SEGUIN, Texas â€" Two-time defending Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champion Texas Lutheran swept a non-conference doubleheader Saturday from University of Texas at Dallas in the season-opening contests for both squads.
 
At TLU's Ed Kruse Stadium â€" Morck Softball Field, the Bulldogs won the early game 3-1 as Kirsten Whiteside (Belton/Belton) hit a two-run home run in the fourth to break a 1-1 tie.
 
The Bulldogs rallied for a 2-1 win in the late game with a two-run spurt in the seventh inning. With one out, the Bulldogs produced two walks and then three consecutive hits.
 
Jennifer Gallagher (Missouri City/Elkins), the 2015 SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, drove in the game-winner with a bases-loaded single off the wall in left-center field. Megan Armistead (Montgomery/Montgomery) trotted home with the winning run.
 
In the at-bat prior to Gallagher's hit, Nicole Snow (Tomball/Klein Oak) tied the game with a sharp single to right field. Whiteside, who started the rally with a walk, scored on the Snow liner.
 
Amanda Lochte (Fredericksburg/Fredericksburg) went the distance for the pitching victory in game two. The junior right-hander allowed one run (earned), struck out three and scattered four hits.
 
Sara Davison (0-1) took the loss for the Comets. Davison took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Grace Estes (Willis/Willis) broke up the no-hitter with a bunt single with one out in the fifth.
 
In the early game, Bulldog senior Taylor Grissom (Spring/Klein Collins) did not allow an earned run in posting the complete-game victory. She allowed one unearned run and five hits. She walked three and struck out three.
 
TLU trailed 1-0 early in the first game. The Bulldogs scratched across an unearned run in the third on a Gallagher RBI single to right.
 
Whiteside's homer over the left field fence in the fourth proved to be all Grissom would need.
 
TLU stretched its unbeaten streak in regular-season contests to 32 games. The Bulldogs have not lost a regular-season contest since March 2, 2015. That 3-2 loss to Calumet-St. Joseph is also the last home loss for TLU.
 
The Bulldogs now have a 24-game win streak at Ed Kruse Stadium â€" Morck Softball Field.
 
TLU returns to Ed Kruse Stadium next Saturday for a non-conference doubleheader with the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Game times are scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m.