(Story Courtesy of Texas Lutheran Sports Information Department)
MARSHALL, Texas -- Junior right-hander Kayla Oliveira tossed a two-hit shutout of sixth-ranked Birmingham-Southern to lead eighth-ranked Texas Lutheran to a 2-0 win Friday at the NCAA Division III Softball Championship's Marshall, Texas Regional.
With the win at East Texas Baptist's Taylor Field, the Bulldogs moved to 31-7 overall. BSC dropped to 34-6.
"Any time you win this year it is a good win," said Wade Wilson, TLU's head softball coach. "I didn't think we were necessarily very sharp today, but I thought Kayla was awesome today. I thought she had command of everything. Her changeup was good, and she worked in and out really well."
TLU is the No. 2 seed in the regional. BSC is the third seed. The Panthers are facing elimination in the late game Friday against top-seed and second-ranked East Texas Baptist.
Regardless of the ETBU-BSC outcome, TLU plays ETBU at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the double-elimination regional.
Against BSC, Oliveira (San Diego, Texas/San Diego) improved to 13-3 overall. She struck out six and surrendered just a double in the third and a single in the sixth.
Casey Martin put TLU on the board in the third with a single to left. Martin drove in Skylar Ouellette, who went 3-for-3 with a double.
Martin was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base, and Kelly Jurden added a pair of hits and scored a run.
Jurden added to her school and conference records for single-season steals. She stole No. 50 and No. 51 against the Panthers. She entered the regional tournament at No. 2 nationally in total steals and steals per game.