Lady Flames Ready to Host No. 21 Charlotte, Wednesday
3/19/2024 1:14:00 PM | Softball
Liberty (14-12, 5-1 CUSA) wraps up its five-game homestand on Wednesday against No. 21 Charlotte (16-9, 5-1 AAC). Both the Lady Flames (vs. Jax State) and 49ers (vs. Memphis) are coming off of home sweeps.
Series Coverage
Series Coverage
- Charlotte at Liberty (Kamphuis Field at Liberty Softball Stadium)
- First pitch: Wednesday at 4 p.m.
- TV: ESPN+
- Radio: LFSN Radio
- Charlotte enters the week with the second toughest non-conference strength of schedule in the nation and wins over nationally-ranked Florida State, Kentucky and Virginia Tech. Liberty is sixth in non-conference strength of schedule, beating No. 25 Penn State and (RV) Louisiana.
- Liberty beat Charlotte 2-1 in eight innings last year, a game which was scoreless through seven. Rachel Roupe robbed Charlotte's first batter of the game of a homer, ending up on SC Top 10 that night.
- Charlotte appears as No. 21 in this week's D1Softball.com Top 25.
- Freshman Katie Love was named CUSA Pitcher of the Week on Monday. She allowed just one run on three hits in 14 innings of work last week. On Saturday against Jax State, she tossed the first no-hitter by a Liberty freshman since Julia DiMartino versus Gardner-Webb, April 29, 2016.
- The Lady Flames have gone 8-1 at home this season, outscoring opponents a combined 43-8. Liberty has allowed one run or fewer in eight of nine home games, including four shutouts from four different pitchers (Elena Escobar, Katie Love, Tyler Oubre, Kaylan Yoder).
- Liberty outscored Jacksonville State 13-1 in a weekend home sweep. Kaylan Yoder (four-hitter) and Katie Love (no-hitter) became the first pair of Liberty freshmen to throw back-to-back shutouts since 1996. Mary Claire Wilson hit .429, followed by .375 averages from both Raigan Barrett and Rachel Roupe.
- For the season, Rachel Roupe leads CUSA in slugging percentage (.815) and OPS (1.260) while ranking second in homers (8) and runs (20). Raigan Barrett bats .292, while Hailey Deter (.283) is second on the team with seven doubles and Mary Claire Wilson (.270) has scored 19 runs. Megan Fortner (.254) hit her fifth homer of the season, Sunday, while Sierra Kersten (.237) has driven in 17 runs this season.
- Kaylan Yoder (4-5, 2.98 ERA) tossed her first career shutout on Friday against Jax State. She leads the team with 48 strikeouts. Katie Love (4-3, 3.95) has a team-leading .206 opponents' batting average on the year and struck out a career-high seven batters on Sunday. Liberty is 4-0 in games Elena Escobar (2.51 ERA) has started this season. Escobar struck out a career-high 10 batters in a two-hit shutout of Saint Francis, Feb. 23. Louisiana transfer Tyler Oubre holds a 3.97 ERA.
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/ SoftballStep Into My Office: Dot Richardson
Monday, January 26
Paige Doerr Talks About The Upcoming Softball Season
Friday, January 23
Liberty Softball: The Greatest Victory
Thursday, December 11
Coach Richardson, Elena Escobar & Rachel Roupe Talk About The Game Against Oregon
Sunday, May 25