Souderton’s Liam O’Leary considered stepping away from baseball. Now, he’s leading St. John’s into a super regional.
O'Leary took a winding road to Division I baseball amid the loss of his parents in 2022 and 2024. Now, he's the Red Storm's ace, and his little brothers want to follow in his footsteps.
When Liam O’Leary began his college baseball career at Montgomery County Community College in 2023, he had to ask himself if he wanted to continue playing at all.
“After my senior year, I wasn’t really sure,” said O’Leary, a Souderton Area graduate. “When I got to community college, I still didn’t have huge expectations. About a week before school started, I sat down by myself and asked what I wanted out of community college. The only answer I could come up with was that I wanted to keep playing baseball and play at the highest level possible for as long as I could.
“From that day forward, I committed to doing everything I could to improve, both on and off the field.”
Three years later, O’Leary, 21, has done exactly that. Now he is an ace pitcher for St. John’s as it prepares for the NCAA super regionals this weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Red Storm begin play against host Alabama on Saturday (9 p.m., ESPN2), and it’s their first super regional appearance since 2012. But despite being the underdogs, O’Leary isn’t nervous.
“We came here to win,” he said. “We’re excited, but we still have that ‘nothing to lose’ mentality.”
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Baseball has been a part of O’Leary’s life for as long as he can remember. The second of four children and the oldest boy, he was handed a baseball practically the day he was born. The sport became a shared love with his dad, Kevin — his first coach — and now his two younger brothers, Finn (15) and Nolan (11).
After the unexpected death of his father in 2022 and his mother, Jenny, in 2024, Liam’s relationship with the game shifted.
“Liam and my dad were incredibly close, best friends, really,” said Shanleigh O’Leary, Liam’s older sister. “My dad loved baseball, and when he passed away, Liam wasn’t sure he wanted to keep playing baseball because it was so connected to him. I felt it was important for him to keep doing something he loved and something that kept him connected to Dad.
“They had a tradition where before tournaments my dad would get Liam a Wawa breakfast sandwich and draw a smiley face on it with ketchup. I always joke that somehow he’d find a way to show up in Alabama with a Wawa breakfast sandwich and a ketchup smiley face.”
The family’s love for the game persists, and Liam keeps leveling up. His younger brothers hope to follow in his footsteps, too.
“My family, especially my younger brothers, means everything to me,” O’Leary said. “Having them watch me play means a lot.”
Added Shanleigh: “My younger brothers really look up to Liam. They joke about eventually outdoing Liam. They’re very competitive. It’s funny hearing them talk about where they’re going to play college baseball when one is in fifth grade.”
Liam worked his way into Division I baseball. He’s on his third school in as many years since graduating from Souderton and has racked up accolades along the way.
With a 3.25 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 105⅓ innings across 16 starts, O’Leary has been crucial in helping the Red Storm to the super regionals. He pitched three complete games this season — the first Red Storm player to do so in 23 years, according to the school — and unanimously earned first-team all-Big East honors.
O’Leary played his sophomore season at Lackawanna College in Scranton, which he led to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II College World Series and struck out 121 batters in 83 innings.
Mike McCarry, O’Leary’s coach at Lackawanna, recognized early that he was a force to be reckoned with.
“Early in October, I identified that this kid was going to be special,” McCarry said. “He throws a lot of strikes, he has really good secondary pitches, and, more than anything, he’s probably the most relentlessly competitive kid I’ve ever had — almost to a point where he’s nonsensically competitive.”
McCarry and the staff at Lackawanna not only sharpened his skills to get him to St. John’s, but also formed a strong, lasting bond with O’Leary and the team. McCarry and a few of O’Leary’s former teammates are flying to Alabama to watch him in the tournament.
“The culture there was amazing,” O’Leary said. “Everybody wanted to see each other succeed. Whether it was in the weight room or on the field, I always wanted to win. I wanted my teammates to win, too. Having that drive, and being around people with that same drive, really elevated me.”
With a community of family, friends, coaches, and teammates behind him, O’Leary is ready for what’s next on the field.
“This is the game I love,” O’Leary said. “It’s the game I grew up with. There’s nothing I’d rather do than keep playing.”