Bulldogs SCAC Preseason Favorites
SEGUIN, Texas -- The eight-time defending Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) champion Texas Lutheran softball team has been voted by the league's head coaches as the 2023 preseason favorite. The conference announced the SCAC Preseason Poll Tuesday.
2023 SCAC SOFTBALL PRESEASON POLL
1. Texas Lutheran – 63 (7)
2. Trinity – 53
3. St. Thomas – 50 (1)
4. Southwestern – 38
5. Schreiner – 34
6. Centenary – 23
7. Dallas – 18
8. Austin College – 9
The Bulldogs received 63 points in this year's poll and were followed by Trinity with 53 and St. Thomas with 50. TLU received seven of the eight first-place votes with St. Thomas garnering the other. This marks the ninth straight year that TLU has topped the conference's preseason poll.
Southwestern was selected fourth (38 points) and Schreiner fifth (34 points). Rounding out the poll was Centenary (23 points), Dallas (18 points), and Austin College (9 points).
The Bulldogs finished the SCAC regular season 21-0 in 2022, bringing their current SCAC winning streak to 62 games dating back to 2019, en route to their eighth consecutive conference regular season crown.
Texas Lutheran holds a combined SCAC record of 173-3 and have not lost a conference series since joining the conference in 2014.
Overall, the program has won 16 SCAC titles (eight SCAC regular season titles and eight SCAC tournament championships) all under head coach Wade Wilson.
Texas Lutheran returns six all-conference selections from a season ago including the two-time reigning SCAC Pitcher of the Year and 2022 NFCA All-American Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls), NFCA All-West Region pitcher Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) and All-SCAC First Team first baseman Laura Hernandez (Missouri City/Ridge Point). Earlier this month, Strother was named a Top 10 Division-III Pitcher to Watch in 2023 by FloSoftball.
The Bulldogs open the 2023 season Feb. 15 in San Antonio, Texas, as they take on Division-II St. Mary's, a 2022 NCAA Division-II Softball Tournament Qualifier before facing NAIA's Huston-Tillotson on on Sat, Feb. 18 for the home opener to conclude 2023's Opening Week. The 2023 schedule features 25 home games, including four SCAC Series at Ed Kruse Stadium in Seguin.
For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (@txlutheransoftball), Twitter (@TLUsoftball), and Instagram (@tlu_softball) 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, @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).