No. 14 Bulldogs Close Opening Weekend with Two Shutouts; Win 200th at Ed Kruse Stadium

SEGUIN, Texas -- The No. 14 Texas Lutheran softball team closed their opening weekend with two more shutout victories at Ed Kruse Stadium, beating Howard Payne by a combined score of 19-0 over 12 innings.

The Bulldogs have not allowed a run through four games in 2025 and earned run-rule wins in three of the team's four games. TLU moved to 4-0 on the season, opening the season with four consecutive shutouts, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 36-0. With the win in game one, Texas Lutheran won their 200th game at Ed Kruse Stadium, improving to 201-16 (.926) all-time at Ed Kruse Stadium.

Junior Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) got the scoring started for TLU in the bottom of the first, leading off with an inside the park home run, her second career inside the park homer. The Bulldogs would hit around in the first inning going a full trip through the lineup without an out as they took a 9-0 lead in the first. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) and Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) increased the lead to 3-0. Back-to-back RBI singles from Mia Landry (Cypress/Bridgeland) and Tavery Ortiz (Texas City/Texas City) moved the TLU lead to 5-0. After loading the bases, walks to Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) and Caelee Clark brought the Bulldogs' run total to seven. HPU defensive blunders led to the final two runs in the inning.

After being held scoreless in the second, TLU responded with four more runs in the third via a pair of two-RBI singles from Kylee Jack and Faith Hernandez (Dinuba, CA/Dinuba).

Clark, Hernandez, and Jack all finished 2-for-3 with multiple RBIs in game one.

Freshman Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy) earned her second win of the week, tossing 3.0 shutout innings while striking out six with no walks. Juniors Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) and Ainsley Davis (Rockwall/Jesuit (OR)) also saw action with both tossing an inning and striking out one batter.

Senior Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) made her season debut in the circle in game two, collecting her first win, striking out four in 6.0 innings while allowing six hits and one walk. Katelyn Howard finished the job, striking out one in the final inning.

After coming out swinging in game one, it took until the third inning for the Bulldogs offense to come alive in the second game of the doubleheader. Howard Payne errors led to the first two runs and four of the five runs for TLU in the third with an RBI single from Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) the only run officially driven in in the inning.

Faith Hernandez crossed the final run of the day in the fifth with a sacrifice fly that would score Russell and bring the game to its final score of 6-0.

TLU returns to action on Friday, Feb. 14 against Concordia (TX) as the Bulldogs begin SCAC play at Ed Kruse Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7 PM with the game being broadcast on TLU+. 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), 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).