Sports

Ortuño’s love for the game of soccer takes him on a journey AROUND THE WORLD

EARL WATT

• Leader & Times

Grasshopper Soccer was Emmanuel Ortuño’s first experience with the game of soccer during his childhood in Liberal. He then played Kids Inc. and participated on traveling teams. He moved on to middle school and high school before becoming the first-ever soccer player to sign for Seward County Community College.

His journey with the game took him beyond Kansas and beyond the United States, and now Ortuño is chasing his dream of not only being a professional soccer player but also playing against some of the best soccer players on the planet.

Redskins take 3rd at Regional meet

EARL WATT

• Leader & Times

The Liberal Redskins and Lady Redskins swept the 4X800 meter relays and qualified multiple athletes to the Class 6A State Track Meet.

The Redskins finished third as a team, and the Lady Redskins finished fifth.

Ivan Moreno (151 feet, 0 inches), Ayden Juarez (144 feet, 10 inches), and Xavier Tafoya (142 feet, 8 inches) swept the top three spots in the javelin to qualify for State.

Redskins end season in first round of playoffs

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.

Redskins knock off Garden City in regular season finale

EARL WATT

• Leader & Times

Liberal continued to finish games strong Friday in a 5-2 WAC win over Garden City.

The win tied Liberal for third in the WAC with Dodge City. Garden City went 0-8 in the WAC.

Garden City opened with a run in the first to take an early lead and added another run in the fourth.

Lady Redskins show improvement in 5-2 loss to Garden City prior to playoffs

L&T staff report

After knocking off Dodge City in the second game of a double header for their first Western Athletic Conference win of the season, the Lady Redskins had a chance to make it two in a row in a make-up game against Garden City Friday, but Liberal fell short 5-2.

Liberal lost to Garden City earlier in the season in a double header, 7-3 and 14-4. But the Lady Redskins have shown some improvement late in the season by battling teams early before allowing errors to lead to big innings.