JaMaya Byrum in February 2024. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
THIS IS SPORTS SPECTRUM’S WHAT’S UP PODCAST
WITH ANNABELLE HASSELBECK
On today’s episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, we have Liberty softball player JaMaya Byrum.
JaMaya reflects on her freshman season with Liberty, the beautiful relationships she’s formed, traditions on the team, and how she invites the Lord into her game days.
Rachel Roupe is congratulated by head coach Dot Richardson, May 18, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Liberty Athletics)
More than one type of history was made in the softball NCAA Tournament on Sunday night. With one dramatic come-from-behind win, Liberty University reached the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in program history, and at the same time eliminated a No. 1 overall seed in the first round for the first time in the Super Regional era (starting in 2005).
After beating Marist University on Friday and top-seeded Texas A&M on Saturday, the Flames needed just one more victory over the Aggies in the double-elimination regional to secure a spot in the Super Regionals. They led 6-0, trailed 10-6 and eventually scored four runs in the seventh to send the game to extra innings, but Texas A&M prevailed, 14-11.
Hours later, the two teams met again. The winner moved on. The loser went home. Liberty fell behind 3-0 and responded with a trio of home runs from Rachel Roupe and Savannah Jessee in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-3 lead. With the game tied in the top of the sixth, Roupe went deep for the second time in as many innings, putting the Flames ahead for the first time.
Texas A&M scored twice in the bottom half of the inning but never led again as Liberty held on for a 6-5 victory. It marked the 50th win of the season, a new program record.
As one of the largest Christian universities in the country, faith is at the center of everything Liberty does. The first thing head coach and two-time Olympic gold medalist Dot Richardson did in her postgame press conference was give glory to God.
“First, all praise to the Lord,” she said. “Thank you. God is so faithful. When I say that, I say it because you guys saw a battle out here. … It was amazing to watch, the talent that all the players have. And that’s what the Lord says: When you have your talents, put them out there to show.”
At the Conference USA Tournament earlier this month that Liberty won to reach the NCAA Tournament, Richardson — who has been the team’s head coach since 2013 — shared a brief message before helping baptize 26 players from teams across the conference.
Richardson joined the Sports Spectrum Podcast last year and shared about the powerful series of events that led her to Liberty, as well as serving the Lord through coaching. When Richardson got a call asking her to lead the program, she had never been a head coach and didn’t know where the school was. She knew it was where she was supposed to be, though.
“I’ve been led here at Liberty … where we’re training champions for Christ,” she said on the podcast. “That is what really interests me. I knew as a young girl that God had given me a gift in athletics, and I knew it because I loved it so much, it was so natural.”
Under Richardson’s leadership, the Flames have reached the NCAA Tournament six times, and before setting the program record for wins this season, they won at least 40 games in six consecutive full seasons from 2017 to 2023. They have also won back-to-back Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles, their first two years in the conference.
Sophomore infielder JaMaya Byrum, who was standing on third base when Roupe hit her game-changing home run, was a guest on Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast in April. Byrum discussed the role faith plays in her life and why learning about God not being a one-time Savior has made such an impact on her.
“I want to control everything,” she said on the podcast. “I want to stick to my plan and my timing and all of the things just because our hearts are so selfish. But at the end of the day, I do have to realize that it’s a blessing to be here. I don’t deserve anything. It’s just such a blessing, so I can only be thankful for where my feet are.”
Liberty begins its best-of-three Super Regional series against the University of Oregon at 10 p.m. ET on Friday. Game 2 is at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday. If needed, Game 3 will be Sunday.
However long the Flames’ run continues for, they will be giving God the praise every step of the way.
“God has given us amazing gifts and opportunities, and I just want to encourage all of us to get to know Him more,” Richardson said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “And the only way to do that is to get into His Word, right? To study, take the time to get closer and understand, to get your questions answered.”
THIS IS SPORTS SPECTRUM’S WHAT’S UP PODCAST
WITH ANNABELLE HASSELBECK
On today’s episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, we have Boston College lacrosse player Mallory Hasselbeck.
Mallory shares about her journey to Boston College, overcoming injuries, winning the national championship, and how she’s held onto the Lord through it all.
A Jacksonville State softball player gets baptized during an event before the Conference USA Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Cassidy Paxton/Liberty Athletics)
More than 100 women are competing against each other in the Conference USA Softball Championship this week, but before the games began, many of them spent Tuesday night cheering on 26 players from different schools as they got baptized in a hotel pool.
It all happened organically after an organized worship event Monday night on the campus of Western Kentucky University, which is hosting the CUSA tournament. The event, called “Worship on the Hill,” was hosted by the WKU Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter in partnership with Crossland Community Church in Bowling Green, and included worship and teaching. By the end of the night, 29 college students were baptized.
In attendance were members of the Jacksonville State softball team, who remained in town after playing WKU last weekend to close out the regular season, and were invited by Hilltoppers softball players. Many were moved by the message and worship and felt a call to be baptized, but due to a team curfew had to leave the event before baptisms began. Not to be deterred, they contacted a WKU player and asked if they could host a baptism event at their team hotel the next night, with Worship on the Hill organizers helping lead.
“For the most part, the Lord just stirred on their hearts that night,” WKU FCA director David Byrd told Sports Spectrum. “As they left and we were on the heels of the event, we thought this was another great event where God moved. Come to find out, He wasn’t done.”
Byrd called Crossland senior pastor Gregg Farrell, who preached the message the night before, and without hesitation he was on board to help facilitate the impromptu baptism event. Those JSU players invited their friends and competitors from WKU to witness, but word spread even further. Byrd said when he arrived at the hotel, just about every one of the six schools competing was represented, with an estimated 70-80 players surrounding the pool and probably dozens more coaches and other adults.
From the pool, Liberty head coach Dot Richardson shared a message, followed by Farrell doing the same and sharing his testimony. Then the Jacksonville State players who planned on doing so were baptized, but from there, “kids just started responding left and right, one after another,” Byrd said.
Individual teams have celebrated one or several members getting baptized, but seeing multiple schools from a conference come together to get baptized and celebrate the night before they’re set to compete against each other is quite unique, Byrd said. Part of the message shared was that while it’s natural to feel competitive, those who are believers need to be Christ-followers first and competitors second.
“What made it really special is these softball players have been competing against each other all year,” Byrd said. “They’ve gone through a lot of competitive moments together, but the Lord was moving so heavily in the room that you didn’t sense any of that competitive spirit. It was peaceful. You could sense the Lord in the room.”
One team will leave the weekend as a conference champion and secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament. But Byrd said he’s more excited to see what happens when these players go back to their respective campuses.
“This is something you can’t just forget about or explain away,” he said. “It’s to be determined what the Lord does with that, but I think we can say confidently that He’s going to use it somehow.”
