SHREVEPORT, LA -- No. 5 Texas Lutheran concluded its Louisiana road trip with a pair of shutout victories over Centenary on Friday. The Bulldogs won Saturday's first contest 13-0 in five innings before wrapping the series with a 5-0 win. TLU completed the three-game SCAC sweep in dominating fashion, outscoring the Ladies 27-1 on the weekend.
The Bulldogs move to 27-3 on the year and 19-1 in SCAC play.
Texas Lutheran took the series with a 13-0 run-rule win over the Ladies in five innings. It was TLU's 11th win by mercy rule in 30 games.
The Bulldog bats exploded for 13 runs on 11 hits in the game, spearheaded by an eight-run second inning. For the second game in a row,
Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) hit a home run. Texas Lutheran has hit a home run in 13 of their 30 games so far this season.
Sophomores
Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy) (4.0 IP) and
Jordyn Stuessy (Garden Ridge/Davenport) (1.0 IP) combined on TLU's nation-best 13th shutout of the season in the circle. Joy allowed just two hits while striking out one, while Stuessy gave up no runs, hits, or walks in her relief appearance in the fifth.
With the win, Texas Lutheran won their 82nd straight SCAC conference series, dating back to joining the conference in 2014.
TLU scored in three of the five innings they went to the plate, starting with three runs in the first. After a leadoff single and a stolen base from
Caelee Clark (Montogmery/Lake Creek), a
Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) single scored the first run of the game. The Bulldogs loaded the bases before a pair of walks to Russell and
Brey Jones (San Antonio/Brennan) plated two more runs.
A trio of RBI singles from Vannett,
Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody), and
Cady Bowyer (Fulshear/Jordan) began the second inning explosion before a two-RBI double from Russell and an RBI single from Jones. Jones scored on a Centenary error before
Riley Davila (Angleton/Angleton) closed the frame for TLU with an RBI groundout.
Russell launched her career-high third homer of the season and second in as many games in the third, a two-run home run to make the score 13-0.
Seven Bulldogs registered a hit in the contest with six bringing in at least one run. Russell had a career-high five RBIs while Vannett and Jones each had two RBIs. Gonzalez paced the team with a 3-for-4 performance. Russell went 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, a home run, and two runs scored.
The Bulldogs 13 runs was the ninth time they have eclipsed the 10-run mark.
Texas Lutheran took the series finale by a final score of 5-0.
The Bulldogs were powered by eight hits, including a home run from senior
Serena Gonzalez and a five-hit shutout from
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead).
A Centenary error led to the Bulldogs first run of the game in the first.
Harleigh Russell stole home to double the TLU lead in the second.
TLU put two more runs on the board in the third as Gonzalez launched her third home run of the season and the 28th of her career. An RBI groundout from
Caelee Clark in the fourth plated the final run of the ballgame.
Howard finished her gem in the circle with a strikeout to end the game in the seventh. Howard collected her 15th win of the season (15-0), striking out three Ladies and allowing five hits and no walks. It was her eighth individual shutout of the season and TLU's nation-leading 14th on the year.
Harleigh Russell and
Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland) both turned in multi-hit performances, with both going 2-for-2 with Russell scoring twice. Gonzalez brought in two runs in the game while Clark was responsible for the only other RBI. Six Bulldogs registered a hit in the game.
The team returns to action in Seguin for a three-game series with Hendrix College at Ed Kruse Stadium, Apr. 10-11, in a first-time ever matchup between the two programs. First pitch of Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for 3 and 5 PM. All three games will stream 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).
