Johnson's Late-Game Heroics Fuel No. 3 TLU's Win Over Trinity

IRVING, Texas -- A walk-off RBI single from Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock) in the bottom of the ninth vaulted the No. 3 Texas Lutheran softball to a 2-1 victory over Trinity and on to Championship Sunday on Saturday evening at UD Softball Field.

With the win, Texas Lutheran clinched the opportunity to play for their eighth straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Softball Championship. Texas Lutheran extends their win streak to 20 games.

The Bulldogs scored their first run in the first inning. Casey Martin (Pearland/Pearland) hit a two-out single and advanced to third on an error from the Trinity center fielder. Faith Hernandez (Dinuba, Calif./Dinuba) followed with an RBI single to right field to put TLU ahead 1-0.

Trinity cashed in for a run in the top of the fifth to tie the game, 1-1.

Johnson's single with one out in the bottom of the ninth broke the deadlock scoring Kirsten Williams (Pearland/Glenda Dawson) and gave the Bulldogs the 2-1 walk-off victory.

Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) got the start in the circle allowing one run on three hits over 7.1 innings pitched but would not factor into the decision. Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) would make a rare appearance in relief to pick up the win. Strother would work the final 1.2 innings - striking out three of the seven batters she faced - to pick up her 20th victory of the season and lower her ERA to an astounding 0.65 on the season. Strother is one win away from matching the Texas Lutheran single season wins record set by Maitlin Raycroft in 2017 when she won 21 games for the Bulldogs.

Texas Lutheran goes for the 2022 SCAC title sweep in tomorrow's SCAC Championship game versus Trinity. The Bulldogs and Tigers meet at 1 PM at UD Softball Field. Texas Lutheran is vying for its eighth consecutive SCAC title sweep. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com and can be heard on the radio on KWED Radio AM 1580.

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).