Bryce Hayes
For Immediate Release
SEGUIN, Texas — Nineteen hits powered No. 3/8 Texas Lutheran past Trinity, 19-3 in five innings, and into the program’s 11th consecutive NCAA regional final on Friday at Ed Kruse Stadium.
The dominant victory marked the Bulldogs (40-4) tenth straight win. Friday’s performance was the 16th time this year that TLU scored double-digit runs and secured the 20th run-rule victory of the season. With the win Texas Lutheran reached the 40-win mark for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Friday was a historic occasion on a number of fronts for the Bulldogs. The 19-run effort is the second most runs in an NCAA Tournament game in SCAC history only trailing the Bulldogs 21-3 win over Cedar Crest in the 2021 NCAA Seguin Regional. The 19 runs also helped the 2026 squad pass the 2016 team (375) to become the highest scoring team in program history, bringing their season run total to 382. As a team, Texas Lutheran broke the NCAA Division-III stolen base record for the fourth time in five seasons as their seven stolen base effort on Friday brought their season total to 239, surpassing last season’s NCAA record of 236. The 239 stolen bases move the Bulldogs into the top 15 for stolen bases in a season across all levels.
The NCAA stolen base queen Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) made more history on Friday, breaking TLU’s single-season hit record set by former teammate Annie Kay just last season (71, 2025) as her 3-for-4 performance pushed her season tally to 74 on the season. Clark also made more history on the base paths. With her four stolen bases on Friday, Clark not only tied Kelly Jurden (4, 2021) for the program record for stolen bases in a regional game, but she became the first player in college softball history to steal 300 bases in their career, stealing the 300th base in the fifth inning. Clark also became the first player in NCAA softball history with multiple 80+ stolen base seasons, raising her season total to 83 on Friday. The history continued for Clark as she tied Chassety Raines (4, 2021) for the program record for runs scored in a regional game with four runs scored. Teammate Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) also made history on Friday, breaking the TLU single-season RBI record previously set by teammate Serena Gonzalez a season ago (61, 2025) with her 63rd RBI of the season coming on Friday.
Five runs with two outs in the first inning paved the way for Texas Lutheran’s complete performance as the Bulldogs jumped in front 5-0 after one. A two-run homer from Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) got the Bulldogs on the board. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for a pinch-hit, bases clearing double from Natalie Pacheco (Lytle/Lytle).
The Bulldogs did more damage with two outs in the second inning. After a leadoff bunt single and a pair of stolen bases from Caelee Clark and a walk to Gonzalez, Gonzalez stole second for her career-high third stolen base of the season to put two runners in scoring position for Cady Bowyer (Fulshear/Jordan) who hit a bases clearing double. An RBI single from Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) made it 8-0 after two innings.
The Bulldogs matched their second inning effort with three more runs in the third. The Bulldogs started the inning with three straight singles to load the bases for Taylor Vannett, who broke the single-season RBI record with her two-RBI double to stretch the lead to double digits. Bowyer drove in her third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to score Riley Davila (Angleton/Angleton) to make it 11-0 TLU.
A six-run fourth inning continued to put the game out of reach as Harleigh Russell stole home on a double steal to get the scoring started. Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland), who was on the back end of the double steal, took advantage of a Tigers wild pitch to score her second run of the afternoon. A Taylor Vannett sacrifice fly followed by RBI singles from Mia Landry (Cypress/Bridgeland) and Ashley McMahon (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) padded the TLU lead. A bases loaded walk to Brey Jones (San Antonio/Brennan) capped the scoring as TLU pushed 17 runs in front of Trinity (31-12-1).
A solo home run in the fourth helped the Tigers avoid the shutout but the Bulldogs responded with a pair of runs in the fifth as Caelee Clark scored on a passed ball and Cady Bowyer drove in her fourth run of the game on an RBI single.
Bowyer paced TLU at the plate in a perfect 3-for-3, four RBI performance while Clark, McMahon, and Vannett all finished 3-for-4. Eleven Bulldogs recorded a hit in the game with eight bringing in at least one run.
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) got the start in the circle, tossing her 16th complete game of the season, surrendering five hits and three earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts to earn her 21st victory of the season.
The Bulldogs move on to meet the 13th-ranked Huntingdon Hawks in the NCAA Seguin Regional final. First pitch is scheduled for 11 AM at Ed Kruse Stadium with the “if-necessary” game set for a 1:30 PM start. The game will be broadcast on ncaa.com. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (@txlutheransoftball), X (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).