(Story courtesy of Texas Lutheran University Athletics Communication Staff)
SEGUIN, Texas -- No. 3/8 Texas Lutheran softball's season came to an end Friday evening at the NCAA Division-III Seguin Super Regional, falling to No. 2/9 Redlands 3-1 and 5-4 in the final two games of the three game series.
The losses are the first two at home in the Super Regional round in program history and marks the first time the Bulldogs have reached Supers and not advanced to the Women's College World Series.
An RBI single from Taylor Vannett (Kingwood/Kingwood) gave TLU (42-6) a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but Redlands (43-6) immediately in the bottom of the inning.
That would be the Bulldogs only production in the first game as they stranded seven runners in Friday's first contest. The Bulldogs stranded at least one runner in scoring position in four of the seven innings.
A pair of fifth inning sacrifice flies from Redlands proved to be the difference as the Bulldogs forced the if necessary game.
In what would be her final time in the circle for the Bulldogs, Katelyn Howard (Waller/Hempstead) got the start and went the distance, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out two.
Texas Lutheran took another early lead in the Friday's win or go home contest as an RBI single from Serena Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Foy H. Moody) gave TLU a 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless second, Redlands had their most explosive inning of the weekend as they scored five runs on five hits in the top of the third including a grand slam to take a 5-1 lead.
Texas Lutheran was able to scratch one across in the bottom of the inning on another RBI single from Gonzalez.
Kezia Alvear (Kyle/Hays) continued her impressive postseason run as she tossed 2.1 shutout innings, allowing just one hit, in relief of game three starter Jordyn Joy (Kerrville/Tivy).
The Bulldogs gradually chipped away at the deficit as Ashley McMahon (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) scored on a double steal in the sixth to shrink the deficit to 5-3.
Texas Lutheran showed fight in the seventh as Caelee Clark (Montgomery/Lake Creek) led the inning off a double and Riley Davila (Angleton/Angleton) reached on an error to put the game tying run on with nobody out. Taylor Vannett, the national leader in sacrifice flies, tallied her final one of her career to cut the lead to 5-4 and advance Davila to third putting the Bulldogs in position to potentially force extras or walk it off. The Bulldogs weren't able to find one last bit of magic as back-to-back pop ups stranded Davila to end their season.
As was the case in the first game, the Bulldogs would strand runners in scoring position in four of the seven trips to the plate.
This season marked the fourth trip to the NCAA Division-III Super Regional Round in program history, a year that also saw Texas Lutheran claim its 12th straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) regular season championship, its tenth SCAC Tournament Championship, and make its 12th straight NCAA regional appearance. This was also a record breaking season for the Bulldogs, marking the sixth time they have eclipsed 40 wins with a 42-6 record. The 2026 Texas Lutheran softball team is forever etched in history after setting the NCAA Division-III record for stolen bases for the fourth time in five seasons, stealing 256 bases on the season to rank in the top ten in NCAA history across all levels - led by Caelee Clark (89) and Riley Davila (42). The duo combined for the most stolen bases by a pair of teammates in a single-season in NCAA Division-III history, eclipsing the previous mark set by Clark and Annie Kay last season. The 2026 TLU Softball team is statistically one of the best in program history, setting new record marks in runs (398), hits (496), and batting average (.389).
Individually, Caelee Clark rewrote the record book across the national and program levels and will graduate as one of the greatest Division-III softball players ever. In 2026, Clark set the NCAA record for career stolen bases across all three levels, finishing her career with 306, becoming the first player in college softball history to steal 300 bases. She also became the first player in NCAA Division-III history to post a 70-70-70 season with 70+ hits, runs, and stolen bases. She also broke her own Division-III single-season record for stolen bases, finishing with 89 on the season - which ranks third across all three levels for stolen bases in a single season. Clark scored 76 runs to set a new TLU and SCAC single-season record, ranking third in Division-II history, while also breaking the TLU and SCAC career record in the category with 245 scored in her career, ranking fifth in D3 history. She set the program and SCAC record for hits with 81 on the season, becoming the first player in TLU and SCAC history to eclipse 80 hits in a season while breaking the TLU and SCAC records for career hits with 263. She also set program records in batting average (.494), runs per game (1.58) and hits per game (1.69) in 2026. Clark will also graduate as the TLU single-season record holder in walks (31, 2023) and the TLU career batting average leader, ending her career with a .436 average as well as the career on-base percentage leader with a career .514 clip.
Taylor Vannett set the TLU and SCAC single-season record for RBI with 66 in 2026. Serena Gonzalez will graduate as TLU's record holder in single-season (14), freshman (10), and career home runs (32) as well as career RBI (188), single-season slugging percentage (.817, 2025), and career slugging percentage (.695) in addition to a number of single-game records. Katelyn Howard will graduate tied for first in single-season win percentage following her undefeated 2025 season that saw her finish 10-0 and will leave the program with the highest winning percentage in program history, finishing her career 33-2 (.943).
The Bulldogs - a team picked to finish first in the SCAC preseason poll - conclude the 2026 season with a 42-6 record, going 27-2 in the SCAC to claim their 12th straight SCAC regular season championship and winning their tenth SCAC Championship Tournament in addition to winning an NCAA Regional. The Bulldogs will graduate a seven-member senior class: Clark, Gonzalez, Vannett, Carlee Feris (Houston/Cy-Ranch), Harleigh Russell (Fort Worth/Boswell), and Kayla Ramirez (Kingsville/Santa Gertrudis Academy). This group of seniors has been a part of two of the best seasons in program history, graduating with a career record of 159-24 (.869) - claiming six SCAC Championships (four regular season and two tournament) and making the 2025 Women's College World Series appearances together.
