-Bryce Hayes, TLU Sports Information
(Irving) – The No. 3 ranked Texas Lutheran softball team secured its eighth consecutive regular season title in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and the top seed in the upcoming SCAC tournament last week with a three-game road sweep of the University of Dallas. The Bulldogs beat the Crusaders 8-0 on Thursday and swept Friday’s doubleheader 10-0 and 4-1.
TLU owns a 15-game winning streak, an 18-0 record in conference play, and an overall mark of 32-4. The Bulldogs have won 59 straight SCAC games and 50 consecutive SCAC series.
The Bulldogs got two RBIs each from Chassety Raines, Kelly Jurden, and Madison Johnson in Thursday’s series opener. Sophomore Sydney Ouellette went the distance in the circle, collecting her eighth win of the season with a complete game shutout – surrendering just two hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts. It was Texas Lutheran’s 15 shutout of the season – returning the Bulldogs to the top of the NCAA leaderboard.
The Bulldogs would take advantage of defensive miscues from Dallas to plate two runs on one hit and two Dallas errors in the third inning. After Brandalyn Dee and Kelly Jurden reached to start the inning, Chassety Raines would plate Dee on a sacrifice fly. Casey Martin would drive in Jurden to give TLU a 2-0 lead.
The bats came alive in the fourth inning with the Bulldogs plating four runs on four hits. After a single from Laura Hernandez and double from Sarah Metzer , Madison Johnson would hit an RBI double down the left field line scoring Lexi Coward who pinch ran for Hernandez. Kelly Jurden brought in Metzer and Johnson with a two-RBI double. After Jurden stole third for her NCAA-leading 51st stolen base, Raines would score Jurden on another sacrifice fly.
TLU put up two more runs on three hits in the fifth. An RBI double from Laura Hernandez and RBI single from Madison Johnson highlighted the frame.
With the run-rule in play, Sydney Ouellette cruised through the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff walk to close the game.
Saturday’s first game was highlighted by a two-hit gem in the circle from Ashlyn Strother and eight different Bulldogs driving in runs. Texas Lutheran would score in all but one inning in game one.
Following a quiet first inning, Sarah Metzer got the Bulldogs on the board in the second inning with a two-out RBI double, scoring Laura Hernandez.
TLU plated three runs on four hits in the third. Kelly Jurden followed Brandalyn Dee’s leadoff double with an RBI double scoring Dee. Chassety Raines would bring in Jurden to make the score 3-0. Olivia Prinz laced a two-out double to score Faith Hernandez to bring the score to 4-0.
TLU added four more insurance runs in the fourth – scoring four runs on four hits. An RBI single from Brandalyn Dee got the scoring started and Kelly Jurden would bring her in once again to extend the Bulldogs lead to 6-0. A Casey Martin sacrifice fly would score Kelly Jurden to make the score 7-0. Faith Hernandez would cap the inning with an RBI single to make the score 8-0 and put the run-rule in play.
TLU tacked on two more in the top of the fifth with Riley Futrell scoring on a wild pitch and Sidney Cox scoring Kirsten Williams on an RBI double to left center bringing the game to its final score of 10-0 to give Texas Lutheran its 10th run-rule victory of the season and their NCAA-leading 17th shutout victory of the season.
Strother improved her SCAC-best ERA to 0.77 with her 16th win of the season in the circle, going the distance for her sixth complete game shutout. She struck out eight and allowed just two hits and two walks to Dallas.
Nine Bulldogs registered a hit in the game with eight bringing in a run. Jurden, Raines, Dee, Metzer, and Faith Hernandez all finished with two hits. Jurden led the team with two RBIs in game one.
Texas Lutheran won their 15th straight game behind steady offense and a dominant outing from the Bulldogs pitching staff.
Amanda White tossed four shutout innings, allowing just two hits to pick up her eighth win of the season. Sydney Ouellette would pick up the save – her second of the season.
The Bulldogs scored four runs on seven hits, including two hits a piece from Chassety Raines and Faith Hernandez.
TLU got on the board early with a run in the first inning. Kelly Jurden drew a leadoff walk, stole two bases and would score on a sacrifice fly from Raines.
Faith Hernandez would double the Bulldogs lead in the top of the third with an RBI single to left field to knock in Raines.
White continued to deal in the top of the fourth inning. Despite giving up her first two hits of the ballgame in the frame, she escaped the inning unscathed – picking up her only strikeout of the afternoon to get out of the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Casey Martin made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to score Kelly Jurden. Dallas would score their only run of the game and of the series in the bottom of the fifth.
Linzee Leal would steal home in the top of the sixth to bring the game to its final tally of 4-1.
Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock) and Ouellette would pitch scoreless sixth and seventh innings to end the game.
The Bulldogs outscored the Crusaders 22-1 in the series and outhit Dallas 29-8.
Next up, No. 3 TLU meets Trinity at Ed Kruse Stadium this Friday and Saturday to wrap the regular season. The two teams kick off the series with a Friday doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 5 PM and 7 PM. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.