Liberty softball defeated No. 13 Alabama on Tuesday afternoon, 5-3. The Lady Flames are now 29-15 overall and 12-3 in ASUN play following this past week of action. Liberty has an important road trip to take on Central Arkansas this weekend for a three-game conference series. The Bears are currently 31-8 overall and in first place in the ASUN at 14-1 and ranked No. 24 nationally.
WEDNESDAY: LIBERTY 2, CHARLOTTE 1 (8 innings)
Liberty broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the 8th inning and would hold on for a 2-1 win at Charlotte on Wednesday.
Charlotte’s Ashleigh Washington led off the home half of the first with a high drive to left that Liberty right fielder Rachel Roupe robbed from going over the fence. That play loomed large throughout the game.
Liberty rallied with one out in the eighth as Hudson drew a walk and Roupe sent pinch runner Lilly Heidorn to third with a single. Craine then lifted a sacrifice fly to left for a 1-0 lead and Fornter then made it 2-0 with an RBI single. Savanna Nguyen led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, but a 6-4-3 double play cleared the bases. Hoffer then homered, narrowing the gap to 2-1, but Washington fouled out to end the game.
SATURDAY GAME 1: LIBERTY 7, STETSON 0
Liberty opened an ASUN series with a 7-0 victory during game one of a twin bill on Saturday, three-hitting Stetson at Liberty Softball Stadium.
Liberty’s pitching and defense cruised throughout, facing just four batters over the minimum. The Lady Flames broke the game open with homers from Howard and Roupe during a three-run fifth, making it 5-0.
SATURDAY GAME 2: LIBERTY 6, STETSON 5 (9 innings)
Liberty earned a doubleheader sweep of Stetson, as junior Megan Fortner hit a two-out walk-off double in the ninth inning to seal the 6-5 win on Saturday.
The Hatters got a one-out single from Gilman in the top of the ninth, but pinch runner Haley Fox was caught stealing by Soto for the second out before Keeney got the final out via ground out. The Lady Flames rallied with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, as Craine hit a double down the left-field line and Fortner drove a 1-2 pitch into right center, bouncing it over the fence for a walk-off ground rule double.
SUNDAY: STETSON 8, LIBERTY 7
Liberty faced a 7-1 deficit after giving up five runs in the third and two in the fourth. The Lady Flames clawed back to within 7-6 by scoring four times in the bottom of the fifth, getting RBI from Rachel Roupe, Craine, Fortner and KC Machado.
After Stetson scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth to make it 8-6, Hatters starting pitcher Lauren Hobbs reentered the circle for the final two innings. Liberty narrowed the gap to 8-7 with an unearned tally in the home half of the sixth, but a 1-2-3 Liberty seventh ended the contest.
TUESDAY: LIBERTY 5, NO. 13 ALABAMA 3
The Lady Flames picked up a big win to kick off an important week on Tuesday afternoon in Huntington, West Virginia at Marshall University.
Liberty scored two runs in the bottom of the third to take a 2-1 lead before the Crimson Tide scored single runs in the 4th and the 5th to regain the lead at 3-2. That was until Caroline Hudson smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to give the Lady Flames the lead once again and this time for good at 5-3. It was part of a four-RBI day for the Liberty catcher.
Karlie Keeney pitched the complete game, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits over seven innings.
ON TAP
Saturday, Apr. 22 at No. 24 Central Arkansas, 2:00 p.m. (double-header)
Sunday, Apr. 23 at No. 24 Central Arkansas, 11:30 a.m.
