ABILENE, Texas --
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) only allowed one hit after the second inning, fanning five en route to a complete game performance in No. 3 Texas Lutheran Softball's (36-4) 6-1 win against Ozarks (AR) in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament Quarterfinals on Saturday.
Despite appearing in two of the last three SCAC Tournaments, Saturday acted as Howard's first career SCAC Tournament start. With the win, Howard becomes just the fifth pitcher in program history to reach 20 wins in a single season, joining former teammates Ashlyn Strother (2022) and
Amanda White (2025) as well as Taylor Grissom (2015) and Maitlin Raycroft (twice, 2017-18).
The trio of
Cady Bowyer (Fulshear/Jordan),
Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell), and
Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland) provided the production with Swisher leading the way with a season-high two RBIs. Swisher singled in a run and brought in another with an RBI groundout, Bowyer hit an RBI triple, while Russell hit a sacrifice fly, adding to the Bulldogs nation-leading tally.
After a leadoff hit by pitch, the Eagles were able to string together a pair of two out hits to take an early 1-0 lead over TLU.
TLU pushed across their first run in the second inning on an error, a sacrifice bunt, and a pair of singles, including Swisher's RBI single to tie the game 1-1.
The Bulldogs scratched across another run to take a 2-1 lead in the third.
Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) reached on a one out single before Bowyer hit an RBI triple to give TLU the advantage.
A leadoff double from
Harleigh Russell and a fielder's choice from
Brey Jones (San Antonio/Brennan) set the table for an RBI groundout from Swisher to extend the lead to 3-1.
Bowyer led off the fifth inning with a double before
Gabree-Ella Orosco (San Antonio/Holmes) entered as a pinch runner. Another sac bunt from
Ashley McMahon (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) moved her up 60 feet before a Russell sacrifice fly scored Orosco.
TLU's final two runs came in the sixth as an Ozarks error led to
Kayla Ramirez (Kingsville/Santa Gertrudis Academy) and
Michelle Torralba (Eagle Pass/Eagle Pass) coming around to score.
Howard retired the side in the final frame, earning her 15th complete game of the season.
No. 3 Texas Lutheran meets tournament No. 3 seed Concordia (TX) in the SCAC Tournament Semifinals on Sunday, May 3, at 3 PM. The game 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).
