SEGUIN, Texas -- No. 12-ranked and top-seeded Texas Lutheran opened the 2024 SCAC Tournament with a 5-1 win over Southwestern in Friday's second round matchup.

The Bulldogs (29-3, 19-2 SCAC) scored in each of the first three innings to build their lead over the Pirates (16-25, 13-8 SCAC). 

Senior right-hander Sydney Ouellette (Corpus Christi/Gregory-Portland) lived up to her First Team All-SCAC billing in the SCAC Tournament opener, sprinkling four hits across seven innings of work, allowing one unearned run. The right-hander threw 51 of her 82 pitches for strikes (62.2%) to earn her sixth win of the season.

Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) (1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI) opened the scoring in the first with an RBI groundout to score Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek). Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) (1-for-2, RBI) would drive in the Bulldogs second run of the game with an RBI single to give TLU a 2-0 lead after one.

A TLU throwing error in the second would lead to the Pirates one and only run in the second inning.

Bella Rodriguez (Pearland/Pearland) would score on a Southwestern error before Kylee Jack would collect her second RBI of the game via an RBI double as TLU took a 4-1 lead. Bella Rodriguez (2-for-3, RBI, R) added the final TLU run in the third with an RBI single. Rodriguez would lead the Bulldogs with two hits on the evening.

The Bulldogs meet No. 2 seed Trinity on Saturday in the winner's bracket final with a trip to the SCAC Championship on the line. First pitch is scheduled for 3 PM and the game can be seen on TLU+. All streaming and live stats links available on tlubulldogs.com.

For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (@txlutheransoftball), X (Twitter) (@TLUsoftball), and Instagram (@tlu_softball) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on Twitter, @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).