Liberty has been the model program for baseball over the last five years. The Hurricanes have consistently been a title contender not only recently, but throughout the tenure of head coach Andy Pitsilos.

Staying on top is hard and the Hurricanes have high expectations each year, but after playing in four straight District 11 championship games, the task of getting back to the point is even harder.

Liberty (3-3) had an uncharacteristic 0-2 start to the year, but have gotten their feet underneath them with a recent three-game win streak, only to see that get trumped by a 12-2 defeat at Emmaus last week.

Falling down is part of the game of baseball, but it’s also par for the course with a team finding its groove on the varsity scene.

“Every year we are replacing a lot of players,” said Pitsilos. “The key is to get the players to understand what we do as a team. Sometimes it takes longer than other times. And they have to get used to varsity pitching. Sometimes you can learn and win other times you’re not so fortunate. We will definitely be better in the end than in the beginning.”

Liberty’s learning curve continues this week with games against Pocono Mountain West, Easton and Williamsport, as they look to climb up the standings in the EPC.

Most teams in the conference are only a game or two away from each other at this point of the season, with Parkland (4-1) and Emmaus (4-2) leading the league at the moment.

Freedom (2-4) is one of those teams looking to battle back to .500 as they have picked up two straight wins overs Easton and Central Catholic.

The Pates have a full week of games to make up some ground, as they play East Stroudsburg North, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton and Dieruff.

All of those teams are below .500 outside of Easton sitting with a 3-3 mark heading into the week.

Bethlehem Catholic is still looking for the magic pill, as the Hawks are 1-6 so far and have struggled in the pitching department.

The Hawks have given up 70 runs in their six losses, averaging out to nearly 12 runs in those games. Their only win has come against a non-conference opponent in Berks Catholic.

This week won’t give them much breathing room, as they play East Stroudsburg South, Freedom and Northampton.