OLLU Softball Ready To Defend Its RRAC Tournament Title Beginning May 4

* UPDATED *

SAN ANTONIO (May 1, 2024) – The NAIA's No. 1 ranked Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) softball team eagerly awaits the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Championships Tournament that will be held in Pineville, La., May 4-6. The Saints are the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

Head Coach Bruce Lenington commented, "The conference tournament is an opportunity for each team to start with the same record and path to win the championship. Whichever team can get hot at the right time will win the tournament. Our team is excited for this challenge.

Complete seedings and conference records 

1. Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) – 24-0

2. LSU-Alexandria (LSUA) – 20-6

3. University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) – 18-6

4. Louisiana Christian University (LCU) – 16-10

5. Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) – 13-13

6. Texas A&M University-San Antonio (A&M-SA) – 10-14

7. Texas College (TC) – 10-16

8. Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) – 8-18

Tournament schedule

The tournament, originally scheduled for May 2-5 but moved due to weather conditions in Louisiana, begins with game one between No. 1 OLLU vs. No. 8 XULA at noon on field one at the Champions Sportsplex. The full schedule is listed below:

Saturday, May 4 - ALL GAMES AT CHAMPIONS SPORTSPLEX
Game 1: No. 1 Our Lady of the Lake vs. No. 8 Xavier, 12 noon (FIELD 1)
Game 2: No. 4 Louisiana Christian vs. No. 5 Texas A&M-Texarkana, 12 noon (FIELD 2)
Game 3: No. 2 LSU Alexandria vs. No. 7 Texas College, 12 noon (FIELD 3)
Game 4: No. 3 Houston-Victoria vs. No. 6 Texas A&M-San Antonio, 12 noon (FIELD4)
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 3 p.m. (FIELD 3)
Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 3 p.m. (FIELD 4)
Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 3 p.m. (FIELD 1)
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 3 p.m. (FIELD 2)

Sunday May 5 (LOUISIANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY - WILDCAT PARK
Game 9: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5, 11 a.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6, 1:30 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 6:30 p.m.

Monday, May 6 (LOUISIANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY - WILDCAT PARK
Game 13: Loser Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 12 noon
Championship Game 1: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 13, 2:30 p.m.
Championship Game 2: If necessary, 5 p.m.

Conference results for OLLU

The Saints will play XULA in the second game of the tournament. This season, the Saints defeated XULA 9-0 and 10-2 at home. Other results for conference games this season include:

OLLU vs. A&M-SA – 5-0/10-1/11-0/11-3

OLLU vs. Jarvis – 8-1/9-0

OLLU vs. Texas College – 4-0/9-0

OLLU vs. Southwest – 8-0/9-0/11-0/6-1

OLLU vs. HTU (forfeit) – 7-0/7-0/7-0/7-0

OLLU vs. LCU – 8-0/10-0

OLLU vs. UHV – 4-0/8-0/2-1/5-0

OLLU vs. LSUA – 6-0/3-1

OLLU vs. TAMUT – 9-0/1-0

OLLU season overview, leaders

The Saints earned the first seed after an incredible 47-1 regular season record and an undefeated 24-0 mark in conference play. OLLU enters the tournament on a 43-game winning streak, with their only loss coming on Feb. 7 against Central Washington University, 4-6. The team has not lost a conference game since Feb. 28, 2021.

The squad ranks first in the nation with 0.73 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and 8,047 attendance. They are ranked second in .440 OBP, .569 SLG; fourth in .978 fielding percentage; fifth in .362 batting average, 326 pitcher strikeouts and sixth in 41 home runs.

There are five players that hit above .350 (more than 50 at bats), including Kayla Dreese - .420, Madison Garza 0 .414; Bradi Hill - .393; Cassandra Valdez - .378; Ava Hernandez - .364; Grace Ross - .361.

Saints pitchers have dominated the season this year. Cassandra Valdez has had 26 appearances with 21 starts with a 21-0 record and three saves. She's had 213 strikeouts for 11.32 per game with an ERA of 0.43 and WHIP of .57. Ava Hernandez has had 22 appearances with 19 starts with an 18-1 record. She's had 97 strikeouts for 6.37 per game with an ERA of 1.12 and WHIP of .95.

On defense, the following have had no errors this season: Reanna Aguirre, Arianna Alejandro, Alana Benitez, Kayla Dreese, Peyton Farris, Alyssa Flores, Eneli Garza, Bradi Hill, Tania Rodriguez, Grace Ross and Valeria Vielma.

The highlight of the season for the Saints was in February when the team defeated then No. 8-Central Methodist, No. 6-University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and No. 9-Oklahoma City University. Other highlights included individual records broken by Valdez – career runs, home runs, walks, strikeouts (pitcher) and shutouts; and Dreese – career doubles and stolen bases.

Go here for the RRAC Tournament Page.