Pitcher throws no-hitter to lead Eagle River to 3rd straight Alaska Legion state title
Jul. 26—It's been over three decades since the last no-hitter was thrown in an Alaska Legion state tournament. On Tuesday night at Mulcahy Stadium, Eagle River's Liam Lierman made history throwing another, to help the Wolves claim their third straight state championship in a 1-0 win over the Service Post 28 Cougars.
"I've known all these kids since we were 5 or 6 and grew up playing with them," Lierman said. "It's really special with the seniors especially because these guys have been around a long time. It was good (winning state) back-to-back and three in a row for them."
According to Legion records, it was the first no-hitter at the Alaska Legion state tournament since 1992, when East's Trajan Langdon, Sean Snowball and Ryan Hiller threw a combined no-hitter in an 8-1 win over Kodiak.
"He has had some big moments in his career and I'm just super proud of him as a dad, and obviously as a coach, I'm super proud happy for our team," said Wolves coach Bill Lierman, who is also Liam's father. "He did a good job on the mound for sure."
For the second year in a row, Eagle River and Service were the last teams left standing at the end of the season. Last year's state championship bout took an extra inning to decide after the Cougars nearly mounted a comeback.
"We battled a lot of different things this year, and one of the things we were talking about is the resolve throughout the year — not only as players but as a team — and I think it showed in this tournament," Bill Lierman said.
Liam, a southpaw who will be a junior in the fall, not only pitched his second no-hitter of the summer season but he also scored the lone run. He finished the tournament 2-0 on the mound and didn't give up a single base hit in 11 innings of action.
Alex Mullen, one of the group of seniors who graduated in the spring, received the big stick award for the best hitting percentage throughout the tournament.
"It's an incredible feeling, and I didn't expect any different, to be honest," he said. "This is a great team, and I've known most of them since I was 5 years old, and we've been friends for forever."
A series of unfortunate events had led Lierman's first no-hitter of the season to result in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of South Post 4 earlier this summer.
"It's kind of ironic that he loses his no-hitter earlier this year on one run because of an error by a catcher, but at the end of the day, baseball is baseball," Bill Lierman said. "Going into this game, you knew both teams are throwing their No. 1 (pitchers), you knew it was going to be a close game, and it was just a flip of coin whoever was going to win."
The father-and-son tandem have thoroughly enjoyed the journey together the past two years.
"It's special, and after the game, he did start crying a little bit and then everyone got a little emotional because he's the big, old, tough guy that yells at everyone," Liam said. "I love having him as a coach here, but at home he's my dad. He's not really my dad on the field."
His dad never asked him about how his arm was feeling, and instead, just gave positive affirmations between innings.
"He was at 92 pitches heading into that last hitter, so I knew he only had a hitter or two left before I would've had to pull him," Bill said.
Liam was able to capitalize on a wild pitch that whizzed past the head of Service catcher and 2023 Alaska high school Gatorade Player of the Year Coen Niclai in the bottom of the third inning.
Bill Lierman told his players coming into the season that "whenever you're up at the top, everyone is gunning for you." That made him especially proud of the way his team didn't back down from pressure on their way to claiming their third title.
"Whenever you can continue your season on after the state tournament, that means the seniors are still playing and it's not time to say goodbye to those guys."
Next up for the Wolves is a third straight trip down to the Northwest Regional tournament in Gillette, Wyoming, later this week, where they hope to keep the momentum up and notch at least one win in the tournament for the second year in a row.
"I can't wait for the competition," Mullen said.
