Liberty Lions grab share of Patriot Lead

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: May 3, 2022

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

ECS staff report

Liberty Charter 9, Ocean View Christian 8

LEMON GROVE — In a battle battle for first place in the Patriot League, Liberty Charter pitcherrs Jaxon Adrain and Nathan Bott barely survived a nip-and-tuck contest by pulling off a mild upset by staving front-running Ocean View Christian, 9-8, Tuesday (May 3) at their Palm Avenue Baseball Complex.

Both ballclubs are now tied for first place at 5-1. Liberty Charter caps its league schedule with road contests next week at North County-High Tech and Gompers Prep.

It was a struggle for both Lions pitchers to keep their ballclub in the game, but both managed to make it work.

Adrain, a sophomore,tossed the first five innings and although he once held a 4-1 lead, later escaped a couple of OVC rallies to keep the ballgame tied at 5-5.

Bott, a junior, saw his Lions responded with four runs in the sixth to re-gain the lead, and although Bott allowed two Patriots runs in the seventh, finally was able to register the final out to collect the victory.

The pitching pair combined to allow just five hits, but four walks caused a problem.Conversely, Adrian wrapped up seven strikeouts of OVC batters in his five frames, while Bott fanned two.

On offense for the Lions, Keawe Pelekai-Librea and Andruw Godinez each stroked doubles.

Pelekai-Librea has hit in all but three games this season, raising his batting average to .340. Meanwhile, Godinez, a freshman, is on a 9-for-17 (.529) hitting tear over his past four outings.

In addition, frosh Alex Castellano matched Pelekai-Librea with two RBI for Liberty Charter (12-5 overall).

Ocean View Christian (20-6, 5-1) rfeceived two hits from Cale Horton and Collin Noles, and two RBI from both Christian Herring and Nolan Rutherford.

OVC had won the first meeting, 13-2, but that was back in mid-March — the first league gaane anywhere in the CIF-San Diego Section this season.