SEGUIN, Texas -- No. 8 Texas Lutheran cruised past LeTourneau 7-0 in both ends of Friday night's doubleheader at Ed Kruse Stadium in the first two games of the three-game SCAC series to clinch TLU's 78th consecutive conference series.
In game one, the Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1 SCAC) were powered by a complete-game shutout from senior
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) (W, 7-0) allowing five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Riley Davila (Angleton/Angleton),
Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood), and
Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland) led the TLU offense with two RBI each. For the first time this season and for the eighth time in program history the Bulldogs stole ten bases in a single-game led by four from
Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek). Texas Lutheran has stolen ten or more bases 19 times in program history.
After Howard retired the side in the top of the first, Vannett got the scoring with a sacrifice fly to score Clark for the first run of the game.
TLU scratched another run across in the second via another sac fly, this time from Swisher.
TLU was able to push across three runs in the fifth. After a leadoff single from Swisher, the Bulldogs were able to get two runners in scoring position for a two-RBI triple for
Riley Davila. An RBI groundout from Vannett extended the TLU lead to 5-0.
Chesley Swisher drove in another run in the sixth before scoring the final run of the game on a passed ball.
Howard retired nine of the last 12 YellowJackets batters through the final three innings. Howard's shutout was her fourth individual shutout of the season.
It was more of the same in game two as the Bulldogs shutout the YellowJackets 7-0 in game two.
The Bulldogs were powered by 11 hits and two-RBI performances from Vannett and
Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy).
In the circle, Joy twirled a gem, earning her first win of the season by tossing a complete game shutout and striking out a career-high ten batters with four hits and a walk. The shutout is TLU's third straight against LeTourneau and fourth in their last five matchups dating back to 2022. The shutout is the fifth in ten games so far for the Bulldogs in the 2026 season.
Joy struck out six of the first eight batters she saw on Friday night.
In the bottom of the first, a
Taylor Vannett RBI single scored Davila for the first run of the second game before Joy helped herself with an RBI single of her own to put TLU up 2-0 through one.
TLU doubled their lead in the third as an RBI single from
Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) scored Vannett before
Kayla Ramirez (Kingsvile/Santa Gertrudis Academy) stole home in an attempted double steal to give TLU a 4-0 lead.
TLU put the game away with three more runs in the sixth with RBI singles from
Natalie Pacheco (Lytle/Lytle) and
Taylor Vannett before a bases loaded walk to Joy scored the final run of the game.
Vannett paced TLU with a 3-for-4, two-RBI performance that included a double, while Joy brought in a pair in a 1-for-2 performance.
With the wins, Texas Lutheran won their 78th straight SCAC conference series, dating back to joining the conference in 2014.
The teams close the series with the series finale on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 12 PM. The series finale will be streamed on FloCollege. 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).
