Liberty Softball Travels to Texas for Sam Houston Series
3/21/2024 2:22:00 PM | Softball
Liberty (15-12, 5-1 CUSA) carries a four-game winning streak into a three-game series at fellow Conference USA newcomer Sam Houston (11-16, 0-6), Friday through Sunday.
Series Coverage
Series Coverage
- Liberty at Sam Houston (Bearkat Softball Complex)
- First pitch: Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET/Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET/Sunday at 1 p.m. ET
- TV: ESPN+
- The Lady Flames beat No. 21 (D1Softball.com) Charlotte 6-5 on Wednesday. Mary Claire Wilson hit a two-run homer in the first. Rachel Roupe doubled twice, and Sierra Kersten came through with a clutch two-out, two-run single in the fifth for important insurance runs. It was Liberty's second win over a Top 25 team this season, as the Lady Flames beat No. 25 (Softball America) Penn State on Feb. 23.
- Liberty returns to Texas for the first time since 2020, when the Lady Flames' final games of the CoVID-19-shortened season took place in Austin, at a tournament hosted by Texas.
- Liberty's pitching has stood out lately, as the Lady Flames lead Conference USA in conference-only ERA (1.78), shutouts (2 - tied) and opponents batting average (.193). Individually, Katie Love leads the league with a .113 opponents batting average in Conference USA games. On offense, Liberty's Hailey Deter and Sam Houston's Ellie Grill are tied for the lead with four doubles in conference play.
- Liberty outscored Jacksonville State 13-1 in a weekend home sweep last weekend. 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 from both Raigan Barrett and Rachel Roupe.
- 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.
- For the season, Rachel Roupe leads CUSA in slugging percentage (.838) and OPS (1.287) while ranking second in homers (8) and runs (22). Raigan Barrett bats .300, while Hailey Deter (.265) is second on the team with seven doubles and Mary Claire Wilson (.286) has scored 21 runs. Megan Fortner (.257) has five homers, while Sierra Kersten (.242) is tied for the team lead with 19 RBI.
- Kaylan Yoder (5-5, 3.02 ERA) tossed her first career shutout last Friday against Jax State. She leads the team with 49 strikeouts. Katie Love (4-3, 3.80) has a .202 opponents' batting average overall, ranking second in CUSA. Love 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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