Bulldogs Hold Off Salisbury, Advance to DIII WCWS Semifinals

SALEM, VA -- In a first-time ever match up between two top five teams entering the NCAA Tournament in No. 2 Texas Lutheran and No. 4 Salisbury, the outcome came out right for TLU.

Sparked by two RBIs from Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock) and a late RBI double from Olivia Prinz (Georgetown/Georgetown), the Bulldogs quest for a second national championship remains alive after their 5-4 victory over the second-seed Seagulls Saturday night at Moyer Sports Complex.

TLU (45-5) must beat No. 1 overall seed Christopher Newport (44-1) twice on Sunday (at noon and 5:30 PM EST) to advance to the best-of-three championship series Monday and Tuesday at the Division-III Women's College World Series.

The matchup between the Bulldogs and the Captains serves as a rematch from the 2021 Seguin Regional that saw the Bulldogs eliminate the Captains 4-2.

TLU advanced to face Salisbury (42-8) by ousting Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a 6-0 shutout victory in Saturday's opening game, in which Casey Martin (Pearland/Pearland) 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Roughly 30 minutes prior to facing the Bulldogs, the Seagulls were victims of a 9-1 run-rule loss to Trine.

However, Salisbury wasted little time jumping on Bulldogs righthander Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) scoring one run on two hits in the first inning. Strother would end up tossing her second complete game of the day, allowing four runs (all earned) on four hits - striking out four batters. Strother improved to 25-0 on the season.

After trailing after the top of the first, freshman Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) drove in Kelly Jurden (Brenham/Brenham) to tie the game at one after one inning. The first inning presented two historic occasions for the Bulldogs after a double steal from Jurden and Johnson. Kelly Jurden became the single-season stolen base leader - stealing her 74th stolen base on the season in the first inning. Jurden now has 77 stolen bases on the season after stealing three bases in tonight's game. TLU softball also created history as a team stealing their 225th base of the season - surpassing the previous single-season team record of 224 stolen bases set by The College of New Jersey's 1995 team. The Bulldogs stole six bases in total tonight bringing their season total to 230.

An RBI single from Brandalyn Dee (Cibolo/Steele) and a two-RBI single from Madison Johnson gave the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead after two innings.

The Seagulls comeback attempt began in the sixth inning with a two-run home run, shrinking the TLU lead to 4-3, before an Olivia Prinz RBI double extended the TLU lead to 5-3.

Salisbury would hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to bring the game to its final margin as Texas Lutheran held off the Seagulls' late rally to win 5-4.

The Bulldogs return to Moyer Sports Complex Sunday to match up with Christopher Newport at noon EST. TLU seeks two wins over the Captains to advance to their third straight DIII WCWS Championship series. 

Tomorrow's game can be seen on ncaa.com with Lincoln Rose and Sydney Gerbracht on the call and heard on KWED 1580 AM Radio with play-by-play announcer Mike McBride calling the action for fans in the Guadalupe County area. 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), 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, @tlubulldogs on Instagram and Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on TikTok).