Liberty offensive line coach Scott Wachenheim rushed down the field like a proud father during Thursday night’s practice at Williams Stadium.

When Liberty football coach Danny Rocco came to Corey Rasberry last year with the idea, he expected at least a modicum of resistance.

There was no sense in mincing words after this one.

Liberty football coach Danny Rocco has certain criteria for scheduling games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.

Lately, Liberty’s batting practices have been filled with situational hitting drills. Two strikes? Keep fighting until you can find something you can put into play. That’s been a major issue of late for a Flames team that has made a habit out of stranding baserunners in clutch situations.

Baseball at Liberty has rarely been an event. The school usually draws several hundred fans to Worthington Stadium — a decent gathering, yes — but nothing special.

For the first time in school history, baseball will be played under the lights at Liberty’s Worthington Stadium.
Wiring was completed Thursday for the newly installed standards ringing the field, and the lights will come on today in time for the 7 p.m. first pitch of the Flames’ Big South opener against Coastal Carolina.

Danny Rocco took a moment Wednesday to reflect on his first spring as Liberty’s football coach.
The Flames had two quarterbacks on the roster, neither of whom would actually still man the position in the fall. The offensive line was a mess. Depth was non-existent.

NORFOLK — Liberty’s women’s basketball team might have been able to survive one season-ending knee injury late in the year. But two such injuries were too many to overcome.
As Old Dominion pounded away on the inside in an 82-62 first-round NCAA tournament victory over the Flames on Sunday night at the Constant Center, Liberty forwards Moriah Frazee and Rebecca Lightfoot sat on the bench in street clothes, wondering what could have been. Liberty’s coaching staff felt the same way.

NORFOLK — Teams often embody their leaders, and it was clear from the start that Old Dominion would follow the lead set by its pint-sized point guard, 5-foot-4 Jazzmin Walters.
As Liberty’s Allyson Fasnacht tried to drive down the left sideline early in Sunday’s first-round NCAA tournament game at the Constant Convocation Center, Walters invaded her personal space, using her hips to force Fasnacht off track and slapping the basketball out of bounds. Fasnacht tried to drive again, with the same result. Walters didn’t force a turnover either time, but the continual pressure eventually wore on Liberty’s guards.

NORFOLK — Megan Frazee was sure she was fouled. She stood at the top of the key, fired a 3-pointer and fell backwards after getting hit by Old Dominion’s Megan Pym. No whistle. Play on.
Frazee got up and angrily glared at the officials, but it didn’t help. The moment was a microcosm of a frustrating game for the Big South’s player of the year. She finished with 19 points and eight rebounds in Liberty’s 82-62 loss to Old Dominion in the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday night, but it didn’t come easy.

NORFOLK — Push and share.
That’s the mantra for Old Dominion, one that has helped the Monarchs return to their spot among the short list of the nation’s elite women’s basketball programs. Despite not having a go-to player or an All-American candidate on the roster, ODU enters today’s NCAA tournament game against Liberty with 29 victories and a No. 11 ranking in the latest Associated Press Top 25.

NORFOLK — They’re two of the most storied mid-major women’s basketball programs in the state of Virginia; two schools separated by four hours.
Old Dominion has won every Colonial Athletic Association regular-season and tournament championship since joining the league 17 years ago. Liberty has dominated the Big South in the last decade, winning 11 of the last 12 conference tournament titles.

When Liberty’s Megan Frazee attended tryouts for the U.S. national U-21 team in Colorado Springs last summer, she found she was going to have to change her game if she ever wanted to play international basketball.

Liberty’s draw in the NCAA women’s tournament came early, just three matchups into Monday’s selection show.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — No foul would be called. Megan Frazee probably knew that. She had watched teammate Allyson Fasnacht drive to the basket seconds earlier, desperately trying to draw the contact that would put her at the free-throw line. The refs kept their whistles tucked firmly in their lips.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Megan Frazee was incredulous. She and teammate Egle Smigelskaite converged on a missed shot at the Justice Center, but High Point’s Amber Manuel came down with the ball. After considerable tugging and pulling from the two Flames forwards, the whistle blew, and Frazee was charged with her second foul five minutes into the game.

For all of the accolades awarded her during her stellar college career, Liberty’s Megan Frazee had never won Big South player of the years honors.
Until Thursday, that is.

Three Liberty seniors took turns passing the microphone at center court last Friday night at the Vines Center, thanking the 2,000-plus fans in attendance for being part of what has been a special season.
In a tradition-rich program, the 2007-08 season stood out for several reasons. Liberty tied a school record for regular-season victories (26), flirted with the Top 25 for much of the season and enters this weekend’s Big South tournament in Asheville, N.C., ranked in the top 35 in the ratings percentage index (RPI).

Liberty junior Megan Frazee was named the Big South women’s basketball player of the week for the sixth time this season and 12th time in her career Monday.

Liberty University senior Josh McDougal won the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Southeast Region Men’s Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year award for the first time in his career, despite running in only four races this season.

VMI coach Duggar Baucom can authoritatively say that if Liberty plays the way it played Tuesday, the Flames are going to be a hard team to knock out of the Big South tournament.

Sure, Liberty was trying to run the clock down on VMI’s season. But the shot was too open, too appetizing, for Anthony Smith to pass up.