Liberty Edges FIU 4-3

MIAMI, Fla. – Liberty earned its second straight one-run victory, edging FIU 4-3 on Saturday at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium

The Lady Flames (11-10, 2-0 CUSA), who extended their winning streak to three games, have earned the series victory with a 2-1 win over FIU last night and today's 4-3 victory. Liberty will look to go for the series sweep tomorrow at 11 a.m.

FIU falls to 11-14, 0-2 in conference play with its fourth straight setback.

Scoring Summary
Liberty – 1^st INNING – Roberts infield single, Deter advances, Wilson and Roupe score, 2-0
Liberty – 2^nd INNING – Roupe homers to center, 3-0
FIU – 4^th INNING – McBurrows grounds out, Meredith and Whitney advance, Grossenbacher scores, 3-1
FIU – 4^th INNING – Perez singles to center, out at second, Meredith and Whitney scores, 3-3
Liberty – 5^th INNING – Fortner flies out to center, sacrifice fly, Heidorn scores.

Turning Point

After FIU tied the score at 3-3 with a three-run fourth inning, Liberty quickly regained the lead. Hailey Deter led off the fifth with a double. Pinch runner Lilly Heidorn reached third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Megan Fortner sacrifice fly.
Tyler Oubre came on in relief of Katie Love in the bottom of the fifth, holding the Panthers hitless for a three-inning save.

Notable Numbers

Liberty outhit FIU 6-4 for the game. The Panthers committed two errors compared to one miscue for the Lady Flames. The visitors left eight runners on base, compared to five stranded for the hosts.
Katie Love (2-3) claimed her second straight victory, allowing three runs on four hits, walking one in four innings. Tyler Oubre recorded her first career save, tossing three hitless innings while allowing two walks.
Jewelie Vanderkous (2-2) allowed one run on four hits, walking one and striking out one in five innings of relief. Starter Sydney Birling gave up three runs, one earned, on two hits, allowing two walks in two innings.
Rachel Roupe hit her team-leading seventh homer of the season, driving in one run and scoring twice. Hailey Deter (1-for-4) doubled, while Brooke Roberts went 1-for-2 with two RBI. Megan Fortner hit a sacrifice fly for the second game in a row.
For FIU, Isabella Perez batted 1-for-3 with one RBI, while Kally Meredith went 1-for-3 and scored once.

Beyond the Box Score

Liberty leads FIU in the all-time series, 2-0, as these two programs are meeting for the first time this weekend.
The Lady Flames are now 3-1 in one-run games this season. The last time Liberty won back-to-back games by one-run margins was April 23, 2023 at Central Arkansas (4-3) and April 26, 2023 against Clemson (5-4).
Roupe became the seventh player in program history to reach 30 career home runs.
Fortner hit her seventh career sacrifice fly and she leads all active Lady Flames with 117 career RBI.
Oubre is one of four different Lady Flames with at least one save this season, joining Kaylan Yoder (2), Elena Escobar (1) and Katie Love (1). This is the first time since 2021 that four Liberty pitchers have recorded saves in the same season.
Wilson became the 23rd player in program history to score 100 or more career runs.

Up Next
The Lady Flames and Panthers wrap up this weekend's series with an 11 a.m. game tomorrow morning.

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Team Stats

Rachel Roupe

Hailey Deter

Brooke Roberts

KK Madrey

Players Mentioned

Hailey Deter

Elena Escobar

Megan Fortner

Lilly Heidorn

Katie Love

Tyler Oubre

Brooke Roberts

Rachel Roupe

Kaylan Yoder