Liberty Takes on Radford in Commonwealth Clash
4/12/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Complete Game Notes
Liberty (30-11), leading the conference standings with a 10-2 Big South record, plays at third-place Radford (21-13, 5-4), Friday and Saturday at Radford Softball Stadium. Liberty fell at Virginia Tech, 1-0, in eight innings on Tuesday, before Radford won its home opener, 4-3, over the Hokies on Wednesday to complete a season sweep. The Lady Flames won the season series against Radford, 2-1, last year in Lynchburg, Va.
Liberty extended its winning streak to a season-best nine games, last Friday at Longwood, winning 3-2 behind homers from both Amber and Autumn Bishop, the first time that both Bishop twins have homered in the same game while at Liberty. That win also pushed Liberty's Big South winning streak to a program-record 10 games. The Lady Flames fell in the final two games of the series, including a narrow 3-2 setback in a nationally-televised (ESPNU) contest on Sunday. Sarah Robertson went 2-for-3 with a double and a homer in Sunday's game. Liberty is looking to end its current three-game winless streak.
Led by 2017 Big South Coach of the Year Dot Richardson, the defending NISC and Big South regular-season champion Lady Flames bat .293 as a team, averaging 5.0 runs per game. The Lady Flames hold a 2.60 team ERA, tossing a Big South-best 10 shutouts. Liberty also leads the conference with a .977 fielding percentage.
Junior Julia DiMartino, reigning Big South Pitcher of the Year, is 18-7 with a 2.30 ERA, leading the Big South in wins (18), strikeouts (148), shutouts (6), saves (3) and innings pitched (146.0). Elizabeth Engler is 6-1 with a Big South-best 1.76 ERA, while Chase Cassady holds a 5-2 record with a 3.08 ERA. Both Cassady and Engler have tossed two shutouts this year. Last Friday, DiMartino became the second player in program history to record 500 career strikeouts.
Autumn Bishop bats .390 and currently leads the league and is third nationally with 18 doubles. Her 20-game hitting streak, which ended on Sunday, was the third longest in program history. Amber Bishop sports a .362 average, pacing the team with six homers and 29 RBI. Sarah Robertson (.300) has hit 10 doubles and driven in 25 runs. Taylor Hoffman bats .290, while Jaclyn Amader (.286) is the Big South leader with five triples.
Quick Hits
- Liberty was the first non-Power 5 Division I softball team to reach 30 wins this season.
- Liberty was picked to finish second in the Big South preseason poll. Julia DiMartino is Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and Amber Bishop is Preseason Player of the Year.
- Three different Liberty pitchers have two or more shutouts this season.
- Autumn Bishop batted .500 (32-for-64) with 12 doubles during her 20-game hitting streak.
- The Lady Flames have won two games when behind entering the seventh inning in 2018.
Liberty vs. Radford
Radford (21-13, 5-4 Big South) is 7-1 in its last eight games, and 3-0 against ACC teams this season (2-0 vs. Virginia Tech and 1-0 against Virginia). The Highlanders rank third overall in the Big South with a 2.79 team ERA.
Marissa Gagliano leads the team with a .396 batting average, and has stolen 12 bases. Talia Douglas bats .349, while Sofia Tapia hits .300. Maggie Rowe paces Radford in homers (5) and RBI (27). Abby Morrow is 14-8 with a 2.15 ERA and four shutouts, while defending Big South Pitcher of the Week Kayla Huffman is 6-3 with a 2.46 ERA.
Radford leads the overall series, 53-31. The home team has won the regular-season series, two games to one, each of the last three years. One of Liberty's biggest wins in program history came on May 14, 2011, when Liberty downed Radford in the Big South Championship final.
2017 Recap - Liberty vs. Radford
Liberty took two out of three games from Radford, March 24-25 at Liberty Softball Stadium.
Game one saw Liberty score four runs in the fifth inning, downing the Highlanders, 5-2.
Liberty then erased a three-run deficit with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to score a 6-5 win over Radford, March 25, with Emily Sweat's two-run, walk-off single providing the winning margin, scoring Cassie Gingerich and Jessica Cicerchia.
The visiting Highlanders salvaged game three, winning 11-2 in six innings.
First to 30
With its 3-2 win at Longwood last Friday, Liberty became the 13th NCAA Division I team, and first from a non-Power Five conference, to reach 30 wins (30-8). The previous 12 to make it to 30 wins this year included: Washington, Auburn, Georgia, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida, UCLA, South Carolina, Florida State, Arizona State, Oklahoma and LSU.
Liberty was 22 games over .500 at the time, tying the program record for most games over .500 in any season, which was set when the 2017 team ended the year at 46-24.
The Lady Flames have clinched their 13th 30-win season in program history, and third in a row.
Team Notes
- The Lady Flames have posted 10 shutouts so far this season, halfway to the program record of 20, set in 1999. Liberty blanked its first three opponents of the season for the first time since 1995.
- Nine different Lady Flames have a three-hit game this season, led by Amber Bishop's six three-hit contests. Tori Zavodny (3), Taylor Hoffman (2), Amber Bishop (2) and Madison Via (2) have multiple three-hit games in 2018. Deidra See's 4-for-4 game at PC, March 24 was Liberty's first four-hit game of 2018, joining Amber Bishop (5/13/17 at Longwood) as current Lady Flames with a four-hit game.
- Liberty is now 7-3 in one-run games during the 2018 season after going 6-8 in such games last year. That includes two walk-off wins (Feb. 22 vs. North Carolina; March 17 vs. Campbell)
- Liberty has twice won games when trailing entering the seventh inning, and did it in back-to-back games, against Central Michigan (Feb. 16) and versus North Carolina (Feb. 22), both in nine innings. The Lady Flames are 2-0 in extra-inning games this year.
Quick Conference Report
In 12 conference games so far this season, Liberty is batting .337, outscoring opponents 72-23 while holding opponents to a .187 batting average.
Autumn Bishop is batting .553 with eight doubles and 12 RBI, while Amber Bishop (.463) has scored 14 runs. Madison Via hits .387 with eight RBI, while Jasmeen Click hits .333. Sarah Robertson bats .324, while Jaclyn Amader has driven in 10 runs.
Julia DiMartino is 7-1 with a 1.65 ERA and two shutouts, while Elizabeth Engler is 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA and .159 opponents' batting average. Chase Cassady is 1-0 with a 2.50 ERA.
Weekly Honors
On April 2, sophomore Autumn Bishop was named Big South Softball Player of the Week for the second week in a row. She joins Keely McMillon (2011) and Shannon Tanski (1996) as the only two Lady Flames with back-to-back Big South Player of the Week honors.
Double-Double
Liberty leads the Big South with 65 doubles, tying for 22nd nationally.
After hitting 15 doubles in 2017, Autumn Bishop is currently third in the nation with 18 doubles in 2018. She is the first player in program history with 15 or more doubles in back-to-back years.
Sarah Robertson led the Lady Flames with 16 doubles last year, including a program-record-tying three doubles against NC Central on March 11, 2017. Amber Bishop has hit 12 doubles this season, while Robertson is third on the team with 10 two-base hits.
Crossing the Plate
Twice this season, Liberty has had a player tie the program single-game record with four runs scored. Jaclyn Amader scored four times against Delaware on March 9, while Sarah Robertson tallied four runs versus Campbell, March 18.
On the Shutouts
Julia DiMartino has tossed a conference-best six shutouts this season, giving her 20 for her career. DiMartino is three shutouts shy of Katie Phillips' (1996-99) career program record. DiMartino is the first pitcher in program history with six or more shutouts in three separate seasons.
Chase Cassady and Elizabeth Engler both have two shutouts apiece this season. Engler (four-hitter) and Cassady (two-hitter) both shut out Gardner-Webb on March 21.
DiMartino was named Big South Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 12. She is the first player in program history to be named Big South Pitcher of the Week as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
First Time for Everything
Autumn Bishop became the first player in program history to hit a sacrifice fly in three straight games, doing so March 23 through March 30. She has tied the program single-season record with four sacrifice flies. Teammate Deidra See also hit four sac flies in 2017.
Milestones Abound
Liberty senior Alexia Taylor and junior Sarah Robertson were the fourth and fifth Lady Flames all-time to reach the 100-hit plateau as sophomores. Sophomore Amber Bishop joined them in the 100-hit club, earning her 100th hit, a double, at No. 20/21 South Carolina on March 2. Autumn Bishop joined the 100-hit club on March 24 at Presbyterian. Amber Bishop's 133 career hits are already the most by any Liberty player by the end of her sophomore season.
On March 23 at PC, Alexia Taylor became the 14th player in program history to record her 100th career run. The next day, she became the seventh player in program history to reach 200 career hits. She is just the fourth player in program history with 200+ hits, 100+ runs and 100+ RBI, joining Ashley Williams (2005-08), Jessica Moore (2005-07) and Kelby Allen (2012-15).
