ABILENE, Texas -- No. 4/5 Texas Lutheran secured its 11th consecutive SCAC regular season title with a pair of wins on Friday over McMurry. The championship brings the program's total to 11 regular season conference crowns overall, all under head coach Wade Wilson.
The Bulldogs (36-1, 28-1) secured the series with 9-7 and 7-4 wins over the War Hawks in the first ever matchups between the two programs.
Sophomore outfielder Mia Landry (Cypress/Bridgeland) hit a pinch hit two-run home run in the top of the seventh in what proved to be a game-winner in a 9-7 slugfest in game one. Faith Hernandez (Dinuba, CA/Dinuba) went 6-for-6 on Friday, including a 4-for-4 three RBI effort to lead the Bulldogs to a 7-4 win in game two.
Texas Lutheran's lineup produced 16 runs on 27 hits and eight walks between the two games with Mia Landry hitting a home run in both games.
The Bulldogs extended their winning streak to 20 games with Friday's victories. With the wins, Texas Lutheran won their 75th straight SCAC conference series, dating back to joining the conference in 2014.
In game one, the two teams treated the Abilene crowd to a thriller as the Bulldogs staved off a War Hawks comeback in their first-time matchup.
Texas Lutheran opened the scoring in the first with an RBI single from Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody).
TLU struck again in the third as RBI singles from Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton), Faith Hernandez, and Tavery Ortiz (Texas City/Texas City) extended the Bulldogs lead to 4-0. Another Kay RBI single in the fourth tacked another run on to the Bulldogs lead.
After a scoreless fifth, Texas Lutheran added two more runs to their lead via a bases loaded walk to Serena Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly from Kylee Jack (Richwood/Brazoswood) in the sixth.
McMurry responded with five runs of their own, all unearned following a two-out Texas Lutheran error in the sixth to shrink the TLU lead to 7-5.
Mia Landry stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh and hit a pinch hit two-run homer to extend the Bulldogs lead to 9-5.
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) entered in the seventh and picked up her third save of the season despite allowing two runs.
Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) struck out four over six innings while making the start for TLU, earning her 18th win of the season.
Hernandez (2-for-2, R, BB, RBI), Kay (4-for-4, 2 R, 3 SB, 2 RBI), Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) (2-for-4), and Chesley Swisher (2-for-4, R) each posted multi-hit games in the series opener.
A gritty game two awaited the Bulldogs in Friday's second game. Texas Lutheran scored two in the first as Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) led off the game with a single and a stolen base before scoring on a McMurry error. An RBI single from Faith Hernandez drove in the Bulldogs second run of the inning as they took an early 2-0 lead.
Ainsley Davis (Rockwall/Jesuit (OR)) worked through a jam in the first. Texas Lutheran's junior battled over 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits to improve to 8-1 on the season.
McMurry tied the game 2-2 in the second before an RBI single from Hernandez scored Kay to give TLU a 3-2 lead. McMurry responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning.
A McMurry error led to the first of three TLU runs in the fifth as Kylee Jack scored on the error ahead of a two-run homer from Mia Landry - her second of the season and of the day - that gave TLU a 6-3 lead.
McMurry scored their final run in the fifth.
Amanda White entered in the fifth and retired eight of nine batters faced, the lone runner reaching on an error. White earned her fifth save of the season in relief, passing Sydney Ouellette for most saves in a single-season in program history. The save is the seventh of her career, tying Amanda Lochte (2014-17) for second most in program history.
A Faith Hernandez RBI single plated Kay for the third time in the seventh, stretching Texas Lutheran's cushion back to three runs before White shut the door.
The series and regular season finale is scheduled for 11 AM on Saturday, April 26, with the game being broadcast on FloSports. All streaming and live stats links can be found 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).
