Friday, April 26
El Paso, Texas
8:00 PM ET/6:00 PM MT
Liberty University
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UTEP
Lady Flames Win Back-and-Forth Game at UTEP 9-6
4/26/2024 10:58:00 PM | Softball
EL PASO, Texas – In a back-and-forth game, Liberty went ahead for good on Rachel Roupe's sixth-inning two-run blast, downing UTEP 9-6 on Friday at Helen of Troy Softball Complex.
The Lady Flames improve to 30-18Â on the season with the win, including 18-4 in Conference USA play. More importantly, with WKU's loss at Jax State earlier tonight, Liberty clinches the No. 1 seed for the 2024 Conference USA Softball Championship and at least a share of the CUSA regular-season title. UTEP falls to 23-16, 9-10 in conference play.
Liberty is the first team since Western Kentucky in 2015 to win the Conference USA regular-season championship in its first season in the conference.
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Scoring Summary
UTEP – 1st INNING – Hogan homers to right, 1-0
Liberty – 3rd INNING – Roupe homers to center, 2-1
Liberty – 3rd INNING – Barrett reaches on error, Jessee scores on error, 3-1
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Scott singles to left, Morales scores, 3-2
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Richard reaches on error, Scott scores on error, 3-3
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Allen singles to right, Calderon advances, Richard scores, 4-3
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Garcia reaches on error, Sample and Allen advances, Calderon scores, 5-3
Liberty – 4th INNING – Craine steals second, Madrey steals third, scores on throwing error, 5-4
Liberty – 4th INNING – Wilson homers to center, Craine scores, 6-5
UTEP – 5th INNING – Mendoza singles to shortstop, Allen scores, 6-6
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roupe homers to right center, Wilson scores, 8-6
Liberty – 6th INNING – Barrett singles to right, Fortner scores, Jessee out at home, 9-6
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Turning Point
The Lady Flames and Miners will play game two tomorrow at a new time. The game was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. MT, but has been moved up to 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. MT).
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The Lady Flames improve to 30-18Â on the season with the win, including 18-4 in Conference USA play. More importantly, with WKU's loss at Jax State earlier tonight, Liberty clinches the No. 1 seed for the 2024 Conference USA Softball Championship and at least a share of the CUSA regular-season title. UTEP falls to 23-16, 9-10 in conference play.
Liberty is the first team since Western Kentucky in 2015 to win the Conference USA regular-season championship in its first season in the conference.
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Scoring Summary
UTEP – 1st INNING – Hogan homers to right, 1-0
Liberty – 3rd INNING – Roupe homers to center, 2-1
Liberty – 3rd INNING – Barrett reaches on error, Jessee scores on error, 3-1
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Scott singles to left, Morales scores, 3-2
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Richard reaches on error, Scott scores on error, 3-3
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Allen singles to right, Calderon advances, Richard scores, 4-3
UTEP – 3rd INNING – Garcia reaches on error, Sample and Allen advances, Calderon scores, 5-3
Liberty – 4th INNING – Craine steals second, Madrey steals third, scores on throwing error, 5-4
Liberty – 4th INNING – Wilson homers to center, Craine scores, 6-5
UTEP – 5th INNING – Mendoza singles to shortstop, Allen scores, 6-6
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roupe homers to right center, Wilson scores, 8-6
Liberty – 6th INNING – Barrett singles to right, Fortner scores, Jessee out at home, 9-6
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Turning Point
- UTEP tied Liberty 6-6 on an RBI single by Madi Mendoza in the bottom of the fifth.
- However, the Lady Flames regained their lead in the top of the sixth. Mary Claire Wilson singled to center with one out. Rachel Roupe then put Liberty ahead 8-6 with her second homer of the game. Liberty added an insurance run on Raigan Barrett's two-out RBI single.Â
- Liberty outhit UTEP 12-8 for the game. The Lady Flames committed a season-high four errors, compared to two errors for the Miners. UTEP left nine runners on base, while Liberty stranded six.
- Liberty's Elena Escobar (10-2) earned the win, allowing two unearned runs on five hits, walking one and striking out six in 4 2/3 innings of relief. Kaylan Yoder started and went 2 1/3 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on three hits, with one walk and two strikeouts. Â
- Reigning CUSA Pitcher of the Week Faith Aragon (11-8) drew the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits, walking three and fanning two in four innings of relief. UTEP starter Zaylie Calderon pitched three innings, yielding three runs on five hits while walking one.
- Roupe batted 3-for-3 with a double, two homers, four RBI and two runs scored. Mary Claire Wilson finished a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a double, homer, two RBI and three runs scored. KK Madrey went 3-for-4 with a triple, one stolen base and one run scored. Raigan Barrett batted 2-for-4 with one RBI.
- For UTEP, Halle Hogan went 2-for-3 with a homer, one RBI and one run scored, while Ashlyn Allen batted 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.
- Liberty leads UTEP 2-0 in the all-time series, as the Lady Flames won the only previous meeting, 4-3, on March 27, 2004.
- Liberty has clinched its 18th 30-win season all-time and eighth straight full season with 30 wins or more. The previous program record for consecutive 30-win years was sive, from 1996-2000.
- The Lady Flames tied a season high with 12 hits (also at No. 13 Virginia Tech, April 3, 2024).
- Roupe registered her fifth two-homer game of the season, second in a row and eighth of her career. Her five multiple-homer contests this season are the second most in a single year in program history, trailing only Jessica Moore's six in 2005.
- Roupe's eight three-hit games this year are the most by a Liberty player since Amber Bishop-Riley's nine in 2018.
- This is the second time this season that Roupe has had two homers in back-to-back games. She also did so Feb. 25 versus Morgan State and March 1 against Tulsa.
- Roupe passed Shannon Tanski (1995-97) into fifth place in program history with 38 career home runs. She also passed Amanda Maska (2002-04) into sixth with 77 career extra-base hits.
- Roupe leads the CUSA with 17 doubles, which is tied with Caroline Hudson's 17 doubles from 2023 for the seventh most doubles in a single season for a Lady Flame.
- Wilson tied her career high with three runs scored and is now in sole possession of eighth place in program history with 117 career runs scored.
- Prior to tonight, the last time that Liberty had three different players all with three hits in the same game was April 7, 2023 at North Florida, when Rachel Craine, Caroline Hudson and KK Madrey all had three hits for the Lady Flames.
The Lady Flames and Miners will play game two tomorrow at a new time. The game was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. MT, but has been moved up to 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. MT).
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It's official. We have claimed the No. 1 seed and @ConferenceUSA regular-season championship. pic.twitter.com/fenPFQ6HSp
— Liberty Softball (@LibertySB) April 27, 2024
Players Mentioned
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