TLU Tops St. Thomas, 2-1

HOUSTON, Texas -- No. 12 Texas Lutheran opened the final weekend of the regular season with a 2-1 win over St. Thomas Friday night in Houston.

It was a grind-it-out win for the Bulldogs, plating just two runs for its second lowest single-game run total of the season.

Texas Lutheran (26-3, 17-2 SCAC) struck first with two runs in the second inning. After a leadoff walk to Mia Landry (Cypress/Bridgeland) and a bunt single from Reagan Hillis (Cedar Park/Cedar Park) to start the inning, Bella Rodriguez (Pearland/Pearland) would drive in the first run of the game with an RBI fielder's choice. The next at-bat, Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) hit an RBI groundout to give TLU a 2-0 lead.

St. Thomas would threaten in the third and fifth innings but Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) would work out of the jams - including Bella Rodriguez throwing out the Celts on an attempted stolen base, her third of the season. After a leadoff single to start the sixth, a two-out double led to the Celts first and only run of the night. The Celts would threaten to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, but would strand runners at first and second as Strother closed the door to seal the pivotal win.

Ashlyn Strother collected her 16th win of the season in the circle, tossing her 11th complete game of the season and striking out three batters, giving up one run on seven hits.

TLU was led at the plate by a 2-for-4 showing from Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek). Five Bulldogs recorded a hit in the contest.

On the season, the Bulldogs are hitting .386 as a team, ranking in the top ten in NCAA Division-III, with 223 runs scored and a nation-best 202 stolen bases. The pitching staff has allowed 53 runs - maintaining a 1.69 ERA - to go with 170 strikeouts.

The two teams meet in a doubleheader tomorrow, Saturday, April 27, to conclude the regular season. First pitch is scheduled for 12 and 2 PM as Texas Lutheran looks to secure the SCAC title on their final date of the regular season, leading the Celts by two games entering Saturday. All streaming and live stats links can be found 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).