SEGUIN, Texas â€" Texas Lutheran senior softball pitcher Amanda Lochte (Fredericksburg/Fredericksburg) has been named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week.
 
Lochte, a four-year letter-winner for the Bulldogs, has excelled on and off the field at Texas Lutheran. While she has posted a career pitching record of 35-3 and a career ERA of 1.71, Lochte has remained engaged in a variety of activities and projects outside of athletics, including internship opportunities with: Hill Country Memorial Hospital (orthopedic surgery unit and wound healing unit) in Fredericksburg, Texas; Mills and Associates Physical Therapy in Fredericksburg; Knopp Nursing Home and Assisted Living Center in Fredericksburg; Fredericksburg Physical Therapy, and Guadalupe Regional Medical Center (working with inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation).
 
On the TLU campus, Lochte has worked as a kinesiology department teaching assistant and as a student assistant for TLU Sports Information and Sports Marketing. Off-campus, she has worked as personal softball pitching instructor, a personal swimming instructor, a softball team coach, and a lifeguard.
 
Lochte's TLU extra-curricular activities have included: membership in Alphi Chi Honor Society and working and volunteering with TLU's Habitat for Humanity Club, the Love Your Melon TLU Campus Crew, the Black & Gold President's Council, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the TLU Kinesiology Club, TLU Bible Study group, Alpha Lambda Delta honor society, the TLU Honors Program, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
 
With Love Your Melon, Lochte and her fellow TLU club members raise money to help the fight against pediatric cancer. Love Your Melon strives to give a hat to every child battling cancer in America.
 
"We fundraise and get (Love Your Melon) known," said Lochte. "We get credits that we get to use to go to hospitals and bring beanies to kids in pediatric cancer centers â€" to give them a little bit of hope and to let them know that we are all here for them. We fundraise to help them with their medical expenses as well."
 
The community service opportunities for Lochte have included volunteer hours with: TLU's Day of the Dogs and Hot DAWGS service days, Guadalupe Regional Medical Center, the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center, the Seguin LULAC Community Garden and Special Olympics.
 
"My favorite thing about TLU is the community atmosphere that we have here between the coaches, the students, and the professors," said Lochte. "It's home."
 
At the end of the 2016 season, after helping TLU Softball to its third consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship and to a third straight appearance in the NCAA DIII Softball regional tournament, Lochte was named to the Academic All-America Second Team for NCAA Division III Softball. She has been named to the TLU President's List five times and to the SCAC Academic Honor Roll three times.
 
Majoring in kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise science, Lochte will graduate from TLU this May and will enter physical therapy school.
 
An All-SCAC Second Team selection in 2016, Lochte picked up three SCAC Pitcher of the Week honors in 2016 and was named to the NCAA DIII Tyler Regional All-Tournament Team.
 
Entering this weekend's four-game series at Trinity University, Lochte and her fellow Bulldog seniors have won 143 games and lost only 24 (an .856 winning percentage). In SCAC play, the Bulldogs are 85-2 (.977 winning percentage).
 
"My softball experience at TLU has been everything to me," said Lochte. "I have loved every minute I have been able to spend time on the field with the best friends I will ever have."
 
"I am very grateful to our coaches for the opportunities that they have given us to be as successful as we are. I hope nothing less for this season. I think we have just as much chance as any team, so I am really excited for what this season holds."