ABILENE, Texas -- For the tenth time in program history, No. 3 Texas Lutheran was crowned champion of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championship Tournament after defeating Ozarks (AR), 8-1, on Monday at Edwards Field on the campus of McMurry University in Abilene.
The win tallied Texas Lutheran's 22nd overall conference title and secured the Bulldogs tenth SCAC title sweep, bringing two trophies home from Abilene.
The Bulldogs struck first behind a
Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) RBI single in the bottom of the first. Texas Lutheran tacked on two more in the third on an RBI double from
Chesley Swisher (Cypress/Bridgeland) and an RBI groundout from
Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek).
After being kept off the scoreboard despite stringing hits together early, Ozarks (AR) was able to avoid a shutout in their first SCAC Championship appearance with a fifth inning solo home run off
Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy). The long ball was the first Joy allowed all season as the Bulldogs maintained a 3-1 advantage.
Texas Lutheran started to put the game away in the bottom of the fifth as
Serena Gonzalez hit a solo home run to lead off the inning.
Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell) narrowly missed a homer of her own but settled for a two out double ahead of a pinch-hit RBI single from
Natalie Pacheco (Lytle/Lytle) to extend the lead to 5-1.
Gonzalez gave the Eagles deja vu in the sixth as she followed up her fifth inning solo home run with a two-run homer in the sixth, her sixth of the season and 31st of her career. Monday marked the third time in Gonzalez's career that she hit two home runs in a single game. An RBI single from Russell to score
Kayla Ramirez (Kingsville/Santa Gertrudis Academy) supplied the final run of the game to make it 8-1.
Joy relieved starter
Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) after 2.1 innings to secure the Bulldogs title. Joy improved to 12-1 on the season, earning the win after allowing just four hits and  one run in the effort while striking out three.
Ten Bulldogs recorded a hit in the Bulldogs 16-hit barrage led by Gonzalez's 4-for-4, two home run, four RBI showing with two runs scored. On Monday, Gonzalez tied former teammate
Kylee Jack for the single game total base record with ten total bases in Monday's championship. Gonzalez also became the first player since 2021 and the eighth player in conference history to hit two home runs in a single SCAC Tournament game and the first ever to do so in a SCAC Championship game. Gonzalez is the second player with two home runs in a single SCAC Tournament game, joining current TLU assistant coach
Kyla Lockley '18. The 16 hits tie for the fifth most in a single-game in SCAC Tournament history.
Gonzalez was a part of a group of six Bulldogs that earned All-Tournament accolades. Joining her on the team were
Jordyn Joy,
Harleigh Russell,
Chesley Swisher,
Caelee Clark, and
Cady Bowyer (Fulshear/Jordan). Adding to the number of historical aspects of Monday's contest,
Caelee Clark notched her 250th career hit - becoming just the second Bulldog to ever reach the mark. Clark also concludes her career with ten stolen bases in SCAC Tournament play, tying Trinity's Karen MacPherson (2009-12) for the tournament record.
The Bulldogs await their postseason plans to be announced during next Monday's (May 11) NCAA Division-III Softball Selection Show on ncaa.com. Regional action is slated for May 14-16, Super Regionals the following weekend and then the Division-III Women's College World Series in Salem, Virginia from May 28-June 3.
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).
