Liberty Pizza Escapes With a Wild Victory

With first place and a potential first round bye on the line, the Liberty Pizza softball team continued to serve up some special orders on the diamond.

Matt St. Jean led a balanced attack, recording a pair of triples and four RBIs and Alex Hill added two hits and three RBIs en route to a 13-12 win over Haffey Construction in Friday’s Wayco Softball League make-up match at Cochituate Field.

Coupled with a 9-3 win over JJ McKay’s in the night cap, Liberty Pizza finished the regular season at 12-4 overall and have all but clinched a first round bye in next week’s playoff round.

Liberty, who entered Friday night’s contests in third place, needed to win both games to secure at least second place in the league standings.

Haffey Construction, who finished the season at 11-5 dropped to third place and will battle in Monday night’s first round action against an opponent to be determined.

Even in the loss, Haffey emerged with a solid effort and managed to stay within striking distance despite fielding just seven healthy players.

“I give them [Haffey] all the credit in the world,’’ said St. Jean. “It’s tough when your team can only field [seven] players, but they’re all great athletes and they can hit the ball very well. They gave us a great game, and they gave us quite a scare.”

Offensively, Haffey was guided by Paul Rufo, who smacked a pair of home runs.

“[Rufo] did a tremendous job hitting the ball out,’’ said St. Jean. “He hit a couple of drives out there, and the other guys did a nice job up and down their lineup.”

After Rufo’s solo home run handed Haffey an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Liberty erupted with five runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Robby Barnes reached on a leadoff single to right before Adam Lewin lined a double to left center. With runners in scoring position, Mike Kennedy laced an RBI single to shallow left, scoring Barnes to tie the game at 1-1. St. Jean followed, launching a towering two run triple to center before an RBI double by Alex Hill handed Liberty a 4-1 lead. Moments later, an RBI sacrifice fly out to center by Dan Keefer knocked in St. Jean paved the way for a 5-1 edge.

Led by Rufo, Haffey trimmed the lead to 5-3 in the top of the second. Following a single by Andy Goldsmith, Rufo blasted a home run that sailed deep into left field.

An RBI single by Barnes increased Liberty’s lead to 6-3 before a four run third guided the way for a 10-3 edge.

Wade Critides reached on an infield hit before St. Jean lined a double to left. Hill followed, lacing a two-run single to left before Bobby Gaglini lined an RBI sacrifice fly to center.

Dan Keefer capped the scoring, launching a towering home run to left-center en route to the seven-run edge.

Backed by three hits, Haffey rallied for three runs in the top of the fourth, closing the gap to 10-6. Jon Bryant reached on a fielding error before scoring on Goldsmith’s RBI single to left center. Rufo followed, lacing an RBI single to left, scoring Goldsmith to cut the lead to 10-5 before Taylor Bridgeman’s RBI sacrifice fly to center placed Haffey within four.

Regaining momentum, Liberty increased the lead to 11-6 as Cridites lined a single to left before scoring on St. Jean’s second triple of the contest.

In the bottom of the fifth, Liberty added another run on Jamie Mordas’s RBI single to left for a 12-6 lead before Haffey battled back with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth.

Joe Dorr and Zach Miles reached on consecutive singles before scoring on Ben Wiesman’s two-run single to left.

An RBI double by Critides in the bottom of the sixth handed Liberty a 13-8 lead, but Haffey erupted with a furious rally in the top of the seventh.

Rufo and Dorr reached on consecutive singles before Bryant lined an RBI single to left. Miles followed, reaching on a fielding error, scoring another run and closing the gap to 13-10. With two out, Goldsmith laced a sharp two-run single to left.

Down to their final out and with runners on the corners, Haffey’s miraculous rally fell just short as Rufo fouled out and Liberty held on for the victory.