Liberty Travels to Tar Heel State, Take on Duke and UNC in Midweek Action
3/20/2023 4:34:31 PM | Softball
• Liberty (16-9) brings the nation's third-longest active winning streak (15 games) into a pair of midweek away games at ACC foes No. 13 Duke (24-5, 7-2 ACC) and North Carolina (10-19, 1-5), Tuesday and Wednesday in the Tar Heel State.
Duke Softball Stadium
Durham, N.C.
Tuesday, March 21
Liberty at Duke – 6 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video (ACC Network Xtra)
Anderson Softball Stadium
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Wednesday, March 22
Liberty at North Carolina – 6 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video (ACC Network Xtra)
• Liberty is in search of its first win over a Top 25 team on the season, as the Lady Flames have gone 0-6 against nationally-ranked opponents in 2023. That includes one-run losses to No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 UCLA and an extra-innings setback to No. 16 Duke. Liberty battled back from an early deficit to Duke on Feb. 10, tying it at 5-5 before falling 8-5 in eight innings.
• Liberty and Duke split two meetings last year, with the Lady Flames defeating the Blue Devils 8-3 in Lynchburg in the regular season before Duke downing Liberty 5-0 in the second round of the 2022 Durham Regional. North Carolina held off a late Liberty surge on March 16, 2022, winning 3-2.
• The Lady Flames have outscored opponents 121-32 during their current 15-game winning streak, with Karlie Keeney (10-0, 0.68) and Paige Bachman (4-0, 0.76) tossing stellar outings during that span. On offense, Rachel Roupe has batted .389 with 17 RBI during the last 15 games, while Caroline Hudson hit .375 with six doubles, seven homers and 21 RBI during that same span.
• Karlie Keeney (10-5, 1.87 ERA), this week's ASUN Pitcher of the Week, is tied for the ASUN lead in victories and is tied for 10th in the nation with four shutouts. Paige Bachman (5-3, 1.96) struck out a career-high seven batters on Feb. 10 against Duke and tied that mark last Thursday at Eastern Kentucky.
• Liberty boasts six .300 batters, with one additional batter hitting .298. Mary Claire Wilson bats a team-leading .328, while Devyn Howard (.305) is tied for second in the ASUN with 23 runs scored. Caroline Hudson (.304) leads the ASUN with eight homers to go along with 23 RBI. KK Madrey (.304) hit her first career home run last Wednesday at EKU and leads the team with 11 steals. Rachel Craine bats .304 while Megan Fornter (.314) has hit a team-best .393 during Liberty's current winning streak. Rachel Roupe (.298) is the only player in the ASUN with 18 or more runs scored (20) and 18 or more RBI (18).
