Staff photo / Preston Byers Liberty pitcher Chloe Fleps winding up to throw to a Brookfield batter.

BROOKFIELD — After falling behind to Liberty early, Brookfield battled back to tie the game on two separate occasions, but the Leopards’ offense proved to be too much for the Warriors, as Liberty kept Brookfield winless with a 13-8 road win on Monday.

Liberty jumped out ahead with a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, and after a Brookfield comeback that tied the game up in the third, the Leopards scored three in the top of the fourth to momentarily put some distance between themselves and Brookfield. The Warriors responded with a three-run bottom of the fourth to tie the game back up 6-6.

Liberty’s bats stayed hot in the fifth inning, however, while Brookfield’s bats did not. The Leopards scored three again in the fifth to take a 9-6 lead. The Warriors scored just one in the fifth and allowed Liberty to outscore them 4-1 in the seventh as Liberty pulled away for a five-run victory.

After the win, Liberty head coach Brett Fine said Monday’s performance was an improvement from the previous day’s pair of losses, although there is still plenty of room to get better.

“We got to make routine plays,” Fine said. “Probably any coach will tell you, especially in high school softball or baseball, if you don’t make the routine plays, you’re extending innings. And we cannot extend innings. No team can afford to. I know we can’t afford to.”

Monday’s game against Brookfield was Liberty’s third game in about 24 hours, as the Leopards played a Sunday doubleheader in Poland against the Bulldogs and McDonald. Neither game went Liberty’s way; the team was outscored 28-3 and suffered their first two losses of the season after a 2-0 start to the year.

Fine said the message to his team after the losses to Poland and McDonald centered on their approach at the plate.

“We got six or seven hitters that are in our lineup that hit the ball, and for us to win games, we got to put pressure on other teams. We’ve got to swing the bats,” Fine said.

Liberty began Monday’s game with a strong showing at the plate. The Leopards loaded the bases before Rachel Strohmeyer, who recorded a game-high four RBIs, drew a walk to take a 1-0 lead. Brooklyn Ciminero then singled to drive in two more runs and establish a 3-0 advantage in the first inning.

Brookfield got on the board in the bottom of the first inning on an Arianna Jones double to right that scored Cadence Huffman. After a scoreless second, the Warriors tied the game in the third on a Madison Obermiyer RBI double and Keilani Malufau RBI single.

Liberty did not take long to reclaim the lead; Strohmeyer drove in two runs on a single before Ciminero recorded an RBI double in the top of the fourth inning to go up 6-3. Brookfield responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs to tie the game again.

With one out in the fifth, Mia Parker, who went 4-4, tripled and drove in the go-ahead run. Liberty added another two runs in the half inning and only allowed one run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 9-7 lead into the sixth, where both teams did not manage to score.

Liberty added some cushion to its advantage in the seventh with four runs. Brookfield, needing at least six runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, managed to drive in Malufau, who had singled to lead off the half-inning, but could not rally back as it had done twice earlier.

In the circle, Liberty’s Fleps, who struck out 16 batters in the Leopards’ win against Newton Falls on March 26, recorded seven strikeouts Monday in a seven-inning performance. Obermiyer pitched six innings for the Warriors, also striking out seven. Rylie Burdge took control of the circle for the seventh inning.

Both teams, like many in the area, have not had much game action lately. Monday’s contest was Brookfield’s first since a doubleheader against Champion on April 1, and before its doubleheader Sunday, Liberty had not played in more than a week.

“Everybody’s kind of in the same boat, behind on their schedule a little bit and only playing a handful of games so far,” Brookfield coach Dave DeJoy said. “I think as the weather improves and we get some more reps, more field time, more game time, I think we’ll cut down on those errors and be able to improve.”

Liberty (3-2) and Brookfield (0-4) play each other again today at Liberty.

Have an interesting story? Contact Preston Byers by email at pbyers@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @PresByers.