Softball Opens SCAC Championship Friday

WEEKEND BASICS

• The fourth-ranked Bulldogs open postseason play with the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championship Tournament, May 1-4, in Georgetown, Texas. 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 Concordia (TX) and No. 5 seed McMurry on Friday in a second round matchup scheduled to start at 12 PM on FloSports. The championship game is slated for Sunday at 1 PM and will also be streamed on FloSports.
• TLU is on a 21-game winning streak, the third longest active streak in all of college softball, dating back to the Bulldogs only loss of the season, Feb. 14 versus St. Thomas at Ed Kruse Stadium.
• Texas Lutheran won its 11th straight and 11th overall SCAC regular season title in 2025. The program holds a conference record of 230-8 (.966) and has not lost a SCAC series since joining the conference in 2014, winning 75 consecutive conference series.

LAST TIME OUT

• Texas Lutheran swept McMurry in Abilene to close the regular season. The Bulldogs won by scores of 9-7, 7-4, and 7-0, highlighted by a slugfest in game two win and a shutout in Saturday's regular season finale.
• TLU was led by junior Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton), who earned SCAC Hitter of the Week honors for the second straight week, hitting .900 in the two spot for the Bulldogs while stealing six bases and scoring six runs and Faith Hernandez (Dinuba, CA/Dinuba) who hit .875 in the clean up spot. Kay continues to compete with her teammate Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) for the national lead as Kay sits at 54 stolen bases on the season.
• In the circle, TLU's pitching staff of Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart), Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead), and Ainsley Davis (Rockwall/Jesuit (OR)) allowed six earned runs on the weekend. White, who went 2-0 with a save in the series to earn SCAC Co-Pitcher of the Week honors, finished the weekend with a 0.00 ERA and posted a 0.96 WHIP. With her fifth save of the season, she passed former teammate Sydney Ouellette for most saves in a single-season in program history. 

SEASON STORYLINES

• TLU is outscoring its opponents by a combined score of 283-55 on the season, surrendering an average of 1.45 runs per game. The pitching staff has tossed 17 shutouts on the season, ranking third in NCAA Division-III.
• Amanda White leads the pitching staff with a 0.64 ERA, while the entire pitching holds ERAs under 1.75, in Alvear (0.00), Burch (0.00), Joy (0.00), Davis (1.20), and Howard (1.70). White ranks fourth nationally in ERA. As a team, Texas Lutheran leads Division-III in ERA with a 0.99 team ERA.
• As a team, Texas Lutheran ranks 17th in NCAA Division-III in batting average (.368) and is sixth in on-base percentage (.449) while leading the NCAA across all levels with 212 stolen bases. Caelee Clark leads the nation with 59 stolen bases with Annie Kay in second with 55. Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) leads the team with 48 RBIs while four Bulldogs have 20-plus runs batted in. The Bulldogs have two players that hit over .400 for the season with Kay hitting a SCAC-leading .496 while Faith Hernandez hit .442 to rank fourth in the SCAC.

SCAC TOURNEY HISTORY

• The Bulldogs have claimed nine of the last ten SCAC Championship titles all under head coach Wade Wilson.
• TLU is 29-3 all-time at the SCAC Softball Championship Tournament.
• Texas Lutheran won eight straight SCAC Championship crowns from 2014 to 2022 and won most recently in 2024.

TRIP UP 130/I-35

• The Bulldogs will make the familiar trip up I-35 or the 130 Toll Road to Taylor-Sanders Field in Georgetown on Friday, traveling less than 90 minutes from Ed Kruse Stadium.
• TLU is 17-5 all-time at Taylor-Sanders Field under head coach Wade Wilson since the stadium was built in 2009.

KAY, WHITE NAMED TO NFCA PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST

• Two members of the Texas Lutheran softball team were named to the 2025 NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year Watch List in April.
• Junior Annie Kay and senior Amanda White represented TLU as two of 119 players named to the watch list.
• It marks the first time that either athlete has been named to the watch list.

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 three seasons, with the Bulldogs being 110-14 over that span.
• The speedy leadoff has continued to showcase her ability to get on base, tallying a team-high 22 walks while pacing the nation in stolen bases with 59 stolen bases.
• The two-time All-American paces TLU in runs (53), walks (22) and stolen bases (59-61). She ranks in the top 20 nationally in stolen bases (1st), runs (4th), and runs per game (6th).
• Earlier this season, Clark became just the second player in Division-III softball history and ninth player in NCAA history on any level to steal 200 bases in a career, joining former Bulldog Kelly Jurden.

'MANDA MANIA

• After taking off last season, Texas Lutheran fifth-year senior right-hander Amanda White has returned to the Bulldogs rotation with a vengeance, having the best season of her career.
• A two-time All-SCAC honoree, White has paced TLU's pitching staff with 82 strikeouts and a 0.64 ERA, allowing opponents to bat just .172. White has had a team-best four shutouts in 2024. 
• With her performance this year, White has scattered her name over the TLU record book. Her 19 wins thus far are the fifth most in a single-season and she ranks seventh all-time with 40 wins in her career. White set a new single-season record with five saves in 2025, passing former teammate Sydney Ouellette's record of four.

SERENA SLAM

• After a sophomore campaign that saw her in and out of the Bulldogs lineup while she battled injuries, Texas Lutheran designated player Serena Gonzalez has returned to form in the heart of the Bulldogs lineup.
• Gonzalez leads the SCAC with ten home runs and is second in RBIs with 48 for the season. Nationally, Gonzalez sits in 12th in RBIs.
• The power-hitting righty sits second all-time on the TLU all-time home run list only trailing Haley Padilla in both single-season and career home runs. Entering the tournament, Gonzalez is tied for third all-time with Ashley Jacobsen in career RBI.

ALL EYES ON AK

• After being known for her defensive versatility her first two seasons, outfielder Annie Kay has had a breakout season for the Bulldogs posting one of the best offensive seasons in program history from the two-spot in the lineup.
• The Gold Glove winning All-Region outfielder has built off her sophomore campaign that saw her raise her splits over 100 points in all three categories - to increase her productivity at the plate even further as a junior. Kay has raised her batting average 115 points, hitting .496 this season compared to .381 as a sophomore and her on-base percentage by over 60 points, reaching base at a .544 clip.
• The Sinton native paces TLU in batting average (.496), on-base percentage (.544), and hits (59). She ranks in the top 20 nationally in stolen bases (2nd), batting average (18th), hits (14th), and runs (12th).

#STOLENBASEU

• As TLU paced the country in stolen bases seven of the last eight seasons (NCAA record 233 stolen bases 2024), the Bulldogs are off to another scorching pace in 2025, having stolen 212 bases, leading the NCAA across all three divisions in total stolen bases and stolen bases per game (5.58).
• In 2025, the Bulldogs have stolen a base in all but one game and stolen at least three bases in 35 of 38 games. Texas Lutheran stole a season-high 11 bases twice this season.
• Individually, four Bulldogs have stolen double-digit bases and 15 out of 23 active non-pitchers have stolen at least one base. Caelee Clark paces the nation with 59 while Annie Kay ranks second in Division-III with 55 and Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) is tied for 20th in Division-III with 33 stolen bases.

MORE NOTES & NUMBERS

• TLU holds the nation's third longest active win streak at 21 games.
• Texas Lutheran has won 191 of its last 217 games (.880 win%) dating back to the start of the 2021 season.
• Of those 217 games, 78 have been via run-rule (35.9%).
• TLU's defense ranks 13th in Division-III with a .976 fielding percentage, committing 27 errors on the season. The defense has turned 20 double plays on the season, ranking sixth nationally.
• Texas Lutheran has outhit its opponents in 34 of 38 games this season, and in the four games they didn't outhit the opposition, the Bulldogs are 3-1.
• TLU has been exceptional in a number of situations this season, hitting .407 with an RBI opportunity and leadoff hitters getting on base at a .473 clip. The team is batting .694 with a runner on third with less than two outs, led by Taylor Vannett's (Kingwood/Kingwood) .800 average. Caelee Clark leads the team with 12 RBIs with two outs.

CONFERENCE DOMINANCE

• After a 29-1 run in regular season SCAC play, the Bulldogs clinched their 11th straight conference regular season crown in 2025 and the No. 1 seed in this weekend's SCAC Championship in Seguin. The 29 conference wins are a new program record.
• TLU outscored conference foes 223-49. The pitching staff holds a 1.11 ERA in conference play and tossed shutouts in 11 of TLU's 30 league games.
• The program holds a conference record of 230-8 and has not lost a SCAC series since joining the conference in 2014, winning 75 consecutive conference series - finishing first in the conference every season.
• Overall, the Bulldogs have 20 SCAC titles with 11 regular season crowns and nine 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).