Flames Softball Comes Back to Beat Central Michigan Chippewas

The Liberty Lady Flames sealed the victory after the two-day Liberty Softball Challenge Invitational with a thrilling 4-3 comeback win in extra innings against the Central Michigan Chippewas Friday, Feb. 16.

Senior right fielder Tori Zavodny drove in the deciding run for the Lady Flames with a triple in the top of the ninth, and junior Julia DiMartino struck out Central Michigan’s Kayla Noch to end the game. Liberty won three out of four in their home tournament and improved to 8-1 overall in 2018.

The Lady Flames were in danger of falling to the Chippewas twice in as many days before sophomore second baseman Amber Bishop smashed a game-tying solo home run to straight-away center field with one out in the seventh inning.

“Getting to home plate and having the whole team come around me is an amazing feeling,” Bishop said. “I love being able to do that for the team.”

DiMartino, who tossed a one-hitter to defeat Delaware State earlier in the day, pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn her fourth win of the year and allow Liberty to avenge its only loss of the season against Central Michigan Thursday, Feb. 15.

“One thing we’ve always talked about is when we make mistakes, we’re either going to be learners or losers,” Liberty head coach Dot Richardson said. “If you don’t learn from your mistakes and try to minimize them in the future, then you really have lost, because we’re not getting better.”

During their match against the Chippewas Thursday, the Lady Flames trailed 8-1 going into the seventh inning. Despite tallying four home runs in the seventh, their efforts were not enough.

On Friday, Feb. 16, Autumn Bishop, Amber Bishop and Zavodny worked together to provide the game-winning run against the Chippewas, as Autumn Bishop hit a leadoff double, moved to third on another sacrifice bunt by Amber Bishop and scored on Zavodny’s clutch hit.

“I think the two of them play off of each other really well as sisters,” Richardson said of Autumn and Amber Bishop. “And Tori Zavodny just did what she needed to do…she was patient enough to get that inside pitch and waited on it. She just put it super deep and the triple was great timing.”

The Bishop twins and Zavodny combined to go 8-for-13 with three RBIs and all four runs scored for the Lady Flames.

It was a breakout game for Amber Bishop, who came in hitting .231 (6-for-26), but went 3-for-3, including a crucial first home run of the year.

“I wasn’t thinking about home runs because I’ve been struggling with the bat,” Bishop said. “I just wanted to go up and hit a pitch as well as I could. Hitting a home run was nice. It was good to have that feeling back again because I haven’t had it in a while.”

Amber Bishop blasted a ball over the fence last year, May 22, 2017, when she hit two home runs against California Polytechnic in the National Invitational Softball Championship, a season-ending tournament that Liberty went on to win two days and three games later.

In the third inning of Friday night’s contest, Amber Bishop led off with a single to right, followed by an infield single from Zavodny. Two straight flyouts to left set up a two-out RBI single by junior shortstop Sarah Robertson that made it 2-0 Liberty.

The Lady Flames would have added at least one more run on the next at-bat if junior catcher Kaitlin Robertson’s rocket down the first base line was not snagged by Central Michigan first baseman Erica Thompson.

That play became crucial as the Chippewas fought back to take the lead before Liberty pulled through in the end.

“(It was an) emotional roller coaster for sure, just going up and then getting down,” Zavodny said. “Central Michigan is a great team…We had to compete with them and we ended up coming up on top with some clutch hits.”

Liberty starting pitcher Elizabeth Engler began the game by retiring 10 of the first 11 batters she faced, with the one baserunner she allowed getting erased on a double play in the second inning.

“That is the Liz that we recruited,” Richardson said. “That’s the Liz who knows she’s exactly where she needs to be.”

With two outs in the fourth, though, Engler allowed Central Michigan to tie the game with three consecutive hits to left field, punctuated by a two-run double by center fielder Allison Curtis that made it 2-2.

In the sixth inning, Engler was replaced by DiMartino after giving up double to the Chippewas Underwood that put runners on second and third base with one out. A flyout to left by Curtis brought in catcher Maison Kalina, giving Central Michigan a 3-2 lead.

After another hit to left in which the lead runner advanced to third, DiMartino averted further damage with a strikeout of Laura Vaccaro to end the inning.

“If you come in relief, you’ve got to have the other pitcher’s back,” DiMartino said. “Today and yesterday, the whole pitching staff did a really good job having each other’s backs.”

The one-run deficit with only three outs remaining proved to be no problem with Amber Bishop due up.

“Personally, I called Amber’s home run,” DiMartino said. “I don’t know if anybody heard me, but I said, ‘Amber’s going to hit over the center field fence.’ And she did.”

Liberty looks to build on its momentum as the team travels to the West Coast for the Mary Nutter Classic, where the Lady Flames will take on some stiff competition, including UCLA, North Carolina and Arizona State. The tournament in Cathedral City, California, runs Feb. 17-25.