No. 3 TLU Takes Series with Friday Sweep of Trinity

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The No. 3 Texas Lutheran softball team (29-3, 13-1 SCAC) claimed the series over rival Trinity with a pair of victories Friday night at Trinity Softball Field in San Antonio. Texas Lutheran would run-rule the Tigers 13-0 in game one before turning around to win 8-2 in game two.

Texas Lutheran raced out to a 3-0 lead in game one behind five hits. Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) led off the game with a double to right center and was immediately driven in by an RBI single from Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll). Two batters later, Bailey Hudgeons (Dripping Springs/Dripping Springs) drove in Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock) with an RBI single. Reagan Hillis (Cedar Park/Cedar Park) would drive in the final run of the inning with an RBI single.

Texas Lutheran added two more runs in the second with Johnson and Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody), last week's NFCA/Louisville Slugger Player of the Week, driving in a run each as TLU extended their lead to 5-0.

TLU plated five runs in the third and three runs in the fifth to put the game in mercy-rule territory. The third inning saw a sacrifice fly from Isabella Rodriguez (Pearland/Pearland), RBI singles from Clark and Leal, and Leal scoring on a Trinity fielding error.

Hudgeons started the rally in the fifth inning - driving in Madison Johnson with an RBI single. A Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) sacrifice fly scored Riley Futrell (Florence/Florence) and Kloee Wells (Dayton/Dayton) would drive in Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) to bring the final to 13-0.

Seven Bulldogs registered a hit with five having multi-hit games. Linzee Leal led the team with three RBI.

TLU's shutout counter on the season moved to 17 on the year - leading the NCAA in the category - and the Bulldogs earned their 13th run-rule victory.

In the circle, senior Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) collected the win with three innings of relief with only one hit allowed. Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) got the start, tossing two innings and only allowing one hit and one walk to go with a trio of strikeouts.

Senior Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) guided the Bulldogs to a win with a six-inning, nine strikeout performance that featured six hits, one walk and two runs allowed.

Catcher Isabella Rodriguez impressed at the dish and on the base path with a 2-for-3 day with an RBI, a run scored and two stolen bases. Serena Gonzalez drove in a team-high two runs.

With the win, Texas Lutheran claimed its 56th consecutive SCAC conference series. TLU has not lost a conference series since joining the conference in 2014, and have won 78 of its last 80 SCAC regular season games. TLU also pushed its winning streak to 13 games.

Trinity (7-25, 4-9 SCAC) got on the board first courtesy of a second inning solo home run - the first run White has allowed in five appearances - before TLU responded with a run of their own in the third. Isabella Rodriguez scored on a Trinity error to tie the game 1-1.

Texas Lutheran put another two runs on the board in the fourth inning. After Bailey Hudgeons drew a one out walk, pinch runner Kirsten Williams (Pearland/Glenda Dawson) stole second and would score on an RBI double from Kylee Jack. Jack would score on an infield single from Isabella Rodriguez as TLU took a 3-1 lead.

TLU added two more runs in the fifth inning. A Serena Gonzalez RBI double and Harleigh Russell scoring on a double steal attempt would extend the TLU lead to 5-1.

Madison Johnson would drive an RBI single up the middle to score Riley Futrell, Serena Gonzalez added to her team-leading RBI total with a sixth inning sacrifice fly, and Johnson would score on a wild pitch to close the scoring for TLU.

After surrendering a solo shot in the second, White would allow one more run on two hits in the sixth. Sydney Ouellette shut the door on the Tigers in the seventh, retiring the Tigers in order.

The teams meet for the series finale Saturday at 1 PM. The game can be seen on Trinity's Tiger Network. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.