CLARKSVILLE, AR -- No. 3 Texas Lutheran swept their series opening doubleheader over Ozarks (AR) with a pair of blowout victories in Friday's doubleheader, 9-0 in six innings and 14-3.
With the doubleheader victory, Texas Lutheran won their 80th straight SCAC conference series, dating back to joining the conference in 2014.
In game one, TLU raced out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and put up a pair of runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings for a 9-0 final.
Texas Lutheran sent up eight batters in the first inning, resulting in three runs on three hits and two errors.
Riley Davila (Angleton/Angleton) scored on a dropped fly ball ahead of RBI singles from
Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) and
Ashley McMahon (Las Vegas, NV/Durango).
The fourth inning saw
Gabree-Ella Orosco (San Antonio/Holmes) drive in McMahon on an RBI groundout and an RBI double from Davila score
Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland).
An RBI fielder's choice from McMahon and a sacrifice fly from Swisher tacked on two more runs in the fifth as the game neared run-rule territory.
A two-run home run from
Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood), her third of the season, closed the scoring in the sixth and pushed the TLU lead to 9-0.
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) scattered five hits and collected her sixth nation-leading sixth shutout of the season and TLU's nation-leading seventh of 2026, striking out two and walking none in the complete-game effort.
Four Bulldogs had a hit in game one, led by multi-hit performances from Davila and McMahon.
In game two, after Ozarks (AR) shrunk the TLU lead to 3-1 in the first inning, Texas Lutheran outscored the Eagles 11-2 over the final six innings powered by three extra base hits and seven stolen bases.
Texas Lutheran scored three in the first on a
Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy) sacrifice fly, an Ozarks fielding error and an RBI hit by pitch by
Grace Bracken (Danbury/Danbury). Ozarks responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning.
The Bulldogs wasted no time responding in the top of the second as
Serena Gonzalez blasted a two-RBI double to extend the TLU lead to 5-1.
In the third, TLU plated four more runs on four hits. Ashly McMahon scored on a wild pitch to get the scoring started before RBI singles from
Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) and
Taylor Vannett extended the TLU lead to 9-1. Gonzalez ended the scoring with a sacrifice fly. With her third RBI of the game, Gonzalez tied DePauw's Emma Minx for fourth in SCAC history in career RBI (147).
The Eagles put a run across in the third and fourth innings to cut the lead to 9-3.
The seventh inning saw seven more Bulldogs runs score as nine different Bulldogs scored in the game. After tallying her first hit as a Bulldog,
Gabree-Ella Orosco sole second base and come around to score as the throw down from the catcher would roll to the outfield wall.
Roccia Moreno (Eagle Pass/Eagle Pass),
Mia Landry (Cypress/Bridgeland), and
Ashley McMahon all drove in runs in the seventh.
Jordyn Joy (3-1) earned the win with six hits allowed for three runs, only two being earned, and three strikeouts and a walk.
Jordyn Stuessy (Garden Ridge/Davenport) earned the save, tossing four shutout innings in relief while striking out four.
Ten Bulldogs registered a hit in the contest with eight bringing in at least one run, paced by three RBI from Gonzalez and two from Landry.
TLU improved to 15-2 on the year with five run-rule victories. The TLU offense has stolen 86 bases and outscoring opponents 142-45 while the pitching staff has tossed seven shutouts, leading NCAA Division-III.
The 3rd-ranked Bulldogs close the series vs. Ozarks (AR) on Saturday at 11 AM at Wilson Athletic Complex. 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).
