Where is Liberty University? What to know of Lady Flames amid NCAA softball tournament
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Watch Oregon softball players react as Ducks advance in NCAA tourney
Watch as Oregon softball reacts after defeating Stanford in the Eugene NCAA Softball Regional at Jane Sanders Stadium.
For the past several years, Liberty University has asserted its presence in the broader world of college athletics.
The Flames' football team, which has played just seven seasons at the FBS level, had an undefeated regular season and made the Fiesta Bowl in 2023. The school's men's basketball team has made the NCAA Tournament in three of the past six seasons in which the event was held, a run highlighted by an upset of Mississippi State in 2019.
Now, Liberty's softball program is making its mark.
REQUIRED READING: Liberty vs. Texas A&M softball highlights: Flames eliminate No. 1 seed in NCAA regionals
The Lady Flames stunned much of the college softball world with a pair of victories last weekend over Texas A&M in the 2025 NCAA softball tournament, sending Liberty to the super regional stage of the tournament for the first time in program history — and sending the tournament's No. 1 overall seed home at a surprisingly early juncture. At a stage of the tournament in which few national seeds lose, let alone the best team in the nation, Liberty managed to pull off the improbable.
The Lady Flames may not be done, either. With a victory in a best-of-three super regional series against Oregon — the same school that stomped Liberty's football team by 39 in the Fiesta Bowl — they would advance to their first-ever Women's College World Series.
As it prepares to try to make more program history, here's a closer look at Liberty:
Where is Liberty University?
Liberty University is located in Lynchburg, Virginia, about 115 miles west of Richmond.
The school, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, was founded in 1971 by televangelist Jerry Falwell and academic Elmer L. Towns. At that time, the university was known as Lynchburg Baptist College before adopting its current name in 1984.
With 16,000 students living on campus combined with an online enrollment of 124,000 for the 2024-25 academic year, Liberty is one of the largest universities in the country.
In recent years, the school has become known for its prominent role in Republican politics, with the Washington Post describing it in 2015 as 'a bastion of the Christian right.' Given its religious affiliation, Liberty has strict code of conduct, with students forbidden from premarital sex, cohabitation, alcohol and drug use, and same-sex relationships, the last of which has made the university a frequent target of criticism from the LGBTQ community and elsewhere.
REQUIRED READING: NCAA softball winners and losers: Texas A&M stunned; Oklahoma, Texas roll
Liberty softball record
Following its 3-1 record in the regional round, which included two victories against Texas A&M, Liberty improved to 50-13 this season.
The 50 wins are the most in program history, breaking a tie with the Lady Flames' 2018 team, which went 49-13. This season marks the sixth time since 2018 that Liberty has made the NCAA softball tournament.
Liberty softball schedule 2025
Here's a look at Liberty's past five games. To see the Lady Flames' full 2025 schedule, click here.
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