He was there at the right spot and scored the game winning run,” Beatty said.

Liberty plays Juanita on March 21 for their final game before KingCo play begins with a series against Interlake on March 25-27.