Lady Flames pitcher Escobar signed by AUSL-leading professional team

The AUSL Talons of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League have signed former Liberty University right-handed pitcher Elena Escobar, a native of Spring Hill, Tenn., who joins the Talons’ active roster from the Reserve Athlete Pool.

The Talons compete in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, which is the premier professional women’s softball league in the United States. Featuring four teams — the Bandits, Blaze, Talons, and Volts — the AUSL delivers a 24-game professional softball season across 10 major cities in the U.S., culminating in a best-of-three championship series.

In league standings, the Talons are tied with the Bandits for the AUSL lead at 9-3 halfway through the regular season. The AUSL has the backing of Major League Baseball, with games airing on the ESPN Networks, MLB Network and MLB.com. Among the Talons’ noteworthy players are Maya Brady (UCLA), Sydney Romero (Oklahoma), Sahvanna Jaquish (LSU), Montana Fouts (Alabama) and Bri Ellis (Arkansas).

Escobar backed up her stellar junior campaign with an even better senior season. She has posted a 25-4 record with seven shutouts overall while ranking first in CUSA in overall wins (25), second in strikeouts (177) and third in ERA (2.53). In conference play, Escobar was a perfect 12-0 with a 1.33 ERA, leading all CUSA pitchers in conference-only ERA (1.33) and opponents’ batting average (.168). Escobar was nearly unhittable in the CUSA Championship, going 3-0 with two shutouts. She then earned the victory in all three of Liberty’s wins at the NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional.

Escobar was named the 2025 CUSA Pitcher of the Year and 2025 CUSA Tournament MVP. Additionally, she earned NFCA All-Mid-Atlantic Region second team honors. In her two years as a Lady Flame after transferring from the University of North Alabama, Escobar went 41-11 with a 2.63 ERA, eight shutouts and .230 opponents’ batting average.

The Lady Flames finished the season with a 50-15 record, setting a new program record for single-season victories. Liberty won both the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles for the second year in a row. The team made history at the 2025 NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional, winning two out of three games against No. 1 Texas A&M to earn its first-ever Super Regional appearance. The Lady Flames were the first team in the Super Regional era to knock out the No. 1 national seed in the Regional round.