No. 3 TLU Completes Sweep of Centenary

SEGUIN, Texas -- The No. 3 Texas Lutheran softball team (26-4, 12-0 SCAC) completed the series sweep over Centenary (9-13, 3-9 SCAC) with a 10-0 run-rule victory in five innings Saturday. The Bulldogs outscored Centenary 21-3 in the series shutting them out in two out of three games to bring their season total to a NCAA Division-III-leading 14 shutouts.

Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock), Faith Hernandez (Dinuba, Calif./Dinuba), Bailey Hudgeons (Dripping Springs/Dripping Springs), Laura Hernandez (Missouri City/Ridge Point), and Sarah Metzer (Sugar Land/Dulles) all drove in runs with Laura Hernandez going yard to bring TLU's season home run total to 20.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) collected her 14th win in the circle, pitching four shutout innings to go with no runs, one walk, and five strikeouts. The sophomore only allowed one hit on the day - only allowing two base runners amongst the 14 batters faced.

Bailey Hudgeons opened the scoring in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice-fly RBI to right field to plate Kelly Jurden (Brenham/Brenham). An RBI double from Faith Hernandez brought the Bulldogs lead to 2-0 after one frame.

Texas Lutheran would break it open in the second inning scoring four runs in the second. Sarah Metzer would score on a throwing error before Madison Johnson would plate Chassety Raines (Spring/Klein Collins). Johnson would score on a throwing error and Faith Hernandez would plate another run for the Bulldogs to bring the Bulldogs lead to 6-0.

In the bottom of the third, Madison Johnson would score Raines again - this time via a sacrifice-fly - and Kelly Jurden would steal home on a double steal to extend the Bulldogs lead to 8-0 and place the Ladies in run-rule territory.

Laura Hernandez would hit a solo homer and Sarah Metzer would hit an RBI single to score Lexi Coward (Rockwall/Rockwall) in the bottom of the fourth to bring TLU to their final tally of 10-0.

Sophomore RHP Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) closed for the Bulldogs in the circle, allowing one hit in her one inning of work.

Texas Lutheran outhit the Ladies 31-10 while TLU's pitching staff struck out 22 to Centenary's five. TLU"s batters did not register a strikeout in the box in Saturday's finale.

With the win, TLU has set a new program record of 53 consecutive conference wins - eclipsing the 52-game streak from 2016-2019. Texas Lutheran has not lost a conference game since 2019.

Texas Lutheran will look to continue their streak next week as they travel to Houston to face the Celts of University of St. Thomas in a three-game weekend series. First pitch is scheduled for 6 PM on Friday, April 8th. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter and Instagram (@TLUsoftball) 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).