Friday, February 9
Clearwater, Fla.
5:00 PM ET
Liberty University
3
vs
1
St. John's
Roupe's Walk-Off Homer Highlights Liberty's 1-1 Opening Day
2/9/2024 11:03:00 PM | Softball
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Liberty junior Rachel Roupe hit a two-out, two-run walk-off homer to give Liberty a 3-1 win over St. John's in both teams' season opener, Friday at Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex. The Lady Flames then fell 8-0 in five innings to No. 13 Oregon in their second game of the day.
Liberty opens its season at 1-1, while St. John's lost to both the Lady Flames and Kansas tonight. Oregon improves to 2-1 on the season, defeating Kansas and Liberty today at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic
Game 1
Liberty 3, St. John's 1
Scoring Summary
St. John's – 2nd INNING – Totarsky singles to right, Seaton and Thompson advance, Mallah scores, 1-0
Liberty – 5th INNING – Roupe triples to right center, Barrett scores, 1-1
Liberty – 7th INNING – Roupe homers to left, Barrett scores, 3-1
Turning Point
Oregon 8, Liberty 0 (5 Innings)
Scoring Summary
Oregon – 1st INNING – Daniell doubles to right, Carlson advances, Kauf scores, 1-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Bird singles to left, Delgado scores, 2-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Humphreys singles, Flannery and Bird score, 4-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Humprheys scores on wild pitch, 5-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Carlson homers to center, Luschar scores, 7-0
Oregon – 5th INNING – Carlson homers to left, 8-0
Turning Point
Liberty plays twice tomorrow, taking on No. 5 Oregon at noon before facing Missouri at 4 p.m. Tomorrow's game against Missouri will air live on MLB Network.
Liberty opens its season at 1-1, while St. John's lost to both the Lady Flames and Kansas tonight. Oregon improves to 2-1 on the season, defeating Kansas and Liberty today at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic
Game 1
Liberty 3, St. John's 1
Scoring Summary
St. John's – 2nd INNING – Totarsky singles to right, Seaton and Thompson advance, Mallah scores, 1-0
Liberty – 5th INNING – Roupe triples to right center, Barrett scores, 1-1
Liberty – 7th INNING – Roupe homers to left, Barrett scores, 3-1
Turning Point
- St. John's loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the second but managed just one run as Escobar limited the damage with a pair of strikeouts.
- With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the St. John's catcher dropped a foul ball, allowing Barrett's at bat to continue. Barrett then singled, and Roupe launched a two-out, two-run home run to walk off with the 3-1 win.
- Liberty outhit St. John's 9-8 for the game with both teams registering one error. SJU left seven on base while Liberty stranded six.
- Elena Escobar (1-0) earned the win in her first start as a Lady Flame since transferring from North Alabama. Escobar allowed one run on eight hits, striking out eight batters.
- Hannah Mearns (0-1) drew the loss, allowing three runs, one earned, on nine hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.
- Roupe batted 3-for-4 with a triple, homer, one run scored and three RBI while Raigan Barrett batted 2-for-3 with two runs scored and KK Madrey went 2-for-3.
- St. John's got two hits each from Anese Thompson and Sydney Totarsky.
- Liberty is making its second appearance all-time at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic, as the Lady Flames opened the 2020 season at this event.
- St. John's leads the all-time series 4-3, as Liberty defeated the Red Storm for the first time since March 24, 1995.
- Liberty earned its first season-opening victory since defeating Pitt in the 2021 opener in Leesburg, Fla.
- Roupe was the first Lady Flame with a walk-off hit in a season opener since Feb. 14, 2003, when Amanda Goc hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 2-1 win over Charlotte.
- Escobar tied her career high with eight strikeouts and her eight K's were the most by a Liberty pitcher in a season opener since Julia DiMartino's 10 against Fairleigh Dickinson in 2018.
- The last walk-off homer by a Lady Flame was April 28, 2021 when Caroline Hudson hit a two-run walk-off home run against Virginia Tech.
Oregon 8, Liberty 0 (5 Innings)
Scoring Summary
Oregon – 1st INNING – Daniell doubles to right, Carlson advances, Kauf scores, 1-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Bird singles to left, Delgado scores, 2-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Humphreys singles, Flannery and Bird score, 4-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Humprheys scores on wild pitch, 5-0
Oregon – 2nd INNING – Carlson homers to center, Luschar scores, 7-0
Oregon – 5th INNING – Carlson homers to left, 8-0
Turning Point
- Liberty got hits from each of its first two batters in the bottom of the first, but was unable to score.
- Oregon put the game out of reach with a six-run second inning, scoring the first four runs off of starter Paige Bachman before Kaylan Yoder came on in relief.
- Oregon held an 8-2 advantage in hits, as Liberty was held without a hit after the first two batters of the game. The Lady Flames and Ducks each stranded one batter and Libert committed one error.
- Morgan Scott (1-0) earned the win for the Ducks, a two-hit shutout during which she struck out two.
- Bachman (0-1) sustained the loss, allowing five runs on five hits, hitting two batters in one inning of work. Freshman Kaylan Yoder yielded three runs on three hits, walking one and fanning four in three innings.
- Ariel Carlson batted 2-for-3 with two homers and three RBI for the Ducks, while KK Humphreys batted 1-for-2 with one run and two RBI.
- Oregon and Liberty were meeting for the first time in softball tonight. These two programs were scheduled to face each other in the 2017 Mary Nutter Invitational, but the game was canceled due to rain.
- Facing Oregon began a stretch of five straight games for the Lady Flames against teams which competed in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Softball Championship. It is also the first of back-to-back ranked opponents for Liberty (No. 5 Clemson tomorrow).
- Yoder is the first Liberty freshman to strike out three batters in her first career inning pitched during the Division I era (since 1994).
Liberty plays twice tomorrow, taking on No. 5 Oregon at noon before facing Missouri at 4 p.m. Tomorrow's game against Missouri will air live on MLB Network.
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