BETHEL – When a window of opportunity opened, Anthony Liberti, the Locke Mills catcher, jumped inside and took full advantage of it in a Zone III American Legion baseball semifinal game.

The Mountaineers found themselves in dire straits, but Liberti erased the deficit by hitting a three-run home run in the eighth inning for a 5-4 win against Andy Valley Saturday.

Reliever Quinn McAllister came in and retired four of the five batters he faced to earn the win. Locke Mills had been held in check by Andy Valley pitcher Dustin Gilbert (eight strikeouts) who hadn’t allowed an earned run before tiring in the eighth. Locke Mills will host the zone championship game at 1 p.m. today at Telstar Regional High School. The two finalists have qualified for the state tournament, but the winning team will earn the top seed in the zone.

“Absolutely, playing nine innings helped us today,” Liberti said. “We had played seven innings all summer and today we still trailed after seven, but there wasn’t any need to get nervous. The team took this game serious, although we’re qualified (state tourney), we still want to earn the top-seed, and in order to have a chance, we had to win today.”

Andy Valley entered the eighth leading 4-1 and seemed to be in full control, but things unraveled quickly. Locke Mills applied pressure as Karl Olson drew a lead-off walk and Dave Roberge singled. Corey Wing delivered an RBI single and it prompted a conference on the mound because Liberti was in the batters’ box.

The decision to pitch to Liberti proved costly as he went with the pitch and the ball sailed four feet over the fence in right field. It was redemption for Liberti, who had walked in the second inning, but was thrown out at home by Brandon Smith.

“I wanted to hit it the opposite way,” Liberti said. “Gilbert had pitched me outside all day, so I went after the ball.”

Andy Valley scored three unearned runs in the fourth. Mike Chamard reached on and scored on an infield error. The big blow was Donny Hinkley’s hit that was misplayed, allowing two runs to score.

“It’s a tough loss,” Andy Valley coach Jeff Gilbert said. “Without those unearned runs, we’re looking at a 1-0 game. But you have to credit Locke Mills because they earned it.”

Locke Mills received a solid effort by Roberge (two singles, two runs) who entered the game in the sixth. Third baseman Travis Brooks was injured when he dived for a foul ball that bounced off the turf and hit his mouth.

“We didn’t have that many chances through seven innings,” Locke Mills coach Chris Olson said. “Gilbert threw well and kept our hitters off balance, but Kyle Kipikas had done a good job for us. Except for a Shawn Marr single in the second, we weren’t able to do much. The one thing that we did know was that Gilbert had thrown (approximately) 120 pitches.” Locke Mills scored in the sixth when Roberge scampered home on an over throw. Andy Valley responded as Scott Wetherall walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch.