The Lady Flames Softball team dominated in its first home appearance of the season, going 4-0 in a weekend sweep to close out the Liberty Softball Classic tournament held Feb. 21-23.
The Lady Flames hosted four schools — Charleston Southern University, Saint Joseph’s University, Hofstra University and Radford University — in the 10-game event at Kamphuis Field.
To kick off the weekend, the Lady Flames defeated Charleston Southern 12-0 in its home opener. This game snapped a three-game losing streak the Lady Flames suffered at the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational in Florida.
Turning things around back on home turf, the Lady Flames defeated CSU in the fifth inning by run rule.
“It’s always amazing to be in this beautiful facility and back at Liberty University. There’s no university like it,” Head Coach Dot Richardson said. “Every team really loves to come and compete here, and that’s why we have these home tournaments.”
The Lady Flames kept the momentum going on Saturday when they defeated the Saint Joseph’s Lady Hawks 9-2.
The game began in the Lady Flames’ favor with sophomore pitcher Kaylan Yoder on the mound holding the Lady Hawks at bay. The Lady Flames left the first inning with a one-run lead after a hit by senior infielder Brooke Roberts sent redshirt senior infielder Savannah Woodard home.
The second inning saw no change in the Lady Hawks’ position while the Lady Flames found two more runs to bring the score 3-0.
By the top of the third, the Lady Hawks managed to make a dent on the scoreboard when senior Hailey Malito sent a ball to left field allowing redshirt freshman Kasi Loser to score.
Liberty quieted Saint Joseph’s building momentum in the bottom half of the inning when senior outfielder KK Madrey loaded the bases off a successful bunt. Next up, redshirt sophomore Savannah Jessee hit an RBI, sending Roberts home and advancing the base runners.
At the next at bat, two more Lady Flames rounded the bases home after a double by redshirt junior infielder Savanah Whatley. By the end of the third inning, the Lady Flames lead had lengthened to 6-1.
After a stalemate in the fourth bringing no change to the scoreboard, the Lady Hawks earned their final run in the fifth inning. A single by junior Meghan Sinkus to centerfield allowed for the loaded bases to advance and senior Kayla Tauber to score and end the inning 6-2.
By the sixth inning, freshman pitcher Danner Allen had found her groove, striking out two batters to end the inning.
The Lady Flames extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth with an error made on a hit by Roberts, sending two runners home. A single by sophomore outfielder Paige Doerr sent Roberts home to bring the final score to 9-2 for a Lady Flames victory.
Allen earned her first career save during this game, striking out five batters since relieving Yoder in the fifth inning.
“When I first came in, the energy from my teammates just continued to flow out, and they support me in everything I do,” Allen said. “I think that really pumped me to finish the inning strong for them.”
Sunday afternoon, the Lady Flames defeated Hofstra in a similar manner to their first game of the weekend, ending after the fifth inning in a mercy rule 8-0.
“We’ve had some pretty big wins already. … We’re right there with Missouri and Auburn and Wichita State,” Richardson said. “The beauty is that we’re playing in the moment and we’re putting things behind us, but yet we have that belief in knowing that this team has the ingredients to go far.”
In the final event of the Liberty Softball Classic, the Lady Flames closed out the weekend in a matchup against Radford.
“Radford is an emotional game in regards to they are in the state of Virginia, just like our Virginia Tech game coming up on Wednesday,” Richardson said prior to the game. “We have to play each pitch at a time and in doing that, we’ll have that success as far as staying together and performing well, and then hopefully the victories will take care of themselves.”
In a tight game, the Lady Flames emerged victorious going 3-2 over the Radford Lady Highlanders. The Lady Flames were the only team to leave the tournament undefeated.
CSU finished the tournament in second place, going 3-1, followed by SJU 2-2 and Radford 1-3, as the Lady Flames dominated with the home-field advantage.
Despite the Lady Flames success so far this season, they take none of the credit for their accolades.
“The beauty is that with this team, we’ve learned to not worship the game of softball but let softball be our worship back to the Lord with the gifts he’s given us,” Richardson said.
The Lady Flames return to the diamond where they look to continue this win streak as they face Virginia Tech University at home Feb. 26 at 5 p.m.
White is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X.
