A win over your rival is always a confidence booster. Pulling out a late game victory is even better, which is exactly what Freedom did last Friday night when they knocked off Liberty 5-2 at Coca-Cola Park.

Trailing 2-0 heading into the fifth, the Pates scored five runs in the final two frames for the win and knock Liberty down from the throne of being the only previously undefeated team in the district.

The win also stopped a two-game losing streak by the Pates (7-3), who entered the game in a rough patch, losing three of their previous four contests.

“That was a big win for us and we knew going in that they were a tough team,” said head coach Nick D’Amico. “I was a little concerned with how we were playing coming into this game but the team stepped up. I was happy that we were able to clean up the defense for that game because that has been issue for us.”

Derek Bast had two RBI for the Patriots, while Alec Huertas continued a dominating start to the season, striking out six batters in the win.

Huertas is 3-0 and has struck out 31 batters so far this season.

Last week’s win was exactly what Freedom needed heading into a stretch of four games this week against Allen (2-8), Pocono Mountain West (1-7), Bethlehem Catholic (5-4) and Stroudsburg (6-4).

“We have a lot of tough games coming up,” said D’Amico. “We need to continue to play well and keep the momentum going.”

As mentioned, Liberty (6-3) suffered their first defeat of the year in the loss to Freedom and dropped Monday’s tilt with Easton 17-8.

They then have to manage their pitching arms the rest of the way with two showdowns against Allen, this week to go along with Stroudsburg, Wilson (4-8) and Pocono Mountain East (5-2).

The Hawks also got a chance to lace up the spikes at Coca-Cola Park on Saturday afternoon, but suffered a 13-1 defeat to Easton.

Becahi knocked off Dieruff 14-4 on Monday now have a favorable week ahead with Northampton (5-7), another showdown with Dieruff, Freedom and Central Catholic (6-4) on the schedule to keep them in the District 11 4A playoff race.