Revenge was certainly a factor for Liberty heading into Monday’s opening round of the District 11 4A baseball tournament against Northampton.

After falling victim to the K-Kids in last years postseason, the Hurricanes made sure a repeat episode of disappointment wasn’t going to come to fruition.

The ’Canes took advantage of three Northampton errors and used a two-out rally in the third inning to blow open a two run game en route to a 12-2 victory in five innings.

The win moved Liberty (16-7), the sixth-seed, into yesterday’s quarterfinal round against third-seeded Easton, but Monday’s affair was all about turning last year’s defeat into a winning affair.

“Yeah, you can say that what happened last year mattered to these guys,” said Liberty head coach Andy Pitsilos. “I think when you’re dealing with kids that always plays into the fact that they beat us last year and they didn’t want that to happen today. We knew Northampton was going to give us a tough game, but we didn’t want to lose again.”

Liberty led 2-0 heading into the third inning and turned the game upside down with five runs in the bottom of the frame with a two-out rally. Ben Hudock got things going with an RBI single, followed by Kyle Ross adding an RBI, as well as Ryan Wescoe’s two-run triple.

Up 10-0 heading into the fifth, Northampton staved off the mercy-rule when Will Stackhouse ripped a two-RBI double to give Northampton some life before a 30 minute rain delay.

When Liberty came back to bat in the bottom of the frame, the Hurricanes made sure things ended sooner than later, when Ross belted a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to clinch the victory.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Northampton head coach Mick Sugra. “You can’t do that this time of the year. We had too many errors and let them have big innings and that’s going to cost you against good teams.”

The Kids wrapped up their season with a 10-11 mark overall and despite losing in Monday’s district opener, Sugra was proud of how the team performed throughout the season.

“This [loss] doesn’t take away from what these guys were able to do this year,” said Sugra. “They battled everyday and gave it their all. It’s always tough to lose this way, but this won’t be how we remember the season.”