BLOOMINGTON, IL -- In the opening game of the Division-III Women's College World Series on Thursday, seven hits including a two-run homer and quality pitching from No. 2-seed Rowan carried the Profs (49-2) to a 5-0 win over No. 7-seed Texas Lutheran at Carol Willis Park at Inspiration Field in Bloomington, Illinois.
Making their fourth DIII WCWS appearance in program history, the Bulldogs (44-4) will now face Redlands in an elimination game at 6:30 PM on Friday. The game will be broadcast on ncaa.com with Kit McConnico and Genna Rose on the call and can be heard on KWED 1580 AM in Seguin and the Guadalupe County area with play-by-play announcer Chris Austin calling the action. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
After trading zeros through the first two innings, a two-run home run from Rowan broke the scoreless tie in the third.
Rowan, who entered the World Series with the best ERA in the nation and was followed by Texas Lutheran's ERA ranking second nationally, limited the Bulldogs offense for the Bulldogs first shutout performance of the season.
Rowan would tack on three more runs in the fourth to bring the game to its final score.
Annie Kay (Sinton/Sinton) led the Bulldogs offensively with two of the Bulldogs five hits and a stolen base. With her first hit in the third inning, Kay broke the program's single-season record for hits, her 70th of the season, becoming the first Bulldog to reach the 70-hit plateau and surpassing previous record holders Ashley Jacobsen (2013 & 2014) and Taylor Yancey (2016). In the fifth inning, Kay stole second to etch the 2025 Texas Lutheran Softball team into NCAA history as the Bulldogs broke their own record from a season ago as they now sit at 234 stolen bases on the season. Kay, who was honored with the NFCA/New Balance Golden Shoe Award yesterday, returns to the national lead with 63 stolen bases - tying teammate Caelee Clark.
TLU right-hander Amanda White (Lockhart/Lockhart) (23-2) suffered her second loss of the season. She surrendered four runs on five hits in 3.2 innings. Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) closed Thursday's game with a clean 1.1 innings, not allowing a single base runner.
For more information on Texas Lutheran softball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (@txlutheransoftball), 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).
