Strother Posts Two Shutouts; Becomes Program's All-Time Strikeout Leader as No. 15 TLU Takes Southwestern Series

GEORGETOWN, Texas -- No. 15 Texas Lutheran (9-2, 2-1 SCAC) won their conference series over Southwestern (4-18, 1-2 SCAC) in a series that started Sunday evening and due to weather was not finished until late Monday night. Texas Lutheran would take both ends of the three game series with 10-0 and 7-0 shutout victories, but would drop game two 9-8 as the Pirates walked it off in the bottom of the seventh.

Game one - which started and was suspended on Sunday and was concluded on Monday - was highlighted by a complete game shutout from Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) in the circle. Strother struck out eight in the six-inning, complete game performance, allowing four hits and one walk. It marked her 71st career win, becoming just the third pitcher in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) history to eclipse 70+ wins.

The Bulldogs got off to a hot start led by Tavery Ortiz (Texas City/Texas City) who brought in a trio with a 1-for-3 performance. Seven Bulldogs registered a hit and four brought in at least one run. Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) would tie the TLU single-game walk record with four walks in game one, an achievement last met by teammate Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) - who had three walks of her own in game one - last season.

Ortiz opened the scoring with an RBI groundout in the first inning before Caelee Clark and Kylee Jack would walk in runs with bases loaded in the second inning. Ortiz would hit a sacrifice fly to drive in her second run of the game to stretch the Bulldogs lead to 4-0 in the second. Ortiz continued the scoring in the fourth as her RBI double would be one of the final plays before Sunday's rain delay led to the suspension of the contest.

The Bulldogs would pick up right where they left off when play restarted on Monday as an RBI fielder's choice from Abby Touchet (Shreveport/C.E. Byrd) drove in Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell).

Caelee Clark would walk in another run in the fifth before the Bulldogs would finally push into run-rule territory in the sixth following a three-run sixth behind RBIs from Reagan Hillis (Cedar Park/Cedar Park), Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody), and Clark.

In an effort to get all three games in, the two teams would immediately go into game two.

Kylee Jack opened scoring in game two with an RBI double and Abby Touchet would drive her in with a sacrifice fly as TLU scored two runs in the first inning. As would be a theme in game two, the Pirates immediately responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. The Pirates would add two more runs in the second to take a 4-2 lead.

A three-run third inning aided by an RBI single from Jack and RBI doubles from Serena Gonzalez and Tavery Ortiz put the Bulldogs back on top in the third before the Pirates would reclaim the lead, 6-5, in the bottom of the inning.

A double steal from TLU would score Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) as the Bulldogs fought back to scratch three runs in the sixth. An infield RBI single from Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton) and a sacrifice fly from Kylee Jack gave the Bulldogs an 8-6 lead before the Pirates would bring things to 8-all in the bottom of the frame.

TLU would be held scoreless in the top of the seventh before the Pirates would walk it off to even the series 1-1.

Jack paced the Bulldogs in game two, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Annie Kay would be 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three stolen bases.

Game two would be uncharacteristic for TLU as the Bulldogs - notoriously one of the best defenses in the country - committed four errors on the night.

Sophomore Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) struck out four in two innings of work, allowing five hits and four runs to go with one walk. Senior Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) gave up four runs (two earned) on seven hits with two strikeouts. Freshman Kourtney Bellinger (Houston/Grand Oaks) took the first loss of her career, surrendering the game-winner.

Texas Lutheran bounced back in a big way in the night cap, beating the Bulldogs 7-0.

With the win, TLU has not lost a conference series since joining the SCAC in 2014.

Ashlyn Strother spun a gem in the series finale, striking out 14 in a complete game, one-hit shutout. Strother struck out the first 10 batters she faced and 11 out of her first thirteen. She threw 71 of her 102 pitches (69.6%) for strikes and her 14 strikeouts is one shy of her career-high. With her performance, Strother became TLU's all-time strikeout leader with a program record of 516 strikeouts and counting, surpassing Cathy McBride''s previous record of 502 over the course of the 1994 through 1997 seasons. Strother reached the record in 456.2 innings while McBride's came over a career spanning a program record of 617.2 innings. Strother is ninth amongst active Division-III pitchers in career strikeouts and ranks fourth in SCAC history in the category. The shutout also marked the 28th of her career, ranking second amongst active Division-III pitchers. Strother earned her seventh win of the season in the circle (7-0).

Offensively, the Bulldogs were led by Caelee Clark who scored three of the Bulldogs seven runs in the finale in addition to four stolen bases.

After leading the game off with a single, Clark would score on a passed ball in the first to get the scoring started. Clark would score again in the third following a Southwestern error to give TLU a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth, an errant throw following a double steal led to Linzee Leal scoring before Kylee Jack would follow with an RBI double to score Clark for the third time as TLU doubled their lead in the fourth to 4-0.

Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) would score following a Leal fielder's choice in the fifth.

Serena Gonzalez would add an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single and Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock), who would pinch run for Gonzalez, would score on another passed ball to bring the game to its final score of 7-0.

Gonzalez paced TLU at the plate, going 2-for-2 with an RBI. Abby Touchet finished 2-for-3 with a double.

No. 15 Texas Lutheran has a quick turnaround as the Bulldogs will wrap their road trip and continue conference play with a three-game series at University of Dallas starting on Friday. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 6 PM. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

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