Postseason Begins with SCAC Championship at Ed Kruse Stadium

WEEKEND BASICS

• The 12th-ranked Bulldogs open postseason play with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championship Tournament, May 3-5, hosting the tournament at their home field, Ed Kruse Stadium, in Seguin. Texas Lutheran earned the No. 1 seed after winning the conference regular season title.
• TLU earned a first round bye and will meet the winner of the tournament's opening round matchup between No. 4 seed Southwestern and No. 5 seed Centenary on Friday in a second round matchup scheduled to start at 4 PM on TLU+. The championship game is slated for Sunday at 1 PM and will also be streamed on TLU+. Calling the action this weekend will be former TLU softball player and SCAC and NCAA regional champion, Sidney Cox, and Easton Allen.
• Tournament passes will be for sale at Ed Kruse Stadium. Passes will be $20 for adults, $10 for students, while any SCAC student with a valid student ID will be admitted free of charge. Children six and under will be admitted for free.
• Texas Lutheran won its tenth straight and tenth overall SCAC regular season title in 2024. The program holds a conference record of 211-7 and has not lost a SCAC series since joining the conference in 2014, winning 65 consecutive conference series.

LAST TIME OUT

• Texas Lutheran swept St. Thomas in Houston to close the regular season. The Bulldogs won by scores of 2-1, 7-3, and 5-0, highlighted by an extra innings win and a shutout in Saturday's doubleheader.
• TLU was led by sophomore Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) who set the NCAA single-season record for stolen bases, bringing her season total to 78, while hitting .538 in the leadoff spot for the Bulldogs. Clark recorded her first career five-hit game in Saturday's opening game becoming just the third Bulldog in program history to achieve the feat.
• In the circle, TLU's pitching staff of Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls), Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland), Katelyn Howard (Hempstead/Waller), and Ainsley Davis (Rockwall/Jesuit (OR)) held St. Thomas - the conference's second highest scoring offense - to just four runs on the weekend.

SEASON STORYLINES

• TLU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 235-56 on the season, surrendering an average of 1.8 runs per game. The pitching staff has tossed 11 shutouts on the season.
• The pitching staff has thrown three no-hitters on the season. Ashlyn Strother threw two no-hitters in one weekend against Dallas, including a perfect game on March 22. Sydney Ouellette would throw her first career individual no-hitter against Centenary on April 12. The staff has thrown three games where an opponent has had just one hit.
• Strother leads the pitching staff with a 0.93 ERA.
• As a team, Texas Lutheran ranks seventh in NCAA Division-III in batting average (.381) and on-base percentage (.454) while leading the NCAA across all levels with 215 stolen bases. Caelee Clark leads the nation with 78 stolen bases. The Bulldogs have two players that hit over .450 for the season with Clark hitting a SCAC-leading .495 while Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton) hit .461 to rank fourth in the SCAC.

SCAC TOURNEY HISTORY

• The Bulldogs have claimed eight of the last nine SCAC Championship titles.
• TLU is 26-3 all-time at the SCAC Softball Championship Tournament.
• Texas Lutheran won eight straight SCAC Championship crowns from 2014 to 2022. The St. Thomas Celts would win their first conference title a season ago beating the Bulldogs in the championship game, 2-1.

HOME SWEET HOME

• Texas Lutheran will host the SCAC Championship Tournament for the first time since 2017 at Ed Kruse Stadium.
• TLU is 194-16 all-time at Ed Kruse Stadium under head coach Wade Wilson.
• Texas Lutheran was 12-1 at home in 2024 and is a combined 55-5 over the last three seasons at Ed Kruse Stadium.

THREE NAMED TO TUCCI/NFCA PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST

• Three members of the Texas Lutheran softball team were named to the 2024 Tucci/NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year Watch List in April.
• Sophomore Caelee Clark, junior Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood), and senior Ashlyn Strother represented TLU as three of 98 players named to the watch list.
• It marks the third time Strother has been named to the list, while its the second and first time respectively for Clark and Jack.

THE CAE WAY

• Texas Lutheran second baseman Caelee Clark has showcased her versatility and dependability for the Bulldogs since she stepped foot on campus as a freshman in 2023 and her productivity from the leadoff spot has been pivotal to the Bulldogs success.
• Clark has started and hit in the leadoff spot in every game for the Bulldogs over the last two seasons, with the Bulldogs being 68-5 over that span.
• The speedy leadoff has built off a freshman campaign that saw her showcase her ability to get on base, setting a SCAC record with 31 walks while setting a TLU freshman record with 66 stolen bases - earning Second Team All-American honors in the process - to increase her productivity at the plate as a sophomore. Clark has raised her batting average nearly 90 points, hitting .495 this season compared to .407 as a freshman and her on-base percentage by over 50 points, reaching base at a .556 clip.
• The Second Team All-American paces TLU in batting average (.495), hits (55), triples (3), runs (42), and stolen bases (78-80). She ranks in the top 20 nationally in stolen bases (1st), batting average (18th), hits (20th), and runs per game (17th).

#INASHWETRUST

• Texas Lutheran senior right-hander Ashlyn Strother has followed up a Second Team All-American season with another stellar season.
• The three-time SCAC Pitcher of the Year, Strother has paced TLU's pitching staff with 126 strikeouts and a 0.93 ERA, allowing opponents to bat just .175. Strother has had a team-best seven shutouts in 2024. The Seabrook, Texas, native has also thrown one perfect game and a no-hitter this season.
• Strother, who has been dominant throughout her career, is TLU's all-time leader in: wins (82), win percentage (.943), ERA (0.95), strikeouts (594), and perfect games (2).

#STOLENBASEU

• As TLU paced the country in stolen bases six of the last seven seasons (NCAA record 231 stolen bases 2022), the Bulldogs are off to another scorching pace in 2024, having stolen 215 bases, leading the NCAA across all three divisions in total stolen bases and stolen bases per game (6.94).
• In 2024, the Bulldogs have stolen a base in every game and stolen at least three bases in 28 of 31 games. Texas Lutheran stole a season-high 15 bases against Centenary on April 12.
• Individually, four Bulldogs have stolen double-digit bases and 16 out of 27 active non-pitchers have stolen at least one base. Caelee Clark paces the nation with 78 while Linzee Leal ranks 10th in Division-III with 37 and Annie Kay ties for 11th in Division-III with 35 stolen bases.

MORE NOTES AND NUMBERS

• Texas Lutheran has won 149 of its last 172 games (.866 win%) dating back to the start of the 2021 season.
• Of those 172 games, 63 have been via run-rule (36.6%).
• TLU's defense ranks seventh in Division-III with a .976 fielding percentage, committing 20 errors on the season. The defense has turned eight double plays on the season.
• Texas Lutheran has outhit its opponents in 24 of 31 games this season, and in the seven games they didn't outhit the opposition, the Bulldogs are 4-3.
• TLU has been exceptional hitting with a runner on third with less than two outs in 2024, hitting 79-of-113 (.699) on the season. The team is batting .356 with two outs, led by Caelee Clark's .523 average with two away.

CONFERENCE DOMINANCE

• After a 19-2 run in the regular season in regular season SCAC play, the Bulldogs clinched their 10th straight conference regular season crown in 2023 and the No. 1 seed in this weekend's SCAC Championship in Seguin.
• TLU outscored conference foes 170-34. The pitching staff holds a 1.48 ERA in conference play and tossed shutouts in nine of TLU's 21 league games.
• The program holds a conference record of 211-7 and has not lost a SCAC series since joining the conference in 2014, winning 65 consecutive conference series - finishing first in the conference every season.
• Overall, the Bulldogs have 18 SCAC titles with 10 regular season crowns and eight SCAC tournament championships, all under head coach Wade Wilson.

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).