Bryce Hayes
SEGUIN, Texas — As a result of its overall body of work throughout the 2023 regular season as well as the 2023 SCAC Tournament, the Texas Lutheran softball program has been selected for the upcoming NCAA Division-III Softball Championships. The selection marks the ninth consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament Field of 62 teams for the program.The Bulldogs were selected to compete in the Marshall, Texas, Regional where they will join host East Texas Baptist (38-5), SUNY-Geneseo (25-16-1), and Belhaven (29-11) in the regional held at Jason Bell Park at Taylor Field in Marshall, Texas.
TLU is set to take on Belhaven in a rematch of the 2022 Seguin Super Regional in their first game scheduled for 2 PM on Thursday. Thursday’s winners will square off in the first of three games Saturday at 12 PM, while Thursday’s losing trams will face off in an elimination game for game two (2:30 PM) of Friday’s tripleheader. The loser of Friday’s first game will take on the winner of the day’s second game in an elimination game Friday night (5 PM). The winner of Friday’s final game will take on the winner of the day’s first game on Saturday (12 PM) with a if-necessary rematch scheduled for later on Saturday.
The winner of the 2023 Marshall Regional will advance to face the winner of the Belton Regional where Mary Hardin-Baylor (32-12) is hosting Berry (36-4), Rosemont (21-17), and St. Thomas (32-8) the following weekend with the goal of reaching the 2023 Division-III Women’s College World Series which will also take place at Taylor Field in Marshall, Texas.
The Bulldogs (38-6) have a history of success in the NCAA Softball Tournament, entering this year’s tournament with an overall record of 32-15 and a NCAA regional record of 17-10 since their first appearance in the NCAA appearance in 2014. This will be the first time the Bulldogs will have to go on the road for the regional round since 2019.
Texas Lutheran has made the NCAA Tournament every year since joining the SCAC in 2014, all under head coach Wade Wilson (tournament was not played in 2020). The Bulldogs have advanced to the DIII Women’s College World Series each of the last three seasons, winning a national championship in 2019 and finishing as the national runner-up in 2021.
The entire bracket can be viewed here. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.
For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (@txlutheransoftball), Twitter (@TLUsoftball), and Instagram (@tlu_softball) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on Twitter, @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).