The Bulldogs' softball fortunes immediately shot skyward with the addition of middle infielder Ashley Jacobsen. The Marion native came to TLU in the fall of 2010, but she did not play softball, instead choosing to focus on her academic work. WhenÂ
Wade Wilson was hired in the summer of 2011, he was told that the best softball player on campus wasn't yet a member of his team. Wilson made getting Jacobsen on the team one of his top priorities. Jacobsen joined the team for the 2012 season and immediately set out on a record-setting path. She hit .455 as a freshman, with 56 hits, 10 doubles, 27 RBI, and 19 steals to earn ASC West Newcomer of the Year honors. Today, Ashley Jacobsen's name appears in the Texas Lutheran Softball Record book 38 times. When she finished her career in 2015, she was TLU's career leader in batting average, hits, runs, RBI, stolen bases and at-bats. She was named the 2014 SCAC Player of the Year. Jacobsen was also a three-time NFCA All-West Region member, twice being named to the First Team. Jacobsen landed on the All-SCAC First Team in 2014 and 2015. She was also the 2013 TLU Female Student-Athlete of the Year and a member of the 2013 ASC All-West Division First Team. She was a three-time member of the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 First Team and was named an Academic All-American in 2014. In 2021, Jacobsen was named to the SCAC 30th Anniversary Softball Team as an infielder. Jacobsen was the single-season record-holder for hits in a season, 69, a feat she accomplished twice (in 2013 and 2014) until finally being dethroned in 2025. She is the school record-holder for career batting average, at .432, and still holds the record for most RBI in a four-game series, with 14, and for the most hits in a game, with 5. She also still ranks second all-time in career at-bats (569), runs (181), and hits (246). Jacobsen led the Bulldogs to the 2013 ASC West Division Championship and to their first SCAC Championships and NCAA Tournaments, in 2014 and 2015. TLU finished as the regional runner-up in 2014. After a 19-19 record in Jacobsen and Coach Wilson's first year with TLU, the Bulldogs went 103-25 in the next three seasons, posting a 66-3 conference mark in that time. The Bulldogs winning percentage from 2013 to 2015 was .805, and its conference mark in that span was (.957).
