Texas Lutheran Wins Fourth Straight SCAC Softball Championship

Posted: Apr 30, 2017

(Story courtesy of Texas Lutheran)

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran senior right-hander Amanda Lochte tossed a five-hit shutout Sunday in a 3-0 victory over Southwestern as the Bulldogs claimed a fourth consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championship. Official Website l Bracket l Postgame Interview

TLU advances to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship for a fourth straight year. The Bulldogs will play at a yet-to-be-determined regional site May 11-13. TLU has finished as the regional runner-up in two of the last three seasons.

The Bulldogs, ranked fifth in the latest NFCA poll for NCAA Division III, won their school-record 37th consecutive game and moved their overall record to 37-4. Southwestern's season ends at 27-13.

The Bulldogs and the Pirates were the top two seeds in the six-team SCAC tournament. Southwestern's two losses in the tournament came against TLU.

"I think each (championship) is a little different," said Wade Wilson, TLU's head softball coach. "We had to fight pretty hard for this one. We were facing a pretty good team in Southwestern, a well-coached team and a good group of kids that gave us all we wanted."

Sunday's win was the third consecutive shutout tossed by TLU pitching in the tournament. The Bulldogs defeated Schreiner 6-0 on Friday and then defeated Southwestern twice, 5-0 on Saturday and then 3-0 on Sunday.

Lochte and fellow starter Maitlin Raycroft were named to the SCAC All-Tournament Team. Raycroft had 12 innings of shutout softball, and Lochte tossed nine.

"It was a great experience today," said Lochte. "It's always nerve-racking, and you have butterflies going in, but I knew that the girls in front of me and behind me were going to do their job just fine."

Lochte improved to 15-1 on the season and won her fourth conference championship as a Bulldog.

"Lochte did a phenomenal job, and we played great defense behind her," said Wilson. "Brayden (Pinckard) had a big hit, and that stood up. Amanda came in after being off a few weeks and was phenomenal."

TLU did not have a hit against Southwestern ace Lindsey Longuet until two outs in the bottom of the third when the left-hand hitting Pinckard blasted a Longuet offering out of the ball park. Her blast cleared the fence in right-center field.

TLU tacked on runs in fourth and fifth against Longuet and the Pirates. In the fourth, Madisyn Cates doubled to left. Pinch runner Jordan Jones moved to third on a groundout and then scored on a Courtney Mica bunt single.

In the fifth, Lainey Hebert started the inning with a single to left. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Kyla Lockley and to third on a bunt single from Pinckard. Hebert scored when Kaymee Gooden ripped a shot to left field.

On a day the wind was blowing out to all fields at around 15 mph, the sinker-ball throwing Lochte kept the ball down against the Pirates and did not allow a Southwestern base-runner to reach second base until the seventh.

Lochte struck out four, did not walk a batter and coaxed the Pirates into 13 ground-outs. Only three of the outs recorded by Lochte came on fly balls.

In the seventh, Lochte gave up a one-out single to Taylor Curtis before retiring Andrew Hern on a ground-out and ending the game with a ground-out by Marissa Irvin. TLU freshman shortstop Cassie Roche made a diving stop to her left and then popped up quickly to throw a strike across the diamond for the final out.

"We wouldn't have wanted (this championship) any other way," said Lochte. "We knew we had a job to do this year, and we weren't going to settle for anything less than the fourth one. Glad we did it."

"We know that we have some big teams still ahead of us and a really big job to do. We are ready. We have been working really hard in practice. We know that it doesn't stop here. We have a lot of games left to go, and we have to keep pushing."

In addition to Lochte and Raycroft, TLU players on the SCAC All-Tournament Team included Cates, Gooden, Pinkard and Mica.

The NCAA Division III Softball Selection Show is set for Wednesday, May 8 at noon central on www.ncaa.com/liveschedule.

NOTABLES

With the victory, Texas Lutheran became just the second team in league history to win four consecutive SCAC softball titles. Trinity won four straight from 1999-2002. No program has ever won five straight.
It also marked the fifth time in league history the host school has won the event. Texas Lutheran and Trinity have both done it twice (Trinity in 1999 and 2007; Texas Lutheran in 2014 and 2017). DePauw won the 2011 championship on its home field.

2017 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM