SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran softball team has advanced to its second straight NCAA Super Regional.
A phenomenal start by sophomore
Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy) and lights out relief courtesy of
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) led No. 3/8 Texas Lutheran to a 6-1 win over No. 13 Huntingdon in Saturday's regional final. The Bulldogs await their destination due to potential reseeding of the remaining 16 teams with the expectation to host at Ed Kruse Stadium.
Texas Lutheran (41-4) extended their win streak to 11 games with the victory over Huntingdon (33-12), clinching the program's fourth NCAA Super Regional appearance.
Joy earned her second start of the regional, rewarding the Bulldogs with 5.0 innings of work. The left-hander struck out three while allowing one run on seven hits and two walks. She threw 65 of her 108 pitches for strikes, working to a 60.2% strike rate.
After loading the bases and coming up empty, Texas Lutheran put up a crooked number in the second to jump out in front of Huntingdon. After a leadoff single and a stolen base from
Ashley McMahon (Las Vegas, NV/Durango), McMahon scored the first run of the game on an RBI triple from
Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell). Russell would score on a double steal to double the TLU before and RBI double from
Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) plated the final run of the inning.
Huntingdon got on the board in the fourth, but the Bulldogs responded with another three-run effort in the bottom of the inning. A walk and a Hawks error put two runners in scoring position for
Caelee Clark, who cleared the bases with a two-RBI single to extend the lead to 5-1. The final run of the inning and of the game came via an RBI groundout from
Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) to score Clark.
Joy worked out of a bases loaded jam to keep the Hawks off the board in the fifth before giving way to Howard in the sixth. Howard retired five of the eight batters she faced, striking out a pair in just her fourth relief appearance of the season.
In addition to recording her 14th win of the season, Joy improved to 2-0 in NCAA Tournament play this postseason. The sophomore struck out eight and walked three across her 9.0 innings of work in the Seguin Regional, scattering nine hits and allowing just one earned run (0.78 ERA).
Texas Lutheran's pitching staff registered a 1.65 ERA across 17.0 innings in the regional, striking out 12 and walking seven over its three games.
Following the conclusion of the game,
Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood),
Cady Bowyer (Fulshear/Jordan),
Caelee Clark,
Jordyn Joy, and
Ashley McMahon were named to the Seguin Regional All-Tournament Team with Clark being named the Regional's Most Outstanding Player, finishing the regional with a .818 average, two doubles, eight runs scored, ten stolen bases, and four RBI in the tournament.
The dates for the Super Regional will be May 21-22 in a best 2-out-of-3 series. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com. More information on Super Regionals will be announced in the coming days.
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).
