Bulldogs Sweep St. Mary's on Opening Day

SEGUIN, Texas -- The No. 15 Texas Lutheran softball team swept two games on Opening Day against NCAA Division-II St. Mary's (3-4) at Ed Kruse Stadium.

With the wins, the Bulldogs have won three straight games against the Rattlers - the longest streak in program history against the San Antonio based Division-II program.

TLU started the day with a 3-2 walk-off victory. Tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock) walked it off for the Bulldogs with an RBI single scoring Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood).

Both wins were powered by strong performances in the circle by the duo of Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) and Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland). Ouellette got the start in game one and allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out two in 5.2 innings. Strother would make a rare relief appearance to earn the win, throwing 1.1 innings without allowing a hit or walk.

A 2-for-4, one RBI performance from Madison Johnson and 1-for-2, one RBI performance from Bella Rodriguez (Pearland/Pearland) contributed to the win. Tavery Ortiz (Texas City/Texas City) went 2-for-3 with a run scored in her TLU debut.

Game one saw a combined 19 runners left on base before TLU brought around the decisive run in the seventh.

Sydney Ouellete returned the favor for Strother in game two, proving to be the difference maker for the Bulldogs (2-0), entering in relief in the fifth and pitching 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and a walk to earn her 10th career save, the most in program history, and first save of the 2024 season. Ouellette's ten career saves rank second amongst active Division-III pitchers. With just a one run lead, Ouellete stranded a runner on second in the fifth and stranded another base runner in the sixth before sealing the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh inning that saw her help herself with two assists in the circle.

After being held without a hit through two innings, Bella Rodriguez broke up the no hitter with a leadoff single to get the Bulldogs offense going. The TLU offense would strike for three runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead. After getting two runners in scoring position, Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) came through with an RBI single to score Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton). Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) would score on a wild pitch before a double steal attempt would see Leal score the third and final run of the inning.

The Rattlers would score a run in the fourth and fifth innings but was never able to score the tying run against the Bulldogs defense. Ouellette would enter following the run scored in the fifth and would retire six of eight batters she faced. Strother was credited with her second win of the season, pitching 4.2 innings and surrendering two runs on seven hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts.

The Bulldogs close their opening week with a Saturday doubleheader at Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton on Feb. 10. First pitch is scheduled for 1 & 3 PM. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (@txlutheransoftball), X (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).