INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - No. 5 Texas Lutheran (41-3) is set to open the NCAA Division III Softball Championship in Tyler, Texas for the third consecutive year as they will face No. 8 East Texas Baptist (34-8) on Friday.
The NCAA announced Monday that the Bulldogs will play in a four-team regional with No. 3 Texas-Tyler, unranked Agnes Scott and ETBU beginning on Friday. The Bulldogs earned the automatic bid from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference after winning their third straight SCAC title. The Bulldogs posted a 41-3 overall record and were 23-1 in conference play. TLU is currently ranked second in the west region behind Texas-Tyler.
The Bulldogs have been led all season by SCAC Player-of-the-Year Taylor Yancey who led the league in batting average (.485), OBP (.529), hits (64), RBI's (48) and doubles (24). SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year, Taylor Grissom was stellar all year posting a league-best 16 wins on a 1.31 ERA.
Last year, TLU fell to ETBU at the Tyler Regional before being eliminated by UT-Tyler with a 5-1 final.