GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran University won its fifth consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship with an 8-1 win Sunday over Southwestern in the SCAC Tournament championship round.

TLU improved to 37-1 overall and claimed the conference's NCAA Division III Softball Championship automatic berth for a fifth straight season.

The Bulldogs have won 30 consecutive games in 2018. TLU's only loss of the year came on March 4 in a 5-0 loss to No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Virginia Wesleyan.

Southwestern ended its season with an overall record of 23-17.

TLU won three straight games in the conference tournament and out-scored opponents by a count of 25-1.

At Southwestern's Taylor-Sanders Field, TLU took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning with a Madisyn Cates (Baytown/Sterling) two-run double and a Cassie Roche (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) single. 

The Bulldogs added two more runs in the second to push the lead to 5-0. TLU scored a run on a Southwestern throwing error and added a fifth run on a Kelly Jurden (Brenham/Brenham) sacrifice fly.

After Southwestern cut the TLU lead to 5-1 in the top of the fifth, Cates homered in the bottom of the fifth. The two-run blast was her third of the season.

Skylar Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) closed out the Bulldogs' scoring with an RBI double in the fifth.

Cates drove in four and scored a run. Roche went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Kyla Lockley (Wharton/Boling) scored two runs and stole two bases.

Maitlin Raycroft (Spring/Klein), fresh off back-to-back no-hitters, won her third tournament game from the circle. The senior right-hander went four innings and allowed seven hits. She struck out six, walked three and allowed an earned run.

Raycroft improved to 19-0.

Jordaine Bishop (Leander/Rouse) notched the save, the first of her career, with three scoreless innings. Bishop allowed just two hits.

TLU finds out its NCAA Softball Championship regional destination on Monday, May 7. TLU is in contention to host a softball regional for the first time in school history. The Bulldogs have been ranked No. 2 in the NFCA Division III poll for the last eight weeks.

Bulldogs named to the SCAC All-Tournament Team included: Raycroft, Ouellette, Roche, Lockley, Cates and Kelsie McEachern (Atascocita/Huffman).