Liberty fastpitch falls in KingCo championship
Published 4:50 pm Monday, May 11, 2026
Liberty High School fastpitch head coach Joon Huh found his team in unfamiliar territory, but not unexpected, against the Inglemoor Vikings in their second meeting this season. The two teams collided in the 3A KingCo championship on May 8 and Liberty’s bats were missing the one clutch hit as they fell 2-0 to the Vikings.
The Patriots lost just their second game all season to Inglemoor, a side that has shown great promise this season.
It wasn’t like offensively the Patriots were bogged down — they had one more hit than the Vikings and drew more walks than Inglemoor as well. But when the Patriots had runners on base and in scoring position, that final push was not there.
“The one thing I told them is hey, there are going to be some games where Avery [Huh] gives up some runs, but we have to score. But on the positive side, we tagged the ball a handful of times. If one of those drops, it is a whole different ball game,” Huh said after the game.
The Patriots had to cancel their final regular season game of the year due to players being sick against Stanwood, a state title contender this season. Paired with a softer league schedule, there was a little skepticism from Huh heading into KingCo play.
“I was a little afraid they were going to be lethargic after our league play, which wasn’t quite up to par,” Huh said. “I think they are back. I was a little afraid a couple of days ago. If we keep hitting the ball like that, they will start dropping.”
Inglemoor played in the 4A division for their KingCo league schedule, just like Liberty last season during their state championship run. That isn’t the only similarity between these two sides and Huh has seen those characteristics from them all season.
“It had been a while since we had played a quality team. I had been telling people that team (points to Inglemoor) right there, looks like us last year,” Huh said. “I have been telling people, anybody that will listen, that is a team to look out for.”
Liberty’s Avery Huh in the circle allowed hard contact twice against Inglemoor and both of those swings allowed runs to score. Campbell Looney hit a one out triple in the third inning to take the lead for Inglemoor and the insurance run was added in the sixth from Emilie Desilet, who doubled.
The Patriots’ best opportunity to score came in the top half of the third inning. With the bases loaded and two out, up stepped Izzy Rockey. Arguably the Patriots’ hottest hitter this season, with a chance to break the game open, is exactly what Huh was looking for.
“There were two outs, and they were fighting. Sometimes you just come up a little bit short and we did. It was good to see,” Huh said.
With two strikes, Rockey lined a ball to centerfield and for about half a second, Liberty fans thought they were set to take the lead. But out in center, Sienna Tachell reached into the sky on a full stretch to reel in the line drive.
In the fifth, Berlyn Crockett was able to reach third on an error with the game still at 1-0. But the next two Patriots struck out, stranding the tying run on third base for the second time in the game.
The bottom half of Liberty’s offense had three of the four Liberty hits. They have come on as of late and have been integral to turning the lineup over.
“Early on in our season, the bottom of our lineup was the bottom. Over league play, they have been quite successful. I was a little concerned it was the level of competition. But today proved they can hit good pitching, which really brings a lot of confidence going into next week,” Huh said.
Liberty was given the No. 4 seed in the district tournament. They will play the winner of No. 12 Holy Names and No. 5 Roosevelt on May 12. It’s a winner-to-state game, but if Liberty falls, they still have an opportunity to reach the state tournament through the consolation bracket.
