Liberty kept its stranglehold on the Lehigh Valley Conference's East Division again, squeaking out the division title through tie-breakers over Freedom to land them in this week's LVC playoffs.

The Hurricanes (14-6, 9-5) slipped in as the fourth seed and took on top-seeded Emmaus (17-2, 12-2) Tuesday night at Hackett Park, after Press deadlines.

Second-seeded Parkland (15-5, 11-3) battled third-seeded Whitehall (16-4, 11-3) in the opener Tuesday evening.

For the Hurricanes, who used a better divisional record (4-2 versus 3-3) over Freedom (13-7, 9-5) to qualify for the league playoffs, completing the goal was the first checkmark off the list this spring.

"We're happy to be playing in the LVC playoffs and win the division," said head coach Andy Pitsilos. "Whenever you can put yourself in position to play for the league title, you should be happy."

The downside of that for Liberty is taking on Emmaus, which has arguably been the best team in the league all season. The Hornets defeated the 'Canes twice this season, once by a 6-3 affair and the other, on April 24, by an 8-1 score.

Josh LeMaster, who pitched in the last Emmaus victory over Liberty, figured to get the nod on the mound for Tuesday's matchup. Liberty countered with their top pitcher, Matt Leon, to try and move the Hurricanes through.

"We may have lost to them twice during the year, but they had the better pitching matchups each time," Pitsilos said. "They never saw Leon, but we still need to do all the little things right, because Emmaus is very good."

Liberty lost to Parkland 4-3 in last year's LVC semifinals and hoped they could pull off the upset Tuesday night to move into Wednesday's championship final at 7:10 p.m., also at Hackett Park.

"At this point of the game, it's all about not making mistakes and playing good baseball," he said. "It's just a matter of winning the game."

Freedom ended the season with confidence following last week's 7-6 loss to Bethlehem Catholic, as they finished the year with three-straight wins, including a 1-0 win over Liberty to get their streak going. That helped the Patriots beat Emmaus 7-5 the next day, followed by a 6-2 win over East Stroudsburg South over the weekend.

They'll have the week off to see who they open up with in next week's District 11 tournament.

Bethlehem Catholic (9-9, 6-6) sneaked into the postseason as well, beating Freedom and Easton to end the year with huge wins to finish .500 and get them into the postseason.

The Hawks will open up play in the 3A bracket next Monday as well.