Bryce Hayes
SEGUIN, Texas — The No. 6 Texas Lutheran softball team (28-1, 20-1) completed the series sweep over Southwestern (13-18, 11-10) Saturday afternoon at Ed Kruse Stadium in Seguin with a 6-1 win in game one and a 9-1 run-rule victory in five innings.
The Bulldogs pushed their win streak to 12 straight games and won their 72nd straight SCAC conference series, dating back to joining the conference in 2014.
Junior pitcher Ainsley Davis (Rockwall/Jesuit (OR)) guided the Bulldogs to the win with a five-inning, three strikeout performance that featured just three hits and one unearned run.
Junior Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) impressed at the dish and on the base path with a 3-for-4 day with an RBI, a run scored, and two stolen bases. Seniors Tavery Ortiz (Texas City/Texas City) and Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) also drove in runs.
Texas Lutheran got on the board first with three runs in the bottom of the second. Following a lead off double from Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell), Linzee Leal registered a two-out RBI double to plate the first TLU run. Caelee Clark singled to set up a double steal that led to Leal scoring. Clark stole her second base of the inning and would score on a Southwestern throwing error to put TLU up 3-0.
Southwestern got on the board in the fourth with a sacrifice fly that would act as their only run of the game before TLU responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Clark.
TLU put another two runs on the board in the fifth inning. A double steal from Russell and Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) set up an RBI groundout for Ortiz and Russell scored on a Southwestern error to bring the game to its final score.
For the second straight day, Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) shut the door on the Pirates, tossing two no-hit innings in relief, striking out two.
Juniors Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton) and Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) led the Bulldogs at the plate in game two, driving in three runs each. Senior Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) (15-0) got the win in the circle for the second time in as many days, tossing a complete game and allowing one unearned run on two hits and no walks and registering one strikeout.
Caelee Clark started things off for the Bulldogs with a leadoff single in the bottom of the first, making her way around on an RBI single from Annie Kay. An RBI double from Gonzalez scored Kay before an RBI groundout from Taylor Vannett capped the three-run first from the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs offense stayed hot in the second inning as a two-RBI double from Kay put the Bulldogs ahead 5-0 ahead of Gonzalez hitting her seventh home run of the season, a two-run homer, to extend the lead to seven.
Southwestern scored their lone run in the top of the fifth to avoid the shutout.
The Pirates were not able to avoid the run-rule as the Bulldogs scored two in the bottom of the inning. An RBI single from Harleigh Russell got the scoring started in the fifth before Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) walked it off with an RBI single to conclude the sweep with a run-rule victory.
Gonzalez went a perfect 2-for-2 with a home run, two runs scored, and three RBI in the series finale, while Kay finished 2-for-3 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. Clark was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two stolen bases with her final stolen base helping her regain the national lead in the category with 39 on the season.
Texas Lutheran continues their final nine-game homestand next weekend as they welcome the Schreiner University Mountaineers to Ed Kruse Stadium for a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 12. First pitch is slated for 1 PM with the game being broadcast on TLU+. 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), 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).