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TYLER, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs, with an active 33-game win streak, open the NCAA Division III Softball Championship in Tyler, Texas for a second straight year. The Bulldogs, ranked 14th in the latest NFCA poll, open the regional at 2 p.m. Friday against No. 3-ranked East Texas Baptist.

The Bulldogs (36-4) play in a four-team regional with No. 2 University of Texas at Tyler, No. 3 ETBU and unranked Whittier (Calif.).

TLU will have live video webcasts from http://portal.stretchinternet.com/tlu/ for all Bulldog games at the regional. UT Tyler will provide live stats for all tournament games.
 
The tournament starts Friday and ends Sunday. The regional winner advances to the two-team super-regional the following weekend.
 
TLU is the champion of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. UT Tyler (40-2) is the champion of the American Southwest Conference. TLU played in the ASC through the 2013 season.
 
Another ASC team, ETBU (33-3) is an at-large selection, and Whittier (28-16) is the champion of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
TLU will make the second NCAA Division III post-season appearance in school history.
 
The Bulldogs start the four-team regional against ETBU on Friday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at UT Tyler's Suddenlink Field. (The complete tournament schedule is listed below this story.)
 
The Bulldogs advanced to the Tyler regional in 2014 and defeated then-No. 3 UT Tyler 2-1 in 10 innings in the regional opener. TLU then lost twice to ETBU, 3-0 and 5-1, and finished as the regional runner-up.
 
TLU enters the tournament with the second-longest softball win streak in NCAA Division III. Defending national champion Tufts (Mass.) has a 43-game win streak. The Jumbos are 41-0 in 2015 and won their final two games of 2014.
 
The Bulldogs are ranked in the top 15 nationally in batting average (.375), earned run average (1.58), fielding percentage (.972), on base percentage (.443), stolen bases per game (2.48) and won-loss percentage (.900).
 
Individually, TLU has three players with a total of five top-25 national statistical rankings. Junior right-hander Taylor Grissom (Spring/Klein Collins) already has set the new school record for wins in a season (19). She is 19-0 with than ERA of 0.58. Grissom is eighth in wins, fourth in ERA, and sixth in hits allowed per seven innings.
 
TLU slugger Jennifer Gallagher (Missouri City/Elkins) is third nationally in sacrifice flies, with six. Sophomore right-hander Veny Pizana (Odem/Odem) ranks 22nd in DIII in hits per seven innings (4.55).
 
The Bulldogs have 10 regular position players hitting better than .330. Nine different players have at least 14 RBI. The Bulldogs have stolen 99 bases and been caught just nine times.
 
TLU pitchers have held opponents to a .204 batting average.
 
Fourth-year head coach Wade Wilson leads the Bulldogs into the NCAA tournament. Wilson is 121-42 (.742) with the Bulldogs. Wilson has won 504 games (383 in high school, 121 at TLU) as a head softball coach.

NCAA Division III Softball Championship
Tyler, Texas Regional
May 8-10, 2015 - Suddenlink Field
University of Texas at Tyler

Friday, May 8
G1:  East Texas Baptist vs. Texas Lutheran - 2 p.m.
G2:  Texas-Tyler vs. Whittier - 5 p.m.

Saturday, May 9
G3:  Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 - 1 p.m.
G4:  Loser G1 vs. Loser G2 - 4 p.m.
G5:  Winner G4 vs. Loser G3 - 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 10
G6:  Winner G3 vs. Winner G5 - Noon
G7:  If Necessary - 2 p.m.