Liberty Flames Softball and Baseball Season Preview

Liberty University’s softball and baseball teams are gearing up for the approaching spring season. Following the Flames’ success in the 2024 season, both teams are settling in for a stacked regular season schedule full of rigorous competition.  

After reaching the NCAA Tournament regionals in 2024, the Lady Flames are prepared for this season, facing high-level competition from the start of regular season games. According to Conference USA(CUSA), the Lady Flames were voted No. 1 CUSA preseason team as they strive to secure another CUSA regular season and tournament title.   

Starting the season strong, Liberty softball was ranked No. 20 by Softball America in its preseason top 25 poll.   

The Lady Flames will begin the road to the championship at THE Spring Games Feb. 7-9, facing Radford University, Cleveland State and Rutgers, followed by the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational Feb. 14-16. Liberty will travel to Clearwater, Florida to take on University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Wichita State University as well as high-ranked Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools like the University of Alabama, University of Missouri and Auburn University.  

The Lady Flames’ 2024 season concluded with a loss to the University of Georgia in the NCAA Athens Regional final round. According to Liberty Athletics, after two hard-fought games, the Bulldogs prevailed 14-5 in the first matchup and 3-2 in the finals to end the Lady Flames’ postseason journey. Liberty Softball finished the season 38-25 overall and 19-5 in conference play.    

Preparing to qualify for regionals a third year in a row, Liberty’s non-conference games are stacked with competitive schools including James Madison University, Duke University, North Carolina, Longwood University, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. The Lady Flames will also host the Liberty Softball Classic and the Liberty Softball Invitational in 2025.   

Freshman pitcher Danner Allen was recently named to the Softball America freshman watch list. In 2024, Allen was named the class 2A player of the year by the Virginia High School League. The addition of Allen as an incoming freshman should impact the existing pitching rotation.   

Heading into the 2025 spring season, senior outfielder Rachel Roupe was named CUSA preseason player of the year for the second year in a row, according to CUSA. Roupe collected many titles in 2024 as she was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Mideast Region second team, CUSA All-Conference first team and CUSA All-Academic team, according to Liberty Athletics.   

The Liberty Baseball team will begin its first season under new head coach Bradley LeCroy. According to Liberty Athletics, LeCroy is the 8th head coach in program history after two seasons at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he sent the Rams to the Atlantic 10 championship in 2024.   

The season will begin Feb. 14-16 with a three-game series at home against St. John’s University, which will be followed by a midweek game against top-ranked team North Carolina State University in Raleigh.  

Ending their 2024 season 24-34 overall and 11-13 in conference play, the Flames packed their 2025 schedule with intense competition.   

In the CUSA baseball championship, No. 1 Louisiana Tech University eliminated No. 5 seed Liberty after a 10-inning fight. The final score was 6-5 Louisiana Tech, with Liberty leaving a runner on in the 10th inning while Louisiana Tech took advantage and walked it off with an RBI up the middle, according to Liberty Athletics.   

This season, the Flames will host the CUSA baseball championship May 21-25, seeking to take the title on the home field.   

Former junior pitcher Cole Hertzler and senior outfielder Camden Troyer were listed on the 2024 CUSA All-Tournament team. According to Liberty Athletics, Hertzler took his career to the MLB and was drafted in the fifth round as the 163rd overall pick by the Houston Astros.   

In preparation for the conference championship, the Flames will play 21 games against 2024 NCAA tournament teams such as UVA, N.C. State, Clemson University, Duke and more. Many of these teams are ranked in the top 25 by Baseball America.  

The Lady Flames Softball team kicks off its season Feb. 7-9 in Leesburg, Florida at THE Spring Games, and the Flames Baseball team will begin at home on Feb. 14-16 with a three-game series against St. John’s.  

Youngworth is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.