Members of the Olentangy Liberty High School baseball team celebrated near the pitcher's mound at Westerville South on May 5 an accomplishment that seemed unlikely two weeks before. 

Liberty had lost seven of 11 games and fallen to 5-4 in league play, but the Patriots never gave up hope. 

Thanks to a 17-6 win over South in five innings, the Patriots won their final five league games to tie Dublin Coffman and Dublin Jerome for the OCC-Cardinal Division title at 10-4. 

"Our coaches kept telling us to stay focused because we weren't out of it," said Michael O'Neill, who had a grand slam in the win over South. "We knew we were going to have to catch some breaks but that we could still do it." 

The biggest of those breaks came May 3 when Jerome beat Scioto 13-3 in six innings to give all three teams four losses. Then, on May 5, Liberty beat Westerville Central 12-2 in five innings and Scioto beat Marysville 12-4. 

The Patriots won a share of their second consecutive OCC title and their third in program history. After the three-team tie, South was fourth in the league at 8-6, followed by Marysville at 7-7, Westerville North at 5-9, Central at 4-10 and Olentangy at 2-12. 

"This was strange because the other two times we were just trying to hold onto a title instead of going out and winning it," coach Matt Lattig said. "We just kept grinding and kept going. We knew we had to come out and be aggressive. This season has been a battle." 

Even though the Patriots began the postseason last Wednesday, O'Neill said his team had had two playoff games prior to the official start of the tournament. 

"Our coaches came back from the tournament draw (May 2) and they showed a bracket that included the games against (Westerville) Central (9-3 win on May 3) and South," said O'Neill, a Michigan signee. "We're 2-0 on that bracket and we have to keep going and work it hard if we want to get to 3-0 and beyond." 

Liberty never trailed in the league finale, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. They also scored five in the third and eight in the fourth, capped by O'Neill's grand slam. 

The Patriots were seeded seventh and had a first-round bye for the postseason tournament. The second-round winner will plays third-seeded Pickerington Central or Teays Valley in district semifinal on Tuesday at Grove City. Pickerington Central was 18-7 and Teays Valley was 12-16 before playing last Wednesday. 

"We started out at 8-0 and then I think we got complacent as a team," O'Neill said. "We lost a couple of games and reality kind of set in. We have to go out and stay focused the rest of the way."