Liberty has won plenty of games over the past two decades, but the East Penn Conference tournament has been a thorn in their side when it comes to bringing home the championship.

That finally came to an end last Thursday when the second-seeded Hurricanes belted top-seeded Parkland 10-0 in a six inning mercy rule contest.

Liberty pitcher John Galgon threw a one-hitter, while the Hurricanes ripped 14 hits to win their eighth straight game and claim their first conference crown since 2003.

“Winning the conference is nice but it really doesn’t validate anything,” said head coach Andy Pitsilos. “The real season starts now and we have goals past the conference.”

After winning the district title last year and making a run to the PIAA finals, Pitsilos and company certainly have their eyes set on that and even more. Good thing the Hurricanes (17-4) are playing their best baseball of the year heading toward the postseason.

Liberty crushed their EPC opponents in the conference tournament, outscoring them 34-4 in three games.

“We are definitely peaking at the right time and we are much more seasoned and experienced than a year ago,” Pitsilos said. “Hopefully the 11 days off doesn’t affect us, but we’ll play two scrimmages in between.”

The District 11 tournament gets underway this week with the Hurricanes getting a first-round bye as the top-seed in 6A. They’ll play the winner of the four-five matchup between Northampton and Emmaus on May 28 in the semifinals.

Freedom (9-11) grabbed the sixth-seed in the tournament and take on third-seeded Nazareth on Wednesday with the winner moving on to play Parkland on Sunday as well.

Bethlehem Catholic (13-8) are the second-seed in 4A and play third-seeded Lehighton (13-7) on Sunday in the semifinal round.

Head coach Matt Corsi and his crew have been off since May 11 when they lost to Liberty in the opening round of the EPC tournament. He hopes there won’t be much rust to knock off as the Hawks hope to make a run for the district title.

“This is has been a really long layoff,” Corsi said. “We’ve been giving more off days, scrimmaging, light practice but also competitive practice. Our expectations haven’t changed. It’s make district playoffs and then go one game at a time and hopefully be there at the end.”