Gonzalez, Strother Sweep SCAC Honors
SEGUIN, Texas --Texas Lutheran freshman Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) and senior Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) combined to sweep the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) weekly honors after their performances in TLU's three-game sweep of Southwestern.
Strother was named SCAC Pitcher of the Week after allowing three runs (one earned) on nine hits (0.54 ERA) in her two appearances (13.0 IP) on the weekend to go with two wins in the circle. The senior righty allowed the Pirates just a .184 opponent batting average on the weekend. In Wednesday's game one, Strother would go command the circle into extra innings and surrendered three runs, only one being earned, on seven hits to pair with nine strikeouts. On Saturday, Strother would toss yet another complete game, earning career win No. 59, passing former Bulldog Amanda Stevens (2002-05) to become TLU's all-time wins leader, as No. 4 Texas Lutheran finished off a three-game sweep of Southwestern with a 12-0, five-inning run-rule victory. Perfect through three innings against the Pirates, Strother only allowed two hits in the game while striking out eight. It's her seventh shutout this season and 22nd of her career. On the season, the reigning SCAC Pitcher of the Year moved to 13-0 with a 0.52 ERA and 83 strikeouts.Strother, who currently leads the SCAC with 83 strikeouts, is now seventh all-time in league history with 429.
Gonzalez collected SCAC Hitter of the Week for the first time in her career, batting .714 on the weekend with two home runs, eight RBIs, and a double for a 1.714 slugging percentage. The freshman Designated Player registered her second three-hit game of her career in Saturday's run-rule win over the Pirates, finishing 3-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBIs. On the season, Gonzalez is batting .434, which ranks sixth in the SCAC, leads the team with 36 RBIs and leads the SCAC and is ranked seventh nationally with eight home runs. Gonzalez is one homer shy of tying the TLU freshman home run record held by Haley Padilla (9, 2018).
It marks the first weekly honor of 2023 for Gonzalez and the fourth for Strother.
The 4th-ranked Bulldogs travel to Trinity this week, April 14-15, for a three-game conference series. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
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