Ouellette Throws No-No, History Abound as TLU Takes Two From Centenary

SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran pitching staff was dominant backed up by a Texas Lutheran offense that powered the 14th-ranked Bulldogs to two run-rule victories to open the three-game series against the Centenary College Ladies Friday evening at Ed Kruse Stadium.

The Bulldogs (22-2, 13-1 SCAC) downed Centenary (13-18, 8-6 SCAC) 8-0 and 9-1 to take both games via run-rule. TLU saw its pitching staff strikeout eight batters and allow just seven baserunners between the two games. The Bulldogs have now recorded eight shutouts on the season as the Bulldogs win streak extends to fourteen.

The TLU lineup supported a terrific start by senior right-hander Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) Friday evening, downing Centenary 8-0 in five innings. Strother struck out seven batters in her seventh shutout of the season, tossing five scoreless innings of two-hit ball while walking a pair to improve to 14-0.

Texas Lutheran opened the scoring in the second inning via RBI singles from Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) and Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek).

Tatum Seith (Midway/Hewitt) continued her hot streak with a two-run home run in the third inning to push the lead to 4-0.

TLU plated their final four runs of the opener in the home half of the fifth as Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) hit a bases clearing, three-RBI double with one away followed by a pinch-hit, two out walk-off RBI double from Mia Landry (Cypress/Bridgeland).

Tatum Seith went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and two runs scored while Linzee Leal would match her career-high with three of TLU's nine stolen bases in game one.

Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) no-hit Centenary in a brilliant performance, recording her first solo and third career no-hitter while improving to 4-1 on the year. Two errors, including one from Ouellette herself, led to the lone Ladies run in the third. Ouellette sat down the final eight batters she faced. The senior right-hander struck out one lone batter and walked one over six innings, throwing 50 of her 75 pitches for strikes. The no-hitter is the third of the season for Texas Lutheran following two against Dallas from Ashlyn Strother earlier this season.

After the unearned run from the Ladies in the top of the third, Texas Lutheran scored two in the bottom of the inning as a double steal led to Caelee Clark (4-for-4, 3 R, RBI, 7 SB) stealing home to tie the game at one. Annie Kay (2-for-2, 3 R, BB, 5 SB) (Sinton/Sinton) would steal third and score on a throwing error from the Centenary catcher to give TLU a 2-1 lead. TLU added four more in the fourth with Caelee Clark driving in Linzee Leal (1-for-2, 1 R) with an RBI single before stealing third and coming home on yet another Ladies throwing error. Kylee Jack (2-for-3, HR, SB, R, 2 RBI) (Richwood/Brazoswood) would hit her SCAC-leading fourth home run of the season, a two-run home run, to cap the scoring in the inning and give the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead.

Ouellette shut down the Ladies for the remainder of the game tossing up zeroes as the TLU offense that entered the weekend leading all of NCAA softball in batting average continued to put runs on the board.

TLU would scratch another across in the fifth via an RBI sacrifice bunt from Reagan Hillis (Cedar Park/Cedar Park). Caelee Clark would steal her historic seventh base in the sixth before coming home on the third error from the Centenary catcher before Tatum Seith would plate the winning run with a "walk-off" sacrifice fly.

In addition to the no-hitter, Texas Lutheran would match a program record with 15 stolen bases as a team in game two led by seven from Caelee Clark and five from Annie Kay. The five stolen bases tie Kelly Jurden for the third most in a single game while Caelee Clark set a new program and SCAC record and tied the NCAA Division-III record for stolen bases in a single game with seven. Clark becomes the tenth player in NCAA history to steal seven bases in a game with eight stolen bases in a game by Barton College's (D-II) Jessica McFadden being the single-game record across all three NCAA divisions. Clark, last year's NFCA/New Balance Golden Shoe Winner, leads all of college softball with 61 stolen bases on the season, five short of her freshman record setting season a season ago.

TLU closes its three-game series with Centenary Saturday afternoon at 12 PM. The series finale will be streamed on TLU's YouTube Channel, TLU+. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

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