One pitch. That’s all Liberty’s Eric Peterson had. It was three years ago, Liberty was playing Interlake in a playoff game, and the Patriots were down 4-1. Peterson, a freshman at the time, was about to step to the plate with two runners on base and no outs. Former Liberty coach Scott Colby told Peterson he had one pitch to hit. If he missed that first pitch, Peterson was to put down a bunt and advance the runners.

Peterson got his money’s worth: He smacked the one pitch he had to hit over the fence for a three-run homerun. Liberty won the game.

Peterson, now a senior and one of the state’s top players for one of the state’s top teams, still holds that memory as his favorite on the field. In many ways it exemplifies the way he feels about the game.

“I just love it,” Peterson said. “It makes me feel good.”

The 6-foot-4 shortstop with a sweet lefty swing will ply his trade at the University of Washington next year. He signed on to be a part of the Husky baseball team in the spring of his junior year.

Peterson has 12 homeruns so far this season for the Patriots. He has led Liberty to a 17-3 record, a KingCo regular-season title and a trip to the playoffs as one of the favorites to win the state title.

“Eric Peterson is a once-in-a-generation type of player,” said Liberty coach Steve Darnell. “He’s the kind of player who with one swing of the bat, things change.”

Though Peterson has been on the varsity team for four years, Darnell said this season is different because Peterson is so much more comfortable at the plate. He’s more mature, more confident and not worrying about what scouts and recruiters think, according to Darnell.

So what is the one constant at the base of Peterson’s success? Darnell said it isn’t talent, or hard work (while Peterson certainly has a surplus of both), it’s simply a love of baseball.

“He loves the game,” Darnell said. “He likes to get dirty in practice and likes to stretch his talent. He loves hitting. He would just hit the whole practice if we let him. That really carries over to the game because he’s so comfortable when he gets up there.”

Peterson credits his father for teaching him to play baseball.

“It was me and my dad. We would just hit all of the time,” he said.

Though he’s right-handed in every other aspect, Peterson never learned to swing a bat from the right side. As for his approach at the plate, it’s all about patience.

“I just look for something I can handle,” he said. “I wait for anything that catches my eye, something I can drive.”

Many times this season, even though Liberty has a great lineup around him, Peterson finds himself being patient as he trots to first base because pitchers simply don’t want to throw him strikes. While he takes the intentional walks as a sign of respect and a chance to help his team by getting on base, they can still be frustrating. Especially when runners are in scoring position. Though he trusts his teammates behind him, Peterson really wants to knock those runs in.

With such a great season Peterson has opened a new realm of possibilities: The Major League Baseball draft.

“I never really thought it was possible to be drafted out of high school until this year,” Peterson said. “But now I’m just trying to embrace it and see where it takes me.”

There’s no guarantee a team will call Peterson’s name on draft day, but he said he’s spoken to seven or eight major league clubs. If a team does draft him, Peterson said the contract would determine whether he took the major-league flyer or remained on track to play at the UW.