Lady Flames Set to Open Big South Softball Championship as No. 1 Seed, Thursday
5/8/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Tournament Central
Complete Game Notes
Liberty (44-12, 18-3 Big South) wrapped up the Big South regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in its regular-season finale, a 1-0 home win over Winthrop. The Lady Flames sealed their fifth conference regular-season title, and second in a row. Liberty opens the 2018 Big South Softball Championship at noon on Thursday at Radford Softball Stadium in Radford, Va., facing the winner of Wednesday's noon contest between No. 4 seed Campbell and No. 5 seed Gardner-Webb. This is the fourth time in program history, and second in a row, that Liberty will serve as the top seed.
Liberty ended the regular season on a pair of program-record winning streaks, 14 consecutive overall wins and 18 straight home wins.
At 44-12, Liberty is tied for fourth in NCAA Division I for victories this season, trailing only UCLA (48-3), Oklahoma (47-8) and Florida (47-8). The other four programs with 44 wins are Florida State (44-10), Tennessee (44-11), Washington (44-8) and Oregon (44-7).
Led by two-time Big South Coach of the Year Dot Richardson, the defending NISC and Big South regular-season champion Lady Flames bat .305 as a team, averaging 5.0 runs per game. The Lady Flames lead the Big South with a 2.11 team ERA and 18 shutouts, 10 more shutouts than the second-place team in the category. Liberty also leads the conference with a .977 fielding percentage. During their current 14-game winning streak, the Lady Flames have outscored opponents, 73-11, outhitting them, .350-183, while tossing eight shutouts.
Junior Julia DiMartino, two-time Big South Pitcher of the Year, is 25-7, leading the Big South in wins (25), ERA (1.83), strikeouts (201), shutouts (9), saves (6) and opponents' batting average (.203). Elizabeth Engler is 7-2 with a 1.83 ERA, while Chase Cassady holds a 10-2 record with a 2.25 ERA. Both Cassady (5) and Engler (2) have tossed multiple shutouts, while Emily Kirby tossed her first career shutout, April 26 at Hampton. This is the first time since 1996 that four different Lady Flames have tossed a shutout in the same season.
Amber Bishop sports a .383 batting average, with a team-leading 11 homers and 37 RBI. Her twin sister, Autumn Bishop, bats .361 and is tied for the national lead in doubles (24) and sacrifice flies (7), both single-season program records. Autumn Bishop's 20-game hitting streak earlier this season was the third longest in program history. Tori Zavodny, who missed 24 games with a knee injury before coming back last Tuesday against Virginia, is batting .353 on the season. Jaclyn Amader (.321) ranks fifth in the nation with seven triples, while Sarah Robertson (.313) is third on the team in doubles (16) and tied for second in RBI (34). Madison Via bats .314 with a team-leading 18 steals.
Quick Hits
- Liberty is 43-45 all-time in Big South Softball Championship play, winning the title in 2002 and 2011 and placing second in 1998, 2000, 2008, 2009 and 2017.
- Dot Richardson (Big South Coach of the Year) and Julia DiMartino (Pitcher of the Year) both repeated as major Big South award winners this year.
- Liberty placed a conference-record nine players on the 2018 Big South All-Conference team
- Liberty's current RPI, 36, is the ninth best among teams outside of the Power 5 conferences.
- The Lady Flames have allowed three total runs in their last 53 2/3 innings pitched as a team.
Team Notes
- Liberty set a new program record for single-season home victories, going 23-3 at Liberty Softball Stadium this season.
- The Lady Flames need two more wins to tie the program single-season record for wins, set by last year's 46-24 team. Liberty's record has improved each season under Coach Richardson (11-46 in 2014, 29-30 in 2015, 31-28 in 2016, 46-24 in 2017, 44-12 in 2018).
- During its current program-record 14-game winning streak, Liberty is outscoring opponents, 73-11 while outhitting them, .350-183. The Lady Flames have tossed eight shutouts in the last 14 games, including three each by Julia DiMartino and Chase Cassady, a combined shutout by DiMartino and Cassady and Emily Kirby's first career shutout.
- Liberty is ranked sixth nationally with 1.68 doubles per game.
- With its 3-2 win at Longwood on April 6, Liberty became the 13th NCAA Division I team, and first from a non-Power Five conference, to reach 30 wins (30-8).
- The Lady Flames have clinched their fourth 40-win season, and second in a row.
- Nine different Lady Flames have a three-hit game this season, led by Amber Bishop's six three-hit contests. Tori Zavodny (3), Taylor Hoffman (3), Autumn Bishop (3), Sarah Robertson and Madison Via (2) have multiple three-hit games. Deidra See's 4-for-4 game at PC, March 24 was Liberty's first four-hit game of 2018, joining Amber Bishop (5/13/17 at Longwood) as current Lady Flames with a four-hit game.
- The Lady Flames have posted 18 shutouts so far this season, chasing the program record of 20, set in 1999. Liberty blanked its first three opponents of the season for the first time since 1995.
- In their last 16 games, the Lady Flames have posted a 0.72 ERA, eight shutouts and a .195 opponents' batting average. In that span, Julia DiMartino is 7-1 with a 0.59 ERA, three saves and 57 strikeouts, while Chase Cassady is 5-0 with a 0.88 ERA and a .167 OBA.
- Liberty is now 10-4 in one-run games during the 2018 season after going 6-8 in such games last year. That includes two walk-off wins (Feb. 22 vs. North Carolina; March 17 vs. Campbell).
- Liberty has twice won games when trailing entering the seventh inning, and did it in back-to-back games, against Central Michigan (Feb. 16) and versus North Carolina (Feb. 22), both in nine innings. The Lady Flames are 2-2 in extra-inning games this year.
- Autumn Bishop's grand slam, April 17 against Virginia Tech was the first grand slam hit by a Lady Flame in Liberty Softball Stadium history.
- Liberty won its first 10 Big South games this season, setting a new program record with a 10-game conference winning streak.
- Liberty has set or tied five program individual single-season records so far this year: sacrifice flies (Autumn Bishop - 7), saves (Julia DiMartino - 6), doubles (Autumn Bishop - 24), wins (DiMartino - 25) and shutouts (DiMartino - 9).
- The Lady Flames have stolen 34 bases over their last 14 games, pushing their season total to 94. Liberty set a program record with 96 stolen bases last year.
- In addition to their program-record overall, conference and home winning streaks, Liberty has set team program record for doubles (94) and sacrifice flies (21) this season.
- Liberty's fielding percentage has improved by 20 points over last season, from .957 to a Big South-leading .977. The program record is .965, set in 2010 and 2012.
- The Lady Flames went 6-1 against ACC opponents, with two wins against North Carolina and Virginia, a win over NC State and a 1-1 record versus Virginia Tech.
- Liberty posted an 0-5 record against nationally-ranked opponents, falling twice at home to then No. 12/12 Baylor while also losing to No. 3/4 UCLA, No. 17/15 Arizona State and No. 20/21 South Carolina. Liberty led UCLA, 3-2, with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Feb. 23 at the Mary Nutter Classic, before the Bruins hit a two-run homer to down the Lady Flames, 4-3.
- Liberty currently leads the Big South in doubles (94), triples (19), hits (460), wins (44), complete games (32), shutouts (18), saves (6), strikeouts (321), ERA (2.11) and fielding percentage (.977).
Big-South Leading
Liberty earned its fifth ever Big South regular-season softball title, and third outright. The Lady Flames also won the Big South regular-season championship in 1999 (tied with East Carolina), 2000, 2007 (tied with Winthrop) and 2017.
In conference play, Liberty led the Big South in batting average (.327), slugging percentage (.497), sacrifice flies (11), hits (183), doubles (40), wins (18), ERA (1.47), shutouts (8), strikeouts (134), opponents' batting average (.196) and fielding percentage (.982).
In Big South games, Julia DiMartino leads the league in ERA (1.11), strikeouts (84), shutouts (4), saves (3) and opponents' batting average (.190), while Autumn Bishop leads with 12 doubles.