Lady Flames to Host Presbyterian, Hold Stadium Dedication on Friday
4/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Complete Game Notes
Liberty, in the midst of a nine-game homestand, hosts Presbyterian on Friday and Saturday. The series begins with a doubleheader on Friday at 5 p.m., and concludes with a single game on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Lady Flames (15-19, 4-5 Big South) look to snap a four-game winless streak, while the Blue Hose (15-14, 5-3) have dropped three straight.
Liberty leads the all-time series, 14-8, winning five out of the last six meetings.
Stadium Dedication
Liberty will officially dedicate the new Liberty Softball Stadium this Friday, prior to its doubleheader against Presbyterian. There are many special activities scheduled to take place, including a stadium dedication ceremony prior to Friday's 5 p.m. game. The ceremony will feature the naming of the playing field, along with a formal dedication of the new facility.
Special promotions for Friday include: a Liberty Softball visor giveaway, a postgame fireworks show and a photo booth.
Lady Flames at a Glance
Liberty won a weekend series at Campbell, 2-1, posting back-to-back shutouts on Saturday. The team then dropped a three-game set to Longwood on Tuesday and Wednesday at home. The Lady Flames lead the Big South with 52 stolen bases.
Megan Robinson bats .347, and recently went on a 14-game hitting streak. Kelby Allen bats .346 with a team-high 20 RBI. Alexia Taylor (.333) has posted 11 two-hit games.
Tori Zavodny (.314) paces Liberty in six offensive categories, while Mickey Loveridge (.298) has hit eight doubles. Chandler Ball (10-7, 3.17 ERA) has tossed three shutouts, while Kenzie Friesen (4-6, 3.29) pitched her first career shutout, Saturday at Campbell.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
Fans can follow all three games of the series through live stats, live audio and live video. Friday's games will be broadcast on the Liberty Channel, Big South Network and ESPN3, with Alan York calling play-by-play and former Liberty head coach Paul Wetmore providing color analysis. Saturday's game will air exclusively on ESPN3, with Mike Gleason on the call and Sean McNally on color. All three games will be broadcast on radio on 90.9 FM The Light, with Kevin Keys serving as play-by-play announcer.
Quick Hits
- Liberty will dedicate its new field on Friday before its doubleheader with Presbyterian.
- Chandler Ball and Kenzie Friesen tossed back-to-back shutouts at Campbell on Saturday, good for the first back-to-back shutouts by Liberty since May 13, 2011.
- Ball has tied her career high with 10 victories, and set a new high with three shutouts.
- Megan Robinson batted .435 during 14-game hitting streak (March 7-March 28)
- Tori Zavodny leads the team in homers (4), stolen bases (17) and runs scored (26)
- Alexia Taylor has seven two-hit games in Liberty's last 13 contests.
- Kelby Allen entered a tie for sixth in program history with her 25th career homer.
- Blair Lawrence is fifth all-time at Liberty with 44 career stolen bases.
- Six Lady Flames have recorded a three-hit game this season.
- Nearly half (8 out of 17) of the roster consists of newcomers (seven Fr., one JC transfer).
Liberty vs. Presbyterian (Liberty leads series, 14-8)
Last Meeting: Liberty 7, Presbyterian 5 (4/27/14 - Clinton, S.C.)
Last PC Win: Presbyterian 8, Liberty 5 (4/26/14 - Clinton, S.C.)
Last PC Win at Liberty: Presbyterian 2, Liberty 1 (5/1/11 - Lynchburg, Va.)
Presbyterian (15-14, 5-3 Big South), has dropped three straight since winning its series opener at Longwood on Saturday. The Blue Hose pace the Big South with a .307 team batting average, as six players bat .300 or better. Jill McLean hits .402 with a team-high 14 stolen bases, while Kersten Legacki (.348) has six homers and 23 RBIs. Erin Ruff bats .345 and Hope Rogers (.344) has hit a team-best 11 doubles. Erin Taylor (.342) and Shelby Petik (.341) round out PC's .300 hitters. Sydney Seigler leads PC with a 3.16 ERA, going 3-7, while Kensley Loudermelk is 9-5 with a 3.24 ERA and four shutouts.
Liberty leads the all-time series against Presbyterian, 14-8, with the Lady Flames winning five out of the last six meetings. Presbyterian's last win in Lynchburg came on May 1, 2011, a 2-1 Blue Hose triumph.
Liberty vs. Presbyterian College - 2014 Recap
Last season, Liberty went 2-1 in a regular-season-ending series at Presbyterian.
Presbyterian came back from a 5-1 deficit to win game one, 8-5, on April 26.
The Lady Flames won the nightcap, 6-4, in eight innings. Liberty tied a program record with eight stolen bases in the game, including three each from Katie Zavodny and Marybeth Sciolino. Kelby Allen and Hanna Nichols both homered, with Nichols hitting a leadoff, go-ahead home run in the eighth.
Liberty won game three, 7-5, as Jamie Crisp hit a homer and drove in four runs and Kelby Allen recorded two doubles.
PC Connection
Current Liberty assistant coach Paige Cassady pitched at Presbyterian College in 2007 and 2008. As a freshman in 2007, Cassady won 16 games with a 2.18 ERA and 165 strikeouts and was named to the All-SAC second team. Following the 2008 season, she transferred to FIU, where she was a team captain in 2010.
No Place Like Home
After opening the season with 26 out of its first 31 games away from home, the Lady Flames are in a stretch where 18 out of 21 games will be held at Liberty Softball Stadium. This includes a pair of nine-game homestands, with Big South series against Longwood (March 31-April 1), Presbyterian (April 3-4), Radford (April 7-8) and Coastal Carolina (April 18-19) and doubleheaders against Virginia Tech (April 14), Hampton (April 21) and Virginia (April 22).
Early Trends
Liberty is 12-3 when allowing six or fewer hits, and 3-16 when opponents record seven or more hits. The team is 15-8 when its starting pitcher throws five or more innings, and 0-11 when the starter does not last five innings. The Lady Flames have gone 12-1 when holding opponents to two runs or less, and 3-18 when allowing three or more runs.
Milestones Abound for Allen
When Kelby Allen went 2-for-3 with a season-high three RBI on Tuesday against Longwood, she passed former teammate Sammi Shivock (2011-14) into seventh place in program history with 110 career RBI. Allen also entered a tie for 10th all-time at Liberty with 180 career hits. Allen is tied for sixth in program history with 25 homers, one behind Shivock.
Two for Taylor
Alexia Taylor has posted a team-best 11 two-hit games so far this season. She recorded two hits in three out of Liberty's last four games. Taylor has served as Liberty's leadoff batter during the last six games, during which time she leads the Lady Flames with a .350 batting average and six runs scored.
Campbell Series Highlights (March 28-29)
The Lady Flames posted back-to-back shutouts over Campbell on Saturday, the first time since May 13, 2011 that Liberty had recorded two consecutive shutouts.
During game one on Saturday, Chandler Ball tossed a four-hitter in a 4-0 win at Campbell. Mickey Loveridge and Blair Lawrence both went 3-for-4.
Kenzie Friesen then fashioned a two-hit shutout of Campbell during game two, and got support by homers from Kelby Allen and Tori Zavodny in a 3-0 win.
Liberty allowed just three runs in three games at Campbell, the fewest runs allowed by the Lady Flames in a conference series since holding Coastal Carolina to three total runs in a three-game set, May 7-8, 2011.
Shutting Down Opponents
Chandler Ball is 7-2 with a 1.41 ERA and .224 opponents' batting average in her last 15 appearances. Kenzie Friesen has gone 4-6 with a .258 opponents' average since March 6, pitching two three-hitters and a two-hitter in the process.
Earlier this year, Ball was named Big South Pitcher of the Week, Feb. 17. With three shutouts this year, Ball is the first Liberty pitcher to throw multiple shutouts in a season since 2011, when Tiffani Smith threw three shutouts and Katrina Johnson had two.
Multi-Dimensional
Tori Zavodny bats .314 this season, and leads the team in six offensive categories. Zavodny is the team leader in runs scored (27), home runs (4), slugging percentage (.552), walks (13), stolen bases (17) and at bats (105) so far this season.
Off and Running
Liberty is off and running again this season, stealing 52 bases in 34 games. The Lady Flames lead the Big South with 1.52 stolen bases per game. Tori Zavodny is second in the conference with 17 stolen bases, while Blair Lawrence has swiped 14 bases, tying for fifth in the Big South.
The Lady Flames led the Big South and ranked 23rd nationally with 92 stolen bases last season. The program record of 93 was set in 1996.
3-Hit Club
So far this year, six different Lady Flames have posted at least one three-hit game.
Tori Zavodny has had four three-hit games. Megan Robinson and Kelby Allen have registered two three-hit games apiece, while Jamie Crisp, Blair Lawrence and Mickey Loveridge have one apiece.
Allen leads current Lady Flames with eight career three-hit games. The other current Lady Flames to post a three-hit game during their time at Liberty are: Robinson (5), Zavodny (4), Crisp (2), Katie Han (2), Kassidy McCoy (2), Lawrence (2) and Loveridge (1).
