NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas â€" The Texas Lutheran softball team played its second consecutive doubleheader against Calumet College St. Joseph on Thursday, dropping the first game 6-3 before bouncing back for the split and winning the second game 7-0.
 
The Bulldogs took three out of four against the Crimson Wave and improved their overall record to 5-5 on the year. Calumet St. Joseph dropped to 1-7.
 
Texas Lutheran ended the four-game series on a high note, tallying its first shutout of the season in that 7-0 victory. Three different Bulldogs combined to toss the shutout. Kimberly Leschber (Thorndale, Texas) earned the win (2-2) after getting the start and turning in four strong innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out three.
 
Taylor Grissom (Spring, Texas) and Amanda Lochte (Fredericksburg, Texas) combined to finish off the game in the circle. Grissom entered the game in the fifth and tossed the next two innings, giving up three hits and a walk while striking out one. Lochte closed the game out, pitching the seventh inning and sitting the Crimson Wave down in order.
 
The two teams went scoreless in the first two innings before the Bulldogs opened up the scoring in the bottom of the third. That first run was scored on a Jaime Ohm RBI single, scoring Ashley Jacobsen. Ohm (Frisco, Texas) finished the game 3-for-4 and had herself a special four-game series against Calumet, going 10-for-15 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.
 
The fourth inning was where the Bulldogs opened up the game, scoring four runs and going ahead 5-0. The inning started with a Maegan Taylor double. After that though, the Bulldogs capitalized on a few Crimson Wave mistakes, namely an error and two wild pitches to score those four runs.
 
The Bulldogs would score again in the fifth to make it 6-0 before plating another across in the sixth after Jacobsen scored on a wild pitch. The Bulldogs had three runners score on wild pitches in the game.
 
The strong pitching the Bulldogs received in the second game was a contrast to the way the first game went, as Calumet St. Joseph had its bats going on its way to that 6-3 win. The Crimson Wave tallied 14 hits in the game, getting to Bulldog starter Samantha Yenne (Lake Jackson, Texas) early.
 
Yenne finished four innings of work, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk. Elyse Hlavinka (Bellville, Texas) came in for relief and threw an inning, giving up one runs on four hits. Lochte finished off the final two innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits.
 
The Bulldog offense couldn't quite get on track in that first game, racking up six hits in the game, although the Bulldogs still had some chances, leaving six runners on base for the game.
 
All three of TLU's runs were scored in the fourth inning, immediately after Calumet had notched three of its own in the top half of the frame.
 
All three of the TLU runs were unearned. With the bases loaded, the Bulldogs' scored their first two runs after the Calumet catcher failed to catch a throw from the third baseman that would have forced out a runner at the plate. The ball got away and allowed the Bulldogs to plate two. The third run scored on a Gorrie sacrifice fly.
 
The three runs scored by the Crimson Wave in the top of the fourth proved to be the difference. The inning started with back-to-back groundouts before Calumet put together a two-out rally. Four singles and a walk later, the Crimson Wave had scored three runs.
 
Texas Lutheran was scheduled to play its SCAC-opening series this weekend at home, but the threat of inclement weather has pushed the Bulldogs' four-game series against Austin College back to Monday, March 10 and Tuesday, March 11. The doubleheader Monday is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and the one on Tuesday is slated for 10 a.m. Live stats should be available via TLUBulldogs.com.