Marshall Softball Recap
By Sean Kelly, FM88 Sports Director
March 13, 2025
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Coming into Tuesday’s game, Liberty ranked atop the Conference USA in batting average and showed why it hit .339 as a team in a five-inning 17-6 victory at Dot Hicks Field.
Two days removed from tossing a complete game shutout and allowing just three hits to the Valparaiso Beacons, sophomore starter Jules King returned to the circle and struggled early against the Flames’ bats. In the top of the first, Flames designated player Brynn McManus broke open the scoring with a two-run shot to center field.
King went on to allow six hits and four earned runs in just two innings pitched, with Liberty right fielder Rachel Roupe extending the visitors’ lead with a second two-run blast to right field in the next frame.
The bottom half proved to be no better time for designated player Bub Feringa to hit her first home run of the year, putting the Herd within a run by swatting a bomb to center field.
However, from the third inning on it proved to be all Liberty on the batting side. Between the third and fifth, the Flames scored 13 unanswered runs, taking advantage of nine walks in the process. On the back of 10 runs, five hits, and six walks, the Flames racked up 10 runs in the final frame, capped off by an Alexia Carrasquillo grand slam. Though a three-run home run by Kasia Parks gave life to the Marshall bats in the bottom of the fifth, it was not enough to avoid the mercy rule as Liberty clinched a 17-6 victory.
At 12-12 overall, Marshall aims to get back on track in its Sun Belt Conference opener against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. Louisiana, owning a 13-10 record, has previously won 89 consecutive conference series. Marshall aims to defeat Louisiana in its first conference series since 2013, when the Cajuns lost to the South Alabama Jaguars.