No. 3 TLU Sweeps Dallas, Wins Eighth Straight SCAC Title

IRVING, Texas -- The No. 3 Texas Lutheran softball team swept University of Dallas and its eighth consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) regular season title with 10-0, 4-1 wins over the Crusaders Friday at UD Softball Field in Irving.

The Bulldogs (32-4, 18-0 SCAC) won their 59th straight SCAC game and have won their 50th straight SCAC series - dating back to their entry into the conference in 2014.

Preseason Favorites ✅ ➡️ Regular Season Champions for the EIGHTH season in a row ��

Not done yet.#TooLiveU | #PupsUp pic.twitter.com/xRve8x7D5a

— TLU Softball �� (@TLUsoftball) April 16, 2022

Texas Lutheran rolled to a 10-0 win in five innings in game one, clinching the series in run-rule fashion.

Game one was highlighted by a two-hit gem in the circle from Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) and eight different Bulldogs driving in runs. Texas Lutheran would score in all but one inning in game one.

Following a quiet first inning, Sarah Metzer (Sugar Land/Dulles) got the Bulldogs on the board in the second inning with a two-out RBI double, scoring Laura Hernandez (Missouri City/Ridge Point).

TLU plated three runs on four hits in the third. Kelly Jurden (Brenham/Brenham) followed Brandalyn Dee's (Cibolo/Steele) leadoff double with an RBI double scoring Dee. Chassety Raines (Spring/Klein Collins) would bring in Jurden to make the score 3-0. Olivia Prinz (Georgetown/Georgetown) laced a two-out double to score Faith Hernandez (Dinuba, Calif./Dinuba) to bring the score to 4-0.

TLU added four more insurance runs in the fourth - scoring four runs on four hits. An RBI single from Brandalyn Dee got the scoring started and Kelly Jurden would bring her in once again to extend the Bulldogs lead to 6-0. A Casey Martin (Pearland/Pearland) sacrifice fly would score Kelly Jurden to make the score 7-0. Faith Hernandez would cap the inning with an RBI single to make the score 8-0 and put the run-rule in play.

TLU tacked on two more in the top of the fifth with Riley Futrell (Florence/Florence) scoring on a wild pitch and Sidney Cox (Frisco/Wakeland) scoring Kirsten Williams (Pearland/Glenda Dawson) on an RBI double to left center bringing the game to its final score of 10-0 to give Texas Lutheran its 10th run-rule victory of the season and their NCAA-leading 17th shutout victory of the season.

Strother improved her SCAC-best ERA to 0.77 with her 16th win of the season in the circle, going the distance for her sixth complete game shutout. She struck out eight and allowed just two hits and two walks to Dallas.

Nine Bulldogs registered a hit in the game with eight bringing in a run. Jurden, Raines, Dee, Metzer, and Faith Hernandez all finished with two hits. Jurden led the team with two RBIs in game one.

Texas Lutheran won their 15th straight game behind steady offense and a dominant outing from the Bulldogs pitching staff.

Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) tossed four shutout innings, allowing just two hits to pick up her eighth win of the season. Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) would pick up the save - her second of the season.

The Bulldogs scored four runs on seven hits, including two hits a piece from Chassety Raines and Faith Hernandez.

TLU got on the board early with a run in the first inning. Kelly Jurden drew a leadoff walk, stole two bases and would score on a sacrifice fly from Raines. 

Faith Hernandez would double the Bulldogs lead in the top of the third with an RBI single to left field to knock in Raines.

White continued to deal in the top of the fourth inning. Despite giving up her first two hits of the ballgame in the frame, she escaped the inning unscathed - picking up her only strikeout of the afternoon to get out of the inning.

In the top of the fifth, Casey Martin made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to score Kelly Jurden. Dallas would score their only run of the game and of the series in the bottom of the fifth.

Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) would steal home in the top of the sixth to bring the game to its final tally of 4-1.

Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock) and Ouellette would pitch scoreless sixth and seventh innings to end the game. 

The Bulldogs outscored the Crusaders 22-1 in the series and outhit Dallas 29-8.

Next up, No. 3 TLU meets Trinity (TX) at Ed Kruse Stadium, April 22-23 to wrap the regular season. The two teams kick off the series with a Friday doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 5 PM and 7 PM. 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).