EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Despite only allowing four hits and one earned run, Brooks Kappelmann didn’t get enough help at the plate in a 3-0 playoff loss to Derby that ended the season for the Liberal Redskins.
Kappelmann only allowed four hits in seven innings and only walked one while striking our eight, but three errors helped the Derby Panthers push three runs across the plate.
The Redskins also had four hits, but they couldn’t string them together to be a scoring threat.
Derby took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, and they added one more in the third to take a 2-0 lead.
Kappelmann pitched shutout innings in the fourth and fifth, but Liberal couldn’t respond at the plate and continued to trail 2-0.
The Panthers pushed an insurance run across the plate in the top of the sixth, and the Redskins put two base runners on in the bottom of the sixth with no outs.
But Derby was able to get a double play and a strike out to preserve the 3-0 lead.
Kappelmann kept the lead at three with a scoreless seventh, but the Redskins couldn’t respond in the 3-0 loss.
Zayden Martinez had two of Liberal’s four hits. Kappelmann and Blayden Betts each had a hit.
Liberal ended the season 13-11.
