No-Hitter, Banner Day Sends No. 8 TLU Softball to Marshall Regional Championship

MARSHALL, Texas -- With their back's against the wall, 8th-ranked and NCAA Regional No. 2 seed Texas Lutheran stormed back to win two games on Friday after dropping their opening game on Thursday. Texas Lutheran would run-rule SUNY-Geneseo, 9-0, in five innings before defeating host and regional No. 1 seed, 6th-ranked East Texas Baptist 4-3 on Friday at Bell Park in Marshall, Texas.

Texas Lutheran's pitching staff combined on a no-hitter and junior outfielder Madison Johnson (Round Rock/Round Rock), who was named NFCA All-West Region on Friday, drove in three runs to lead TLU to a 9-0 win in five innings over SUNY-Geneseo. The no-hitter is the first for the program in the NCAA Tournament setting and the second postseason no-hitter in program's history, joining Maitlin Raycroft's 2018 no-hitter against Southwestern. The no-hitter is the third of the season for the pitching staff.

Senior Ashlyn Strother (Seabrook/Clear Falls) got the start and threw two perfect innings. Senior Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) (2 K, 2 IP) and freshman Katelyn Howard (Hempstead/Waller)(1 K, 1 IP), making just her third appearance in the circle this season, combined to finish the contest for the staff. An error to leadoff the third inning proved to be the difference in the game being a perfect game. Ouellette would force a double play to clean up the inning and get out of the inning uneffected. The no-hitter is the second time Strother and Ouellette have combined for a no-hitter, combining for a no-hitter against Dallas in 2020 and is the first no-hitter in program history to feature three pitchers. The game marked the 33rd no-hitter in program history.

������������ ������������. �� @ashlynstrother, @OuelletteSydney & @kate_marie088 combine for the first no-hitter in the NCAA Tournament in program history to stay alive! #D3Sb #TooLiveU | #PupsUp pic.twitter.com/v09si5REg9

— TLU Softball �� (@TLUsoftball) May 19, 2023

After a slow day at the plate on Thursday, Texas Lutheran would record 10 hits for the 19th time this season in Friday's opening game. Sophomore Linzee Leal (Corpus Christi/Mary Carroll) and junior Madison Johnson paced the Bulldogs with Leal going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and two stolen bases, while Johnson hit a double and drove in three in a 2-for-3 effort. Freshman Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) stole three bases, scored three times, and walked twice to become TLU's single-season walks leader with 31 on the season, surpassing Kelly Jurden's previous record of 30 set in 2021.

Seven Bulldogs registered a hit in the game and four brought in at least one run. In the circle, Strother collected her 19th win of the season. The game marked the 18th run-rule victory this season and NCAA Division-III leading 23rd shutout of the season.

TLU would not allow a hit for their first 8.2 innings pitched, holding East Texas Baptist without a hit until the fourth inning of Friday's second game. Texas Lutheran entered the seventh inning with a 4-1 lead before a seventh inning rally with back-to-back doubles to start the inning, inevitably shrinking the Bulldog lead to 4-3. Sydney Ouellette, TLU's all-time saves leader, entered in the seventh and retired all three hitters she faced in order to pick up her first save of the season and ninth of her career.

With their one-run survival, Texas Lutheran repeated a feat previously done in the 2016 NCAA Tyler Regional of dropping their first game and winning two games in the loser's bracket to fight back to Championship Saturday. Texas Lutheran will have a rematch against the Belhaven Blazers at 12 PM. If TLU wins that game, an if-necessary game would begin 30 minutes later.

The win also gave TLU 40 wins on the season, reaching the 40-win threshold for the fourth time in program history and the third time in four complete seasons.

Friday's second game saw a promising start for TLU as TLU took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on RBI singles from Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) and Bailey Hudgeons (Dripping Springs/Dripping Springs). With her RBI single, Gonzalez is now one RBI shy of matching the SCAC single-season record of 58 RBIs in a season.

A third inning infield single from Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) would score two runs as TLU extended their lead to 4-0 with their final runs of the game.

Strother allowed three runs on three hits while striking out four and walking one batter in six innings to earn the win to push her season record to 19-2. With the four strikeouts, Strother moved into sole possession of second all-time in program history with 468 strikeouts, surpassing Amanda Stevens (465, 2002-05).

Freshman Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton) also set a record Friday evening, getting hit by a pitch three times against the Tigers, the most ever in a single-game for TLU.

Texas Lutheran advances to the regional final against Belhaven. First pitch is scheduled for 12 PM at Taylor Field at Bell Park. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com as well as the Marshall Regional Website. The game can be heard on KWED 1580 AM with Chris Austin on the call for fans in the Guadalupe County area.