The Our Lady of the Lake Saints softball team has earned national recognition in the latest NAIA Softball Coaches Top 25 Poll, continuing a strong start to the 2026 season. The Saints checked in at No. 9 in the first regular-season poll, receiving one first-place vote after compiling an impressive 14-1 record.
The poll, released by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, is led by Southern Oregon, which maintained the top position with 11 first-place votes and a 16-6 record. Eastern Oregon moved up to No. 2 with one first-place vote, while Oklahoma City sits at No. 3 after collecting three first-place selections. Oregon Tech climbed to No. 4 with two first-place votes, and Science and Arts of Oklahoma rounds out the top five.
Our Lady of the Lake’s rise to ninth place marks a notable jump from its previous ranking of No. 12, reflecting the program’s early-season success and consistency on the field. The Saints lone first-place vote highlights the respect the program has gained nationally as it continues to build momentum against a competitive schedule.
The Saints are one of two programs from Texas ranked in the poll, joining Texas A&M–Texarkana, which sits at No. 23 with a 12-4 record. Their presence in the Top 10 underscores the continued growth and competitiveness of the program within the NAIA landscape.
As the season progresses, Our Lady of the Lake will look to maintain its strong form and continue climbing in the national rankings. With a 14-1 record and early national recognition, the Saints have positioned themselves as one of the top contenders in NAIA softball this season. The Saints will look to add to their resume as they compete in Gulf Shores this weekend against elite NAIA Softball competition.
The Our Lady of the Lake University Saints delivered an explosive offensive performance in a 15-5 victory over Texas A&M University–Victoria Jaguars, piling up 15 hits and capitalizing on timely at-bats to secure the win.
OLLU’s lineup produced contributions throughout the order, highlighted by Diego Zuniga‘s standout day at the plate. Zuniga went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run, driving in five runs to power the Saints attack. His production set the tone early and created separation as the game progressed.
Jack Kalisky sparked the offense from the top portion of the lineup, finishing 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a walk. Benjamin Hovda added two hits, an RBI and a stolen base, while Jacob Cueva crossed the plate four times and drove in a run. Brett Atkinson contributed two hits, including a double, and scored twice as OLLU consistently applied pressure.
Christian Martinez added an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly, and Aiden Gonzalez drove in two runs to round out the Saints 12 RBIs on the day. OLLU also showed discipline at the plate, drawing six walks and limiting strikeouts to nine across 37 at-bats.
On the mound, Ethan Garza earned the win after tossing four innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out one. Xavior Salazar followed with two strong innings, striking out three and allowing just one run. Nolan Nicholson closed the door over the final two frames, striking out four and surrendering only one unearned run to secure the victory.
Defensively, the Saints turned a double play and played clean baseball behind their pitching staff, limiting additional scoring opportunities for the Jaguars.
The Saints demonstrated a complete team effort in the decisive win. The OLLU Baseball team will be back in action Thursday at 2:00 PM CDT against Texas College in a three game series at Missions Baseball Academy.
Tuesday, March 17 | 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Main Building, Room 311
You are invited to attend the upcoming State of the Lake Forum, an important opportunity for our campus community to come together, engage in meaningful dialogue, and hear updates about the university’s priorities, progress, and future direction.
This forum is designed to foster open communication and transparency while providing faculty, staff, and students the chance to ask questions and share perspectives. Your voice matters, and we encourage you to help shape the conversation in advance.
To ensure the discussion reflects the topics most important to our community, please complete the pre-survey and submit any questions, concerns, or comments you would like addressed during the forum. Please respond by Friday, March 13, by 11:59 p.m.
Imagine that our region looks to us because of our programs. Through our students and graduates, we unmistakably align with solving the most complex challenges of our time while remaining firmly rooted in mission. Enrollment reaches a stable and healthy level, allowing us to offer competitive wages, reinvest in our physical plant, and scale our endowment. We achieve this by being explicit about who we serve and intentionally choosing where we will not compete.
Our graduates are sought out by employers because they understand what an OLLU credential represents. Completion rates rise to national distinction. Our students enter high-demand fields and lift their families and communities toward dignified standards of living.
Because of our commitment, it is unambiguous that we are closing the gap of generational poverty that grips our communities by equipping students to rise as leaders by earning wages that allow them to live livelihoods grounded in their values.
Our university is known for our unwavering focus. For our clarity of purpose. For our distinction.
Faculty, Staff, Colleague, Friend. This future is for us to choose and create and commit.
Each of us carries forward the congregational legacy entrusted to us. The Sisters of Divine Providence understood what it meant to pioneer. They crossed oceans, entered unfamiliar terrain, and responded to the needs of their time with courage rooted in God’s providence. They discerned. They acted. They built.
And as I write this reflection in March 2026, it is clear we are part of their legacy. We are stewards of our university and are entrusted with the lives of 1,600 students and their families. The pace of change today compresses what once unfolded across decades into years, or even months. Higher education, locally and nationally, is being reshaped in real time in many ways, including demographically, economically, and technologically. While we cannot alter the rate of change around us, we do choose how we respond.
Our response will not merely be to find a path, which suggests a fixed trail, mapped once and followed mechanically. Our response will be to establish a rhythm—grounded in attentiveness, discipline, adaptation, and trust.
Our conversation last Thursday affirmed that Focused Differentiation is both the path we will take in 2026 and the rhythm we will establish as the ethos of our university. As we process our loss of market share since 2001, before us is the shifting higher education landscape and our need to make a clear strategic choice . That choice is Focused Differentiation.
The work ahead is about morphing, transforming, and becoming the institution we are called to be. The work ahead is about aligning our strengths, sharpening our impact, and ensuring that every decision moves us closer to fulfilling our mission at the highest level.
In San Antonio alone, approximately 135,000 students are enrolled in higher education. The market is competitive and structurally constrained. Private institutions like ours compete for a small and narrow share.
Focused Differentiation demands that we define who we are for. It requires a narrow target market and a small set of distinctive differentiators—attributes so authentic and focused that they cannot be easily claimed or replicated by others. If another institution can make the same claim, then it is not distinctive, and we will refine.
Part of our rhythm will be continual refinement—clear “we will” and “we will not” decisions.
We will remove friction from the student experience. It will not be complicated to enroll. It will be seamless to re-enroll and retain.
Lent calls us to discernment and refinement; to remove what burdens us so that we may move freely toward what matters most. Focused Differentiation is an act of institutional discernment.
Becoming the premier Catholic institution and a national model for mission-driven innovation and social mobility will only be accomplished together. Our university needs each of us. You matter, and you matter greatly.
We will establish a disciplined rhythm that ensures not merely business sustainability, but faithful sustainability—an institution capable of carrying the Gospel and Catholic social teaching into the next generation with strength. Our founders remind us that we are rooted in profound trust in God’s providential love and care for all.
That trust gives me courage, and I hope it does the same for you. Because as we embark on this mission, together, we will not retreat from change, we will shape it.
Together, we will move toward the horizon before us.
I truly and sincerely value your thinking. Please consider completingthis very short, anonymous surveybelow by Monday, March 9, to help us shape our Focused Differentiation direction.
Homecoming 2026 was an unforgettable celebration of community, pride, and tradition at Our Lady of the Lake University, marking 131 years of Saints spirit. The festivities took place over an action-packed weekend from Friday, February 27 through Sunday, March 1, bringing together alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends for a weekend full of meaningful connection and fun.
The weekend kicked off on Friday evening with the President’s Welcome Reception, offering alumni a chance to reconnect and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and wine in a warm, celebratory atmosphere.
Saturday was the heart of Homecoming, featuring a blessing at Sacred Heart Chapel, an exciting Auto & Lowrider Car Show, and a spirited Softball Game alongside family-friendly activities including a Kids Zone and free refreshments. Later that evening, alumni and guests enjoyed a festive Lotería Night Fundraiser—complete with tequila tasting, games, and opportunities to support the university.
The weekend concluded on Sunday with a heartfelt Golden Grads Mass honoring 50th and 60th anniversary classes, followed by a celebratory Brunch where alumni could toast to lifelong Saints connections.
Throughout the celebration, attendees had the chance to make new memories, reconnect with old classmates, and celebrate the enduring mission and legacy of the OLLU community.
First-year doctoral student Lisa Martinez in the Our Lady of the Lake University Doctor of Psychology program has been named a recipient of the highly competitive U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP)—one of only two students nationwide selected to receive the three-year scholarship this year.
On February 20, 2026, Martinez was officially sworn into the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant by Lieutenant Colonel Gray. Upon completing her doctoral training at OLLU, she will be promoted to Captain and serve as a Clinical Psychologist in the Army, providing essential mental health services to Soldiers and their families.
The HPSP scholarship supports outstanding graduate students pursuing careers in healthcare by covering tuition and providing financial support in exchange for military service. Martinez’s selection reflects not only her academic excellence, but also her dedication to service, leadership, and community impact.
As a first-generation doctoral student, veteran, and single parent, Martinez describes this achievement as deeply personal and purpose-driven.
“As a first-generation doctoral student, veteran, and single parent, this milestone represents not only a personal achievement, but a reminder that you are far more capable than you may realize. Trust the calling placed on your life, and have faith that God will lead you into your purpose. If anyone is interested in learning more about the HPSP or military pathways, I am always happy to be a resource!”
Martinez’s journey embodies the mission-centered spirit of OLLU—faith, service, and academic excellence in action. Her commitment to advancing mental health care while serving her country stands as an inspiration to the OLLU community and beyond.
OLLU alumna Sarai Bejarano was recently featured in the San Antonio Report with a powerful op-ed reflecting on how Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) transformed her life and career.
In the piece, Sarai shares her journey as a first-generation college student whose experience at Our Lady of the Lake University — and within the HSI program shaped in part by the late Dr. Antonio Rigual — opened doors to opportunity, leadership and advocacy.
Today, Sarai serves as the Manager of Media Relations and Marketing at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, where she works to defend and protect Hispanic-Serving Institutions and advance equity through legal advocacy.
Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Sarai’s story reflects the mission-driven impact of OLLU and the vital role HSIs play in supporting first-generation and Latino students. Her op-ed is both personal and urgent, underscoring why protecting these institutions matters for future generations.
In honor of National Social Work Appreciation Month, the Worden School of Social Service invites the OLLU community to celebrate Social Work Heroes on March 5 from 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. in the Renaissance Parlor.
Meet professionals from clinical, nonprofit, hospital-based, school-based, forensic, CPS and veteran services settings, and learn more about the wide range of careers available in social work. Presenters will stay afterward for networking and conversation.
The Center for Service-Learning and Volunteerism invites the OLLU community to join a Service Day at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area on March 8 from 8:30 a.m.–12 p.m., followed by lunch at the campsite.
Volunteers (students, faculty, staff and families ages 14+) will help Texas Parks and Wildlife build new trails, remove fencing and clear an old vineyard area. All tools and supplies will be provided. Participants should dress for outdoor manual labor and bring water and lunch.
No park reservation is required. Driving and parking directions will be shared after registration. For questions, contact Jesse Harasta at joharasta@ollusa.edu.
At Hackberry Creek Country Club in Irving, Texas, the women of Our Lady of the Lake University delivered a composed and commanding performance at the Crusaders Cup, capturing the team title against a deep and competitive field. Over 36 holes, OLLU finished at +111, posting rounds of +40 and +71 to secure first place ahead of eight other institutions. With divisional points displayed throughout the event, the Saints consistently saw their name at the top of the team leaderboard.
Individually, OLLU placed four golfers inside the top 11, reinforcing the depth that carried the Saints to victory. Kendall Ward led the way with a runner-up finish at +23, tying for second overall. After an impressive +3 opening round that put her firmly in contention, she battled through a tougher second day (+20) and still held her position among the tournament’s elite. Her performance matched that of Shay West from Hardin-Simmons, trailing only medalist Kinley Pessel of LeTourneau, who claimed individual honors at +16.
Samantha Garcia added another strong finish for OLLU, tying for sixth at +27 with rounds of +13 and +14. Her steady play across both days delivered crucial strokes in the team race, particularly during pivotal stretches on the back nine. Grayson Weiler secured ninth place at +30, following a balanced +13 first round with a +17 second round to remain inside the top 10. Sophia Young tied for 11th at +33, improving her position through disciplined course management and resilience over 36 holes.
Samantha Ziegler rounded out the Saints’ lineup with a tie for 31st at +49. After a challenging first round, she responded with a significantly improved second-round score, exemplifying the perseverance that defines OLLU’s culture. Every contribution mattered, and her determination helped solidify the overall team margin.
While other teams relied heavily on a single standout, the Saints placed multiple players near the top of the leaderboard, limiting volatility and maximizing scoring opportunities. With runner-up individual finish, four top-11 placements, and a decisive team victory, the Saints are trending in the right direction as they head to Kerrville on March 1st.
