San Diego State overcame an early 2-0 deficit, rallying to defeat Liberty 6-3 in the Los Angeles Regional final on Sunday at Easton Stadium.

With the win, its sixth in a row, SDSU (38-15) advances to its first-ever Super Regional in program history. The Aztecs were making their seventh all-time appearance in a Regional final, including third in a row. San Diego State will compete at the Salt Lake City Super Regional against No. 15 national seed Utah.

The Lady Flames (40-22) were competing in their third Regional final all-time after eliminating No. 2 UCLA and Grand Canyon yesterday. Liberty ends its season with 40 wins, one of six NCAA Division I softball teams with 40 or more wins every full season since 2017 (also Florida State, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and UCLA.

Scoring Summary
Liberty – 1st INNING – Fortner doubles to left, Craine advances, out at third, Roupe and Hudson score, 2-0
SDSU – 4th INNING – Decker homers to left, Celis scores, 2-2
SDSU – 6th INNING – Decker reached on error, Celis scores, 3-2
SDSU – 6th INNING – Murphy homers to left, Reyes scores, 5-2
SDSU – 6th INNING – Perez homers to right, 6-2
Liberty – 7th INNING – Fortner homers to right, 6-3

Turning Point
– Liberty’s first five batters all recorded hits, but the Lady Flames made all three outs on the bases, limiting the team’s offensive output to two runs on a two-run double by Megan Fortner.

– SDSU tied it up at 2-2 on a two-run homer by Cali Decker in the fourth. The Aztecs took control in the sixth, with an unearned run chasing Liberty starter Karlie Keeney. Decker then made it 5-2 with a homer off of Emily Estroff and AJ Murphy’s solo shot set the score at 6-2.

Notable Numbers
– SDSU outhit Liberty 10-7 for the game, with both teams committing an error. The Lady Flames turned two double plays. San Diego State left three on base compared to two stranded for Liberty.

– Allie Light (14-6) earned the win for the Aztecs, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out three in 6 1/3 innings. Dee Dee Hernandez earned her fifth save with 2/3 of an inning of relief.

– Karlie Keeney (27-12) started for the third time in less than 24 hours, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out one in five innings. Estroff allowed three runs, two earned, on two hits in two innings of relief.

– Murphy went 2-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and one run scored, while Decker went 1-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and one run scored. Bella Espinoza and Jillian Celis both went 2-for-4.

– Caroline Hudson batted 2-for-3 with one run scored for Liberty, while Megan Fortner batted 2-for-3 with a double, homer and three RBI.

Beyond the Box Score
– SDSU leads the all-time series against Liberty 3-1 after posting a pair of wins over the Lady Flames in this week’s Los Angeles Regional.

– The Aztecs had not allowed a run in 27 innings before Liberty scored in the first inning today.

– Liberty is now 7-12 all-time in NCAA Division I Softball Championship play, including 7-8 under 10th-year Head Coach Dot Richardson. Liberty is now 4-6 all-time in NCAA Regional games when facing elimination.

– Roupe, Hudson and Fortner are the second trio of Liberty teammates to all hit 10 or more homers in the same season (2007 – Dawn Jeffs, Jessica Moore, Ashley Williams).

– Devyn Howard went 1-for-3 in her last career game, hitting a single to lead off the bottom of the first.

– Keeney set a new program record with 261 2/3 innings pitched, and today broke the program record with her 34th pitching start of the season.

– Fortner and Roupe tied for the team’s best batting average at the Regional, both batting .333 with two homers.

– Liberty (2 – Tennessee and UCLA), Louisiana (4), ECU (2) and Fordham (2) are the only teams outside of the Power 5 to eliminate a host team from a Regional more than one year in the Super Regional era (since 2005).

– Liberty was making its third straight NCAA Regional appearance, sixth in program history and fourth under current Head Coach Dot Richardson.