Skylar Ouellette
Skylar Ouellette

No. 1 Texas Lutheran with pair of run-rule wins Monday in Tucson Invitational

TUCSON, Ariz. - Top-ranked and defending national champion Texas Lutheran improved to 16-1 in 2020 with 8-0 and 12-0 run-rule victories Monday over Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) and Baldwin Wallace (Ohio).
 
TLU won in five innings over Bethany Lutheran and in six innings against Baldwin Wallace.
 
Bethany Lutheran fell to 5-7 with the loss to TLU. Baldwin Wallace dropped to 0-2.
 
Against Bethany Lutheran, Haley Padilla started the Bulldog scoring in the second with a double that brought home McKay Bloxham. Padilla then scored on a Chassety Raines triple.
 
The Bulldogs added four runs in the third with a Rebecca Snow RBI double, a Bloxham single, and a wild pitch that scored a pair of Bulldogs (Bloxham and Kelly Jurden).
 
Skylar Ouellette ended the game in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run double that scored Erica Garcia and Raines.
 
Sydney Ouellette tossed a complete-game, four-hitter to notch her second collegiate win. The freshman right-hander struck out three and walked just one.
 
In the win over Baldwin-Wallace, the Bulldogs scored four times in the third, three times in the fourth, and five more runs in the sixth.
 
Jurden went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three stolen bases. Raines added a 3-for-3 performance with two runs scored, two RBI, and two steals.
 
Madisyn Cates drove in two runs and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Casey Martin had two RBI, and Kali Chatham went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
 
Senior right-hander Kayla Oliveira moved to 6-1 overall with a one-hit shutout. She walked two and struck out four.
 
The two games on Monday were a continuation of the Tucson Invitational, which TLU started on Thursday with a 7-0 victory over Mary Washington.
 
TLU's scheduled games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Tucson were part of the NFCA Leadoff Classic. TLU went 2-1 in games against No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan (3-0 win), No. 2 Christopher Newport (10-2 loss) and unranked Pacific Lutheran (12-0 win). TLU's games against Babson (on Saturday), St. John Fisher (on Sunday), and third-ranked Linfield (on Sunday) were either cancelled or declared no-contests due to weather and/or field conditions.
 
The Bulldogs conclude their Tucson trip with an 11 a.m. central (9 a.m. mountain) contest Tuesday against the Emory Eagles. The Bulldogs and Eagles met in last season's NCAA Division III National Championship finals. TLU won both games of the best 2-of-3 championship series to capture the national title.