(Story Courtesy of Texas Lutheran University Sports Information Department)
SEGUIN, Texas -- The No. 2 Texas Lutheran softball team clinched its third straight Division-III Women's College World Series appearance by collecting 13 hits in a 6-2 victory over No. 5 Belhaven before a capacity crowd at Ed Kruse Stadium.
The Bulldogs (43-4) will be seeking their second national championship when the tournament starts next Thursday at Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Virginia.
Sophomore pitcher Sydney Ouellette guided the Bulldogs to the win with a complete game, four strikeout performance that featured no walks, four hits and two runs allowed.
Six different Bulldogs drove in a run. Senior Casey Martin continued to impress at the dish and on the base path with a 3-for-4 day with three stolen bases. Fellow seniors Kelly Jurden and Chassety Raines each had multi-hit games.
With the win, Texas Lutheran claimed its 26th consecutive win and improved to 23-3 in tournament action since 2019. Texas Lutheran is now 4-1 all-time in NCAA Super Regionals.
Texas Lutheran got on the board first courtesy of a first inning sacrifice fly from Laura Hernandez scoring Kelly Jurden. TLU doubled its lead in the second inning following an RBI single from Jurden that scored Sarah Metzer, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
Belhaven (41-8) responded in the bottom of the third with an RBI from Abby Trahan.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Texas Lutheran returned their lead to two as an RBI triple from Madison Johnson scored Jurden to give TLU a 3-1 lead. Belhaven would score their final run of the game in the bottom of the fifth behind another RBI from Trahan.
Texas Lutheran put another three runs on the board in the top of the seventh inning - scoring all three with two outs. A two-out single from Casey Martin and Laura Hernandez walk got the rally started. Kylee Jack would re-enter the game and hit an RBI single to score Martin from second, opening the floodgates for the Bulldogs. Faith Hernandez would follow with an RBI single of her own scoring Linzee Leal, who pinch ran for Hernandez. After Sarah Metzer was hit by a pitch, Chassety Raines would single through the right side to score Jack, bringing the game to its final score of 6-2.
Texas Lutheran stole four bases in the game, bringing their NCAA-leading total to 215. The Bulldogs have stolen a base in 45 of their 47 games and brought their season total to 215, which is nine shy of the Division-III record set by The College of New Jersey in 1995.
Ouellette allowed just one hit in her final two innings of work, retiring her final five batters she faced. The Corpus Christi native improved to 12-3 on the season with the win on Saturday.
Following the game, Madison Johnson was named the Seguin, Texas Super Regional's Most Outstanding Player and Sydney Ouellette was named the Super Regional's Most Outstanding Pitcher.
The All-Tournament team was also named postgame with the following members from Texas Lutheran: Kelly Jurden, Casey Martin, Madison Johnson, Ashlyn Strother, Sarah Metzer, and Sydney Ouellette. Belhaven's Kennedy Carruth, Abby Trahan, Haley Hanson, Sydney Runnels and Macey Ziskin were also named to the team.
TLU's opponent(s) and game times are to be determined, but Texas Lutheran will play at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Virginia, next week.
