Liberty-Eylau Rides Big Inning to 4A State Championship Game

Liberty-Eylau got a three-run 3rd inning and held off Canyon to get to the 4A State Championship for the second year in a row. They will face Calallen at 6:30 PM Thursday at Disch-Falk field in Austin for the 2024 4A State Title.

Canyon got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first. Zabien Urteaga was hit by a pitch and Carson Allen walked. With two outs Jacob Burris single to right field scoring Urteaga from 2B and the Eagles took a 1-0 lead

Liberty-Eylau picked up some runs in the top of the 3rd. W.T. Jones and Triston Haugh led off with singles and Britain Pipes followed up with an RBI single to right centerfield to tie the game. Haugh then scored on a wild pitch to give Liberty-Eylau the lead. Cam Gamble then grounded out to the SS to score Pipes. Liberty-Eylau took a 3-1 lead.

That was all the runs the Liberty-Eylau pitching staff needed. Gamble, who came in to relieve in the first inning, pitched 5.1 innings giving up no runs on 3 hits with 2 K and 3 BB. He picked up his 9th win of the season. W.T. Jones came in to pitch in the 7th inning and shut Canyon down to secure the Liberty-Eylau victory.

Pipes was 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. He was named the THSB MVP.

“We know how to fight. We know how to not get down on ourselves. We know how to comeback,” Pipes characterized his team. “We never back down. We never give up.” On his RBI in the 3rd inning: “He got two strikes on me but I knew I could punch one the other way. I got it over there and got the RBI. It felt good.”

“This team had the goal to get back to the championship game and win this thing,” Head Coach Zach Fowler explained. “It’s a special group of kids that have said ‘Let’s do it again.’”
On the pitching staff: “This wasn’t how we drew it up but Gamble came in and filled it up. He got some big outs in the middle of the game and bridged it to W.T. Once we got to W.T., we knew we had it in our back pocket.”