Liberty University
7-4
Notre Dame
4-5
Walk-Off Double Sends Liberty to Historic 3-2 Win Over Notre Dame
2/26/2021 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Amber Bishop-Riley drove in her twin sister, Autumn, with a walk-off double, giving Liberty is first win over Notre Dame in program history, 3-2 on Friday at Kamphuis Field at Liberty Softball Stadium.
The Lady Flames (7-4) led 2-0 before the Fighting Irish tied it up with a two-run homer in the sixth inning. Notre Dame falls to 4-5 on the season, including 1-1 at this weekend's Liberty Softball Classic. Liberty pushes its home winning streak to 17 games overall, as the Lady Flames have won all eight home openers in Liberty Softball Stadium history.
Scoring Summary
Liberty – 1st INNING – Canetto reaches on an error, Bishop-Riley scores, 1-0
Liberty – 5th INNING – Bishop-Riley homers, 2-0
Notre Dame – 6th INNING – Marino homers, Clark scores, 2-2
Liberty – 7th INNING – Bishop-Riley doubles, Bishop scores, 3-2
Notable Numbers
- Liberty outhit Notre Dame 7-6 for the game, while the Lady Flames committed two errors and Notre Dame committed one error. Liberty left seven runners on base, while the Fighting Irish stranded five.
- Liberty's Karlie Keeney (4-2) earned the win, allowing two runs on six hits and walking one in the complete-game effort.
- Payton Tidd (1-3) drew the loss, yielding three runs (two earned) on seven hits, walking one and fanning three in 6 1/3 innings.
- Amber Bishop-Riley went 3-for-4 with a double, homer, two RBI and two runs scored for the game. Autumn Bishop batted 1-for-4 and scored one run.
- Katie Marino hit 2-for-3 with a double, homer and two RBI for Notre Dame, while Abby Sweet doubled and Leea Hanks tripled.
Turning Point
- Bishop-Riley's fifth-inning solo shot off the scoreboard clock pushed Liberty's lead to 2-0. However, the Fighting Irish tied it up on a two-run home run by Marino in the top of the sixth.
- With one out and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh, Autumn Bishop singled to center. Then, Bishop-Riley doubled to deep center, with the hit just eluding center fielder Abby Sweet's grasp. Bishop raced around the bases and slid just past the tag for the game-winning run.
Beyond the Box Score
- Notre Dame had won the previous four meetings in the series with Liberty, with the last one being a 4-1 win on Feb. 8, 2019 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
- Each of Liberty's last four walk-off wins have come off of the bat of Bishop-Riley, including three walk-off homers and today's walk-off double. Liberty has now posted nine walk-off wins in Liberty Softball Stadium. Bishop-Riley now has more career walk-off hits than any player in program history.
- This was the third game this season that Liberty has gotten the game-winning RBI in the seventh inning, as Mary Claire Wilson had a go-ahead single in the top of the seventh inning of a 2-1 win over Middle Tennessee on Feb. 13 and Kara Canetto had a two-run single in the seventh inning of a 3-1 win at Troy on Feb. 15.
- Autumn Bishop tied Kaylee West's (March 28, 2012 vs. Radford) single-game program record with 17 putouts today.
- The Lady Flames are 5-0 this season when scoring in the first inning and 2-1 in one-run games this season.
- Liberty came into the weekend with the third-longest active home winning streak in NCAA Division I softball, trailing only Drake and Boston University.
- The Lady Flames have won each of their last eight home games against ACC opponents, starting April 14, 2018 against NC State.
- Liberty has beaten 15 straight unranked opponents, dating back to last season, and has gone 31-0 in its last 31 home games against unranked nonconference opponents.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Keeney, Karlie (4-2)
L: Payton Tidd (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Abby Sweet 1 ; Katie Marino 1
3B: Leea Hanks 1
HR: Katie Marino 1
RBI: Katie Marino 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Emma Clark 1 ; Katie Marino 1
Batting:
2B: Bishop-Riley, Amber 1
HR: Bishop-Riley, Amber 1
RBI: Bishop-Riley, Amber 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bishop, Autumn 1 ; Bishop-Riley, Amber 2
SB: Canetto, Kara 1 ; Via, Madison 1
HBP: Gibson, Blake 1
