Mac alumna wins second career CUSA Player of the Week for Liberty
Brynn McManus — a senior at NCAA DI Liberty University and 2022 graduate of McMinnville High School — has had a hot bat for the Flames as of late, earning her second career Conference USA Softball Player of the Week award on April 6.
Both honors came this season, with the first awarded on March 16.
McManus was scorching, batting .714 (10-for-14) with two doubles, five RBIs, two runs, a .750 on base percentage and .857 slugging percentage. She helped Liberty earn a 2-1 series win at Missouri State University and posted six straight multiple-hit games from March 29 to April 8.
Additionally, she played three different positions in the field (center field, first base, right field), and made a diving catch in right, preserving a teammate’s no-hitter in an 8-0 win over Missouri State on April 3.
The Flames played a doubleheader against the Bears that day, where McManus recorded back-to-back three-hit games, helping Liberty to a series sweep. In game one, she went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and three RBIs. She pushed Liberty’s lead to 2-0 with a fifth-inning RBI single, and then her two-run single in the sixth made it 6-0. In game two, the no-hitter, McManus batted 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored.
After earning CUSA All-Conference first team honors in 2025 and helping the Flames to a 50-15 record and a ticket to face the Oregon Ducks in Eugene for the NCAA DI Super Regional, McManus said her journey this season has been one of more ups and downs.
As of April 16, Liberty is 20-22 on the season and McManus has taken on a larger leadership role for the team while working through hot and cold spurts.
“It’s been different … we’ve lost a lot more, and it’s not the same necessarily, so it’s been more of an up and down season where I’ll be hot for a week, and then I won’t get a hit for a week,” McManus told the News-Register. “It’s been really rocky, but I’m just trying to stay true to who I am and keep playing for that little girl who grew up in McMinnville. Trying to ride the waves of softball and not get high or too low, but still remember who I am and how good I am.”
On the season, McManus sports a .296 batting average, .481 slugging and .381 OBP while clobbering seven home runs and 30 RBIs.
Though not during a week where honors were shown her way, McManus provided one example of how quickly tides can change at the plate.
Following her first POTW, McManus was on a 3-for-17 skid over six games. That was until March 29 versus the University of Delaware, where she went 3-for-4 and smashed a game-winning grand slam over the fence just one pitch after the catcher dropped what would have been out No. 2 of the inning.
“Softball is such a humbling sport, so I just try to have a lot of confidence,” McManus said.
As a Grizzly, McManus was a three-time first-team all-league and all-state infielder, 2021 and 2022 6A Pacific Conference Player of the Year and 2022 OSAA Player of the Year.
She will graduate this year from Liberty with a degree in business finance.
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