Liberty Softball Ready to Swing for the Fences in the Spring
After the ups and downs of the 2020 season, the battle-tested players on Liberty’s softball team are eager to compete, even if that just means competing against each other for now.
Last spring, the Lady Flames dropped 10 of their first 11 games against Division I opponents due to a tough schedule that featured four teams that were ranked No. 1 in the country at the time of competition. Liberty managed to flip the script by going on a nine-and-two run, including a thrilling 6-5 victory over the nationally-ranked University of Michigan.
Despite the challenging schedule, Coach Dot Richardson says that her team stood their ground.
“I think there was only really one game that was not within reach, and that was against UCLA who were the defending (NCAA) Champions,” said Richardson, who was a UCLA graduate and softball standout.
With conference play only weeks away, they were excited to see how they stacked up against other ASUN teams. That opportunity never came due to COVID-19.
Going into the 2021 season the Lady Flames will have the opportunity to carry on that success with some help from two unexpected but familiar faces.
Recent graduates Amber and Autumn Bishop will return for a final year with the Flames after the NCAA granted spring sport athletes an extra year of eligibility. The Bishop twins garnered many All-Conference and All-Regional honors in their time at Liberty, but Richardson says their impact goes beyond the playing field.
“What’s been really great is their leadership and how all of the incoming players look up to them, so we’re hoping that they have a chance to play with them,” Richardson said.
While a return to play is not guaranteed for the spring, the team continues to work hard in practice. In order to become more game-ready, the team has competed in a series of intrasquad scrimmages to simulate game experience.
“I like that the coaches are doing that with us so we can see live pitchers and get back into the mindset of, ‘I need to get game-ready,’” junior outfielder Kara Canetto said.
Although fans are not allowed at the scrimmages, the Liberty Flames Sports Network will be broadcasting the team’s Oct. 22 intrasquad game.
Canetto says she is excited to return to softball after missing part of 2019 to an ACL injury and 2020 to COVID-19. With that in mind, she has high goals for the season.
“Our goal is to win ASUN Conference of course and move on to regionals and keep pushing forward every year, trying to get closer to the World Series,” Canetto said.
The path to get to the ASUN title game, however, will look a little different than years past. This season the conference is divided into two smaller conferences — the North Division and the South Division — for regular season play. The top two teams from each conference will then be selected to compete in the ASUN tournament.
Liberty is set to compete in the North Division against Bellarmine, Lipscomb, North Alabama and Kennesaw State.
Outside of conference games, the Lady Flames are slated for another tough schedule, with their first official game happening February 12 in a tournament in Clermont, Florida.
Mario Cosentino is a Sports Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @Runner_of_steel.