Friday, May 10
Las Cruces, N.M.
4:30 PM ET/2:30 PM MT
Liberty University
34-23
5
vs
0
Louisiana Tech
32-22
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
LA Tech
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
Liberty
0
3
0
0
0
2
X
5
6
0
No. 1 Seed Liberty Eliminates Louisiana Tech, NM State, to Face WKU in Final
5/10/2024 10:48:00 PM | Softball
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – No. 1 seed Liberty won a pair of elimination games today, knocking off No. 3 seed Louisiana Tech 5-0 before defeating No. 4 seed New Mexico State 5-3, Friday at NM State Softball Complex.
With the wins, Liberty (35-23) advances to face No. 2 seed Western Kentucky in tomorrow's winner-take-all final at the 2024 Conference USA Softball Championship.
Louisiana Tech finishes its season with a 32-22 record, while NM State concludes with a 30-25 record.
Liberty 5, Louisiana Tech 0
Scoring Summary
Liberty – 2nd INNING – Barrett singles to right center, Madrey advances, Fortner scores, 1-0
Liberty – 2nd INNING – Roberts sacrifice bunt, Barrett advances, Madrey scores, 2-0
Liberty – 2nd INNING – Craine singles to right center, Barrett scores, 3-0
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roberts singles up the middle, Barrett advances, Madrey scores, 4-0
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roberts advances on wild pitch, Barrett scores on wild pitch, 5-0
Turning Point
Scoring Summary
NM State – 3rd INNING – Boyd homers to center field, 1-0
Liberty – 4th INNING – Roupe homers down right field line, 1-1
Liberty – 4th INNING – Roberts singles up the middle, Barrett and Jessee advance, Fortner scores, 2-1
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roberts singles up the middle, Madrey scores, 3-1
Liberty – 6th INNING – Kersten homers to right center, Roberts scores, 5-1
NM State – 7th INNING – Kayla Lunar homers to left center, Burton scores, 5-3
Turning Point
With the wins, Liberty (35-23) advances to face No. 2 seed Western Kentucky in tomorrow's winner-take-all final at the 2024 Conference USA Softball Championship.
Louisiana Tech finishes its season with a 32-22 record, while NM State concludes with a 30-25 record.
Liberty 5, Louisiana Tech 0
Scoring Summary
Liberty – 2nd INNING – Barrett singles to right center, Madrey advances, Fortner scores, 1-0
Liberty – 2nd INNING – Roberts sacrifice bunt, Barrett advances, Madrey scores, 2-0
Liberty – 2nd INNING – Craine singles to right center, Barrett scores, 3-0
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roberts singles up the middle, Barrett advances, Madrey scores, 4-0
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roberts advances on wild pitch, Barrett scores on wild pitch, 5-0
Turning Point
- Kaylan Yoder held Louisiana Tech's bats at bay the entire game. The Lady Flames got all of the scoring they would need in the second inning. Megan Fortner hit a leadoff single before KK Madrey drew a one-out walk. The next three batters (Raigan Barrett single, Brooke Roberts sacrifice bunt, Rachel Craine RBI single) produced RBI base hits.
- Liberty outhit Louisiana Tech 6-3 for the game. The Bulldogs turned one double play. Louisiana Tech left five runners on base, while Liberty stranded four.
- Kaylan Yoder (11-9) earned the win, tossing a three-hitter for her fifth shutout of the season. She struck out seven and walked one.
- Allie Floyd (13-8) drew the loss, allowing three runs on four hits, walking two and fanning two in five innings. Brook Melnychuk allowed two runs on two hits in one inning, striking out one.
- Six different Lady Flames (Mary Claire Wilson, Megan Fortner, KK Madrey, Raigan Barrett, Brooke Roberts, Rachel Craine) had one hit each. Roberts drove in two runs, while Madrey and Barrett both scored twice.
- Louisiana Tech's Alexis Giglio went 2-for-3 with a double.
- Liberty is 6-0 all-time against Louisiana Tech, including 4-0 this season. The Lady Flames shut out the Bulldogs in all three meetings this year, with three of those shutouts coming from Yoder.
- Roupe had reached base safely in each of her last 17 games prior to going 0-for-3 against Louisiana Tech. That is the longest reached-base streak by any Lady Flame so far this season.
- In the Louisiana Tech game, Yoder tossed a shutout, the first conference tournament shutout by a Lady Flame since Karlie Keeney's effort in a 9-0 victory over North Florida in the 2022 ASUN Softball Championship title game.
- Yoder is the first Liberty freshman to pitch a shutout in conference tournament play since Julia DiMartino against Presbyterian College at the 2016 Big South Softball Championship.
Scoring Summary
NM State – 3rd INNING – Boyd homers to center field, 1-0
Liberty – 4th INNING – Roupe homers down right field line, 1-1
Liberty – 4th INNING – Roberts singles up the middle, Barrett and Jessee advance, Fortner scores, 2-1
Liberty – 6th INNING – Roberts singles up the middle, Madrey scores, 3-1
Liberty – 6th INNING – Kersten homers to right center, Roberts scores, 5-1
NM State – 7th INNING – Kayla Lunar homers to left center, Burton scores, 5-3
Turning Point
- Liberty led 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. KK Madrey hit a one-out single before going to second on a sacrifice bunt by Raigan Barrett. Brooke Roberts drove in Madrey with an RBI single. Sierra Kersten then pinch hit, launching the first pitch she saw for a two-run homer to give Liberty a 5-1 lead.
- Rachel Roupe made arguably the play of the game in the top of the seventh. With two on and nobody out, she chased down a drive off the bat of Kristen Boyd before alertly throwing to second for the double play. The next batter, Kayla Lunar, hit a two-run homer to narrow the gap to 5-3. Jessica Carreon then lined out to third for the final out.
- Liberty outhit New Mexico State 7-4 for the game. The Lady Flames left five runners on base, compared to three stranded for the Aggies.
- Elena Escobar (13-5) earned the win, allowing three runs on four hits, walking three and striking out four.
- Desirae Spearman (8-4) drew the loss, allowing two runs on four hits, walking three and fanning two in 5 1/3 innings. Emily Dix yielded three runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning.
- Brooke Roberts went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored, while Rachel Roupe and Sierra Kersten both went 1-for-1, with Roupe hitting a solo home run and Kersten hitting a two-run blast.
- Liberty held NM State's top four batters to a combined 0-for-11. Kayla Lunar went 1-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and one run scored, while Boyd batted 1-for-2 with a solo homer.
- Liberty is now 5-3 all-time against New Mexico State in softball, including 3-2 this season. The Aggies defeated the Lady Flames 11-3 in Liberty's first game this weekend, sending them into the losers' bracket. The Lady Flames have responded with wins over UTEP, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State in elimination games.
- Kersten is one of two Lady Flames with a pinch-hit homer this season, joining Hailey Deter (March 8 at FIU).
- Roberts has driven in five runs so far this weekend, including back-to-back two-RBI games today.
- Roupe hit her 40th career home run today, becoming the fifth player in program history to hit 40 or more career home runs. Her 17 homers this season are tied with Shannon Tanski (1997) and Caroline Hudson (2022) for fifth most in a single season in program history.
- Liberty will look to make its way all the way back through the losers' bracket. When the Lady Flames captured the 2011 Big South Championship, they opened with a loss to the host team, Winthrop before winning four elimination games over the next two days to claim the tournament title.
- The Lady Flames are attempting to become just the second team to win the CUSA Softball Championship after losing its first game. In 2004, DePaul lost to Houston in the first game of the tournament. The Blue Demons rallied through the losers' bracket, winning the championship game against Houston.
- Liberty is looking to become the first team since Western Kentucky in 2015 to win the Conference USA Softball Championship in its first season in the league.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Yoder, Kaylan (11-9)
L: FLOYD, Allie (13-8)
Batting:
2B: GILIO, Alexi 1
Base Running:
HBP: NEEL, Kylie 1
Batting:
RBI: Barrett, Raigan 1 ; Roberts, Brooke 2 ; Craine, Rachel 1
SH: Roberts, Brooke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Fortner, Megan 1 ; Madrey, KK 2 ; Barrett, Raigan 2
HBP: Barrett, Raigan 1 ; Craine, Rachel 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballCoach Richardson, Elena Escobar & Rachel Roupe Talk About The Game Against Oregon
Sunday, May 25
Coach Richardson, Rachel Roupe & Paige Doerr Talk About The Game Against Oregon
Saturday, May 24
Lady Flames Softball Podcast: Breaking Down Liberty vs. Oregon, Rachel Roupe Drafted and More!
Thursday, May 22
Coach Richardson Talks About Preparing For Oregon
Tuesday, May 20