Bryce Hayes
For Immediate Release
SEGUIN, Texas — The Texas Lutheran softball team has stolen the most bases in Division-III history and broken a number of program records offensively in 2026, but it was the TLU defense and timely outs from the the TLU pitching staff that has put the No. 3/8 Bulldogs one victory away from their fifth Women’s College World Series appearance.
Double plays in the first and third innings along with a foul ball caught down the right field line in the sixth by Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) to strand the bases loaded all proved to be the difference as Redlands stranded 11 runners on the afternoon.
In quest for their fifth World Series appearance and second national title, the Bulldogs (42-4) can clinch a WCWS spot by winning Game Two in this best-of-three series on Friday at 1 p.m. If Game Three is necessary, it will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) got the start and responded by tossing five innings, scattering nine hits, striking out two and walking one. Despite allowing two runs, she exited the game with the lead before turning the game over to Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy). Joy made just her fifth career relief appearance on Thursday, allowing one run on four hits and two walks over two innings of work to earn her first career save.
The Bulldogs only struck out once against the Bulldogs ace Katlyn Gandara, a 2026 NFCA First Team All-West Region honoree.
A first inning sacrifice fly from Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead before Redlands responded with a run of their own in the second inning.
An RBI fielder’s choice from Brey Jones (San Antonio/Brennan) and a sacrifice fly from Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland) put the Bulldogs back in front 3-1 in the bottom of the second. An RBI groundout from Cady Bowyer (Jordan/Fulshear) extended the lead to 4-1 in the third.
Redlands offense started to come alive late in the action on Thursday. An RBI single in the fifth cut the TLU lead to 4-2. The Bulldogs had a chance to put the game away in the bottom of the inning as they loaded the bases with two outs but were only able to scratch one across on a bases loaded walk to Natalie Pacheco (Lytle/Lytle).
Back-to-back doubles started the sixth for Redlands to pull the Bulldogs (41-6) within 5-3, but despite loading the bases that’s where the score would stay as a force play at home and a long ranging catch from Clark in foul territory got the Bulldogs out of the inning.
Redlands threatened again in the seventh putting two runners on, but with the tying run at first Joy was able to force a fly out to right to end the game.
The Bulldogs have stolen a base in 44 games of their 46 games and only stole less than two in three of the Bulldogs 46 games so far this season. Texas Lutheran stole six on Thursday, bringing their season total to 252, raising the bar even further for their Division-III record and moving the team into tenth in NCAA history across all levels, passing the 1992 North Carolina Central squad (250) to move into the top ten. On a smaller scale, the Bulldogs broke their own program record for hits in a season on Thursday as the 2026 squad brought their season total to 485 – passing the 2016 team’s tally of 484. Individually, Caelee Clark became TLU’s all-time career hits leader Thursday afternoon as she improved her career total to 261 – passing Kelly Jurden (260, 2018-22) with Jurden in attendance on Thursday. Clark also broke her own Division-III record for stolen bases in a season as she stole her 87th-89th bases on Thursday, passing her previous record of 87 set in 2024. Her 89 stolen bases are the third most in a single-season across all levels in NCAA history.
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).