Wilson Wins 400th at TLU; Bulldogs Pitching Staff Shines as TLU Sweeps Wellesley

SEGUIN, Texas -- The No. 4 Texas Lutheran softball team swept two non-conference home games against Wellesley College on Monday at Ed Kruse Stadium.

A defensive battle took place in game one against the Blue as the opener saw a combined 13 runners left on base before TLU (19-3, 5-1 SCAC) was able to bring around the decisive run in walkoff fashion in the bottom of the seventh. Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) went the distance - keeping the Blue offense at bay, sprinkling four hits across seven innings. Kloee Wells (Dayton/Dayton) broke the standoff between the two teams with a pinch-hit walk off single through the right side, allowing Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) to race around from second for the game-winning run for a 1-0 TLU win.

With the win, Texas Lutheran head coach Wade Wilson secured his 400th win as the head coach of the Texas Lutheran softball program. Wilson is in his 12th season as the head coach and holds a record of 401-82 (.830). Overall, Wilson holds a career record of 784-153-6 (.835) in 25 seasons as a head coach at the high school and collegiate levels.

4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ �������� ����

Congratulations to Wade Wilson who secured his 400th win as the head coach of @TLUsoftball!#TooLiveU | #PupsUp pic.twitter.com/M7jxXOdxHb

— TLU Softball �� (@TLUsoftball) March 28, 2023

Game two saw the Bulldogs put up a four spot in the second and fourth innings on Wellesley (0-5-1). TLU would take advantage of Wellesley throwing errors with the bases loaded to score the first three runs of the game in the second inning. Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) would ground out to shortstop but would drive in Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll).

Caelee Clark would drive in Reagan Hillis (Cedar Park/Cedar Park) in the third to extend the TLU lead to 5-0 after three.

Walks would doom the Blue as they would walk the bases loaded before Hillis and Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) would drive in a run each on a hit by pitch and walk respectively as TLU worked station to station in the fourth. Senior Bailey Hudgeons (Dripping Springs/Dripping Springs) put the game in run-rule territory with a pinch-hit double to right center, scoring Hillis and Missy Muras (La Grange/La Grange), bringing the game to its final score of 9-0.

Reagan Hillis paced the team in game two going 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored.

In the circle, Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) moved to 7-3 on the year. White went three innings and allowed no runs or walks and just one hit paired with three strikeouts. Freshmen Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) and Jaelin Ornelas (Amarillo/Caprock) entered in relief for the final two innings. Howard tossed a seamless fourth inning while Ornelas would strike out two and allow one walk in relief in the fifth inning.

Texas Lutheran moved to 19-3 and are outscoring opponents 148-36 on the season. The pitching staff has tossed an NCAA-leading 10 shutouts on the year with 108 strikeouts to 21 walks and a .189 opponent batting average.

The Bulldogs return to the diamond on Wednesday, March 29, for a midweek doubleheader with DePauw University at Ed Kruse Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 and 6 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), 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).