Pleasant Valley edges Iowa City Liberty in extra innings for a Class 4A substate baseball title

NORTH LIBERTY — Iowa City Liberty had chances.

Over the course of a dozen innings, the Lightning just weren’t able to strike for that one key hit to fully capitalize on them.

Liberty and Pleasant Valley exchanged solid relief pitching and strong defensive play for a marathon contest. Jack Reiter produced two double plays in the final two innings that bracketed an RBI single in the top of the 12th, propelling the Spartans to a 4-3 extra-inning victory over the No. 9 Lightning for the Class 4A Substate 8 title Wednesday night at Liberty.

The Spartans denied Liberty a third consecutive trip to state.

“It was a phenomenal game,” Liberty Coach Uby Martinez said. “I told the guys I was proud of them. We earned the No. 1 seed because we did what we had to do. Unfortunately, there are only eight teams that are going to keep playing.”

Pleasant Valley (20-17) advanced to the 4A state baseball tournament July 23-26 at Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, where it will face top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a quarterfinal Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. The Spartans knocked off No. 7 Davenport North in Tuesday’s substate semifinal and started the postseason with a .500 record. They earned their sixth state berth and first since winning the 2021 title.

“We’ve worked so hard this season,” Reiter said. “I can’t put it into words. We came together as a team. At the start of the season, it was scrambled. It’s so unbelievable for us to pull this together as a team.

“We’re a team of grit. We showed it at the end there. I can’t ask any more from our guys.”

The Lightning came up a little short when it came to taking full advantage of opportunities, including putting two runners on with less than two out in the final two at-bats.

“It seemed like the tail-end of the season we just didn’t execute like we did earlier in the season,” Martinez said. “That was huge.”

Both rallies were thwarted by identical double plays with Reiter fielding two groundballs up the middle, stepping on second base and firing to first. The initial one ended the 11th and the second left Liberty with one last chance and the tying run on third.

Those defensive gems were no fluke.

“I go two hours before practice and that’s what I’m working on there,” Reiter said. “It felt natural.”

Finnley Martinolich doubled to lead off the 12th and moved to third on a balk. Reiter smacked a bouncer that got through to left field to chase home Martinolich for the go-ahead run.

It was the timely hit Pleasant Valley needed and the one that seemed to elude Liberty, which scored all of its runs in the second inning for a 3-2 lead.

Liam Bender hit a one-out double. Jackson Khamphilanouvong drove him in with an RBI single. Landon Peoples added a single and stole second. Ryan Schmierer walked to load the bases and Evan Schmierer’s single brought in Khamphilanouvong. When the ball bounded away from the second baseman, a hustling Peoples scored all the way from second base.

Pleasant Valley answered with one in the third. Martinolich’s sacrifice fly scored Kai Valleroy to tie it.

The Lightning (25-14) were held scoreless the rest of the way, leaving 12 runners on base and stranding a runner in scoring position in six innings. Liberty wasn’t able to convert with small ball, which has been a staple of the program.

“It hurts a little bit when we couldn’t play our game,” Martinez said. “We had some chances. They had an error. They dropped a ball. We can’t get them over. That’s what it is. That’s just the game. Not much we can do about it.”

Liberty did receive strong relief pitching after ace Mason Waterbury exited the game after the third. Andrew Olthoff pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Brayden Mayer inherited two baserunners with one out in the ninth, getting out of the jam with a strikeout and pop out. He allowed just the one run on two hits in three innings.

“Obviously, Waterbury didn’t have his good stuff today but our pitchers out of the bullpen were phenomenal,” Martinez said. “They did an amazing job and the good thing is those pitchers are coming back next year, so that’s a great thing.”

The game was the last for 13 Liberty seniors who helped the program to its first two state appearances. They helped turn state aspirations into a regular goal.

“It’s unfortunate but this group has raised the culture of what our team is supposed to be about,” Martinez said. “Our expectations are to be in a substate final every year. Unfortunately, we just didn’t finish it.”

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