Niners to Kickoff Athens Regional Against Liberty - Charlotte Athletics (2024)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Making their second straight NCAA postseason appearance, the Charlotte softball team will open the Athens Regional against Liberty on Friday at 3 p.m. at Jack Turner Stadium in Athens, Ga. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio available on Charlotte49ers.com.

The four-team, double-elimination regional features No. 13 Georgia, Charlotte, Liberty, and UNC Wilmington. The Niners enter the weekend having won a school-record 16 straight games and secured an at-large bid after winning the American Athletic Conference Tournament in Wichita, Kan. this past weekend.

LAST TIME OUT
Charlotte took down host school Wichita State 10-1 on Sunday in the AAC Championship Game. INF Arianna Rodi hit two home runs and recorded a career-high five RBI, including a grand slam as part of a seven-run second inning that broke the game open. RHP Sam Gress was her usual dominant self in the circle, tossing four innings with one run and six strikeouts. CLT tied a season-high with 13 hits. OF Makalah Mitchell went a career-best 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI, while OF Abigail Knight also had a three-hit day.

The win marked the Niners' first conference tournament title in program history as they took the American Conference regular season and tournament crown.

TOURNAMENT ACCOLADES
Charlotte had six players named to the AAC All-Tournament Team: C Rayna Blackwell, INF Ella Chancey, Gress, Rodi, Knight, and Mitchell.

STACKING WINS
Charlotte has won 16 straight games, the longest active win streak in Division I. They have also won eight straight on the road, second only to Duke (nine).

ARIANNA GRANDE
Rodi came up big over the weekend, going 3-for-6 with three XBH and five RBI in the AAC Tournament. With her two bombs on Sunday, she became the second player in program history to hit 20 homers in a single season, joining her former teammate Bailey Vannoy (24, 2022). The sophom*ore slugger ranks sixth in Division I with 21 taters on the season.

ONE-TWO PUNCH
Gress and her teammate Georgeanna Barefoot have been nearly unhittable over the last month. Since April 17, Gress is 6-0 with a 0.98 ERA and .150 BAA in 43.0 IP. Barefoot, the 2024 American Conference Pitcher of the Year, is 5-0 with a 0.98 ERA in her last 11 outings. Opponents are hitting .167 against her in that span.

Collectively, the pair have allowed two runs in their last 19 innings of work.

SHE CAN DO BOTH
Mitchell had a breakout weekend at the AAC Tournament on both sides of the ball. In Friday's semifinal win over North Texas, she had a leaping catch at the wall in the fourth inning that robbed UNT of a grand slam, keeping Charlotte ahead. On Saturday, she recorded her first career three-hit day with a pair of RBI against Wichita State, earning all-tournament honors.

IN A PINCH
OF/DP Ashleigh Washington has had consecutive games with clutch pinch-hit knocks. In the regular season finale against North Texas, she hit a walk-off single to send CLT to a 2-1 win, before coming off the bench to blast a solo homer in the sixth inning of Friday's semifinal dub against the Mean Green.

FAMILIAR FOES
Charlotte played two of their regional opponents in the regular season. The Niners beat UNCW at home on March 3, winning 2-1 on the strength of a first-inning homer by Rodi. On March 20, CLT fell to Liberty on the road by a 6-5 score as three errors hurt their cause.

Charlotte last played Georgia in 2023, winning 6-5 on the Bulldogs' home turf. Gress went six innings in that one to earn the win, while Barefoot pitched a scoreless seventh for the save. Incidentally, Rodi also homered in that contest, the second career tater for the then-freshman.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND
This weekend will be a homecoming for Chancey, who grew up in Athens and played at Madison County High School, about a 30-minute drive from Jack Turner Stadium. The Niners have three other natives of the Peach State on the squad: Kiyah Garrett (Johns Creek), Leah Powell (Evans), and head coach Ashley Chastain (Palmetto).

POSTSEASON VETS
The Niners have several players with prior NCAA postseason experience. The most veteran of the group is Barefoot, who has made the NCAA Regionals all four years of her career at two different schools (sans 2020) — the first two with Campbell, the most recent pair with CLT.

Junior OF Christina Wellen played in the 2022 College World Series with Florida and made another regional with the Gators in 2023. Eleven other Niners return from last year's first-ever NCAA Regional squad.

NO CHALLENGE TOO BIG
Charlotte has a habit of playing up to their competition. Since 2023, the Niners have 12 wins against Power Five teams and six wins against ranked foes.

NINER NUGGETS

• Rodi enters the regional on a five-game hitting streak, over which she is batting 9-for-20 (.450) with 10 RBI.
• INF Cori Hoffler needs one more hit for 200 in career. She currently ranks ninth in program history with 199 career hits.
• INF Teagan Ritchie has no errors in her last 14 games at shortstop. She is 42-for-42 on total chances.
• Charlotte has walked 212 times this season, breaking the single-season program record of 206 set by last year's squad.
• Barefoot led The American in K/BB ratio (3.75) and BB/7 (1.17) while ranking 13th nationally in appearances (41).

SCOUTING THE FLAMES
Liberty enters the regional with a 36-24 overall record and 19-5 mark in Conference USA. The Flames won four straight games to take the C-USA Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. last weekend. OF Rachel Roupe leads the team in hitting, sporting a .368 average with 17 homers and 41 RBI. She leads C-USA in on-base (.514) and slugging percentage (.798).

In the circle, the Flames have relied on the tandem of RHP Elena Escobar (14-5, 2.64 ERA) and LHP Kaylan Yoder (11-9, 2.75 ERA). Liberty has pitched 10 shutouts on the year, most in C-USA.

SERIES HISTORY
Charlotte leads the all-time series 18-9, though Liberty has won the last two, including the matchup on March 20 in Lynchburg.

Game 1: Fri, May 17 | (3) Liberty vs. (2) Charlotte, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2: Fri, May 18 | (4) UNC Wilmington vs. (1) Georgia, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 3: Sat, May 19 | Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Sat, May 19 | Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 3:30 p.m.
Game 5: Sat, May 20 | Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 6 p.m.
Game 6: Sun, May 21 | Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, TBD
Game 7 (if necessary): Sun, May 21 | Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, TBD

FOLLOW THE ACTION
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio available on Charlotte49ers.com. Live stats are available here. For tickets, click here. Follow @CharlotteSB on X/Twitter for live updates.