LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Liberty redshirt freshman Savannah Jessee’s ninth-inning RBI double sent Megan Fortner home with the winning run in a 4-3 victory. The No. 1 seed Liberty Lady Flames over No. 2 seed Western Kentucky in the Conference USA Championship title game, Saturday at NM State Softball Complex.
Liberty (36-23) won four straight elimination games this week after dropping its first game on Thursday against No. 4 seed New Mexico State. The Lady Flames defeated UTEP on Thursday before eliminating both Louisiana Tech and NM State yesterday.
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With the win, Liberty claims Conference USA’s automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division I Softball Championship. It is the seventh time in program history, and fourth in a row, in which Liberty will compete in the Regional. The Lady Flames won conference tournament titles in 2002, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2022 and this year. They received an at-large bid last season.
Saturday’s championship game was winner-take-all, so Western Kentucky (33-20-1) sees its season end after going 2-1 in this week’s championship. The Hilltoppers defeated No. 3 seed Louisiana Tech on Thursday and No. 4 seed NM State yesterday to make it into today’s championship game.
Saturday proved to be Liberty’s seventh walk-off win in conference tournament history, but first time that the Lady Flames won the conference championship via walk-off win.