SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Softball finished off its perfect run through the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season with 7-2 and 9-1 victories Saturday over the University of St. Thomas.
At TLU's Ed Kruse Stadium (Morck Softball Field), the Bulldogs received a 14-strikeout performance from redshirt freshman right-hander
Ashlyn Strother in game one and two-run home run from school home run record-holder
Haley Padilla in the second game.
The Bulldogs, ranked second in the latest NFCA poll for NCAA Division III, improved to 27-4 overall and to 18-0 in the SCAC. TLU is the SCAC regular-season champion and the top seed for next weekend's SCAC Softball Championship, set for April 30-May 2 at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas.
St. Thomas, in transition to NCAA Division III from the NAIA, is not eligible for the SCAC's post-season softball tournament since an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs will be on the line. St. Thomas dropped to 20-11 overall and to 15-5 in the SCAC.
In the early game, Strother moved her pitching record to 9-1. The 14 strikeouts were a career-high for Strother. She allowed four hits and two runs, both unearned, and walked two.
Laura Hernandez hit a solo home run for the Bulldogs in the fourth.
Chassety Raines had an RBI double in the second and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch RBI in the sixth.
In game two, Padilla hit her 20th career home run - and her fourth in 15 games this season. She hit a two-run shot in the first inning. Padilla scored i the third inning on a triple to right-center field from
Bailey Hudgeons.
