The women’s track and field team hosted and participated in the Saints Last Chance event on Friday at Holy Cross High School, a short distance from the OLLU campus.
Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “Alexandria Segura hit a huge jump, and we had some good sprint and distance performances, as well. Nobody new squeaked into nationals, but our women’s 4x100m relay will be ready for Nationals later this month”.
The 4x100m relay team will participate in the 41st Annual Women’s Outdoor Track and Field National Championships on May 25-27 at the Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Ala. The team consists of Autumn Roberts, Larrisa McHenry, Alondra Toledo and Kiana Kebbie, with Alexandria Segura as an alternate.
Kayla Dreese of the softball team has been named to the Academic All-District Softball Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The program recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.
To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominated athletes must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games at their positions. No student-athletes are eligible until they have completed one full calendar year at their current institution and have reached sophomore athletic eligibility.
Dreese will advance to the national ballot after receiving First Team honors. Recipients of those awards will be announced at a later date.
Dreese is a senior from San Antonio and a graduate of Madison High School. Last week, she received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing with a 3.66 cumulative GPA.
OLLU competes in this awards program as part of District 4, College Division, which includes schools from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Canada.
The softball team makes its second trip to nationals in program history after winning the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) regular-season title. The Saints finished with a top overall record of 23-5 in the conference to receive an automatic bid. The ninth annual National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Opening Round Softball bracket was announced on May 10.
OLLU first qualified for nationals in 2014 after capturing the RRAC regular-season (18-2) and tournament titles. The Saints played Oklahoma Baptist University and Ottawa University in the opening round of nationals and lost both games finishing the season with an overall 39-12-1 record.
The Opening Round will take place May 16-18 in Gulf Shores, Ala., at the Gulf Shores Athletic Complex and hosted by the University of Mobile. The No. 3 seed Saints (44-11) are set to face No. 2 seed College of Coastal Georgia (38-12) from Brunswick, Ga., at 11 a.m. on May 16 for the first game of the Opening Round in the Gulf Shores Bracket. The Mariners are making their second appearance in the NAIA Opening Round. They made their first trip last season and failed to make the NAIA World Series after going 2-2 in their bracket.
No. 1 seed Mobile will face No. 4-seed Valley City State University on May 16 at 1 p.m. for the second game. On Tuesday, May 17, the winner of game one will play the winner of game two at 11 a.m. for the third game of the bracket. The loser of game one will play the loser of game two at 1 p.m. for the fourth game. Finally, the loser of game three will play the winner of game four at 3 p.m. for the fifth game On Wednesday, the winner of game three will play the winner of game five for the championship game at 11 a.m. A seventh game will be played if necessary 30 minutes after the sixth game.
OLLU finished as the No. 17-ranked team in the NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Final Poll. Coastal Georgia was voted in the 16th position. Mobile is the No. 1 team in the poll and Valley City State is unranked.
The winner of the Gulf Shores Bracket will advance to the NAIA World Series that will take place at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Ga., from May 26-June 1.
Head Coach Bruce Lenington, awarded RRAC Coach of the Year, commented, “No. 16-ranked Coastal Georgia is a team that has enjoyed much success this year. It will take one of our most complete games to beat them.”
This year’s Opening Round field consists of 33 automatic qualifiers – given to conference regular-season champions, tournament champions or tournament runners-up – and seven at-large teams. Conferences with 10-or-more members receive two automatic qualifiers, while leagues with less than 10 get one. At-large teams were determined by the NAIA Softball National Selection Committee (NSC). The NSC consists of one representative from each geographic area, a representative from the National Administrative Council, a member of the NAIA-Softball Coaches Association Executive Committee and three at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the year on various criteria.
OLLU claimed the RRAC regular season title with a 23-5 conference mark. The Saints owned the nation’s second-largest winning streak from March 18-April 23. OLLU held opponents scoreless 13 times during the 24-game run and had a total of 17 shutouts – a tie for the most shutouts in program history. Cassandra Valdez (JR/Brownsville, Texas) was awarded RRAC Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year. Rebecca Duran (SR/Austin, Texas) earned Newcomer of the Year while Madison Nunn (SR/Cibolo, Texas) garnered Defensive Player of the Year. Valdez leads the Saints with a 1.58 ERA and averages 8.54 strikeouts per seven innings. Duran has a team-leading 10 sacrifice hits and Nunn committed only two fielding errors in 50 games played.
Kayla Dreese (SR/San Antonio, Texas) leads OLLU with a .441 batting average. Ariel Montgomery (SR/Castroville, Texas) tops the charts with 49 RBIs and Caitlin Terrazas (SR/Atascosa, Texas) has 14 doubles. The Saints rank fourth in the league with 58 home runs, 175 extra base hits and 787 total bases. They also have 366 runs scored, which is top-10 in the league.
The NAIA’s No. 16-ranked Mariners are 19th in the NAIA with 92 doubles. Hayley Dickerson leads the team with a 2.06 ERA. Sarah Thinger has a team-leading .396 batting average and 29 walks. The Mariners were eliminated from The Sun Conference (TSC) postseason tournament after falling in the consolation bracket and losing twice overall. Coastal Georgia won 13 straight games from Feb. 20-March 22.
Opening Round Notes
Overall, there are 23 repeat qualifiers from the 2021 opening round, including six teams that won opening round titles last season – College of Idaho, Madonna, Olivet Nazarene, Oregon Tech, Ottawa and Southern Oregon.
Indiana Wesleyan is the lone team in the field with 50 or more wins at 50-8 overall. Freed-Hardeman has the next highest win total at 48-3.
Lindsey Wilson and Oklahoma City are back in the field for the ninth time, which leads the field. These two clubs are the only NAIA teams to have participated in every event since the format was established in 2013.
There are six newcomers to the opening round in this year’s field in Embry-Riddle, Michigan-Dearborn, Mount Marty, Saint Mary of the Woods, Texas A&M Texarkana and William Jessup.
Oklahoma City has the honor of the most opening-round championships with six. Twenty teams in the 2022 field have at least one opening round championship to their credit.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference leads all leagues with four teams in the 2022 field. The Crossroads League, Mid-South Conference and The Sun Conference followed with three each.
All-Time Opening Round Record by Seed
No. 1-Seed: 190-75 (.712)
No. 2 seed: 148-132 (.529)
No. 3 seed: 97-143 (.404)
No. 4 seed: 57-146 (.281)
All-Time Opening Round Host Records
2013 Hosts: 24-12 (.667)
2014 Hosts: 27-7 (.794)
2015 Hosts: 27-9 (.750)
2016 Hosts: 22-11 (.667)
2017 Hosts: 18-13 (.581)
2018 Hosts: 16-8 (.667)
2019 Hosts: 20-6 (.762)
2020 Hosts: 11-16 (.407)
TOTAL: 165-82 (.668)
2022 NAIA Opening Round Qualifiers
Institution
Qualifying Method
2022 Record
Last Time
Appearances
Opening Round Record
OR Titles
Bryan (Tenn.)
Appalachian Regular Season Champion
30-16
2014
2
2-1
0
Campbellsville (Ky.)
At-Large
37-16
2021
7
11-11
1
Central Methodist (Mo.)
Heart Regular Season/Tournament Champion
40-5
2021
7
14-10
1
Coastal Georgia
At-Large
38-12
2021
2
2-2
0
College of Idaho
Cascade Tournament Runner-Up
41-15
2021
4
8-5
1
Columbia (Mo.)
AMC Regular Season/Tournament Champion
33-10
2021
7
10-8
1
Cottey (Mo.)
Continental Tournament Runner-Up
30-15
2021
2
0-2
0
Eastern Oregon
At-Large
41-15
2018
3
0-4
0
Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)
Cal Pac Tournament Champion
40-3
N/A
1
0-0
0
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
Mid-South Tournament Champion
48-3
2021
5
7-2
0
Friends (Kan.)
KCAC Tournament Champion
30-19
2019
5
1-8
0
Georgia Gwinnett
Continental Tournament Champion
35-18
2021
7
13-9
1
Grand View (Iowa)
Heart Regular Season Runner-Up
42-9
2021
8
7-12
0
Indiana Wesleyan
Crossroads Regular Season/Tournament Champion
50-8
2021
7
10-9
1
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
Mid-South Tournament Runner-Up
38-15
2021
9
15-11
3
Madonna (Mich.)
WHAC Regular Season Champion
31-7
2021
6
10-9
0
Marian (Ind.)
At-Large
40-11
2021
8
14-8
3
Michigan-Dearborn
WHAC Tournament Champion
30-11
N/A
1
0-0
0
Midland (Neb.)
GPAC Regular Season Champion
36-10
2021
4
4-6
0
Mobile (Ala.)
SSAC Tournament Champion
46-2
2019
5
12-3
2
Mount Marty (S.D.)
GPAC Tournament Champion
32-14
N/A
1
0-0
0
Oklahoma City
Sooner Tournament Champion
47-6
2021
9
22-5
6
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)
Chicagoland Tournament Runner-Up
33-13-1
2021
7
12-8
1
Oregon Tech
Cascade Regular Season/Tournament Champion
46-10
2021
8
19-7
3
Ottawa (Kan.)
KCAC Regular Season Champion
35-13-1
2021
4
6-2
2
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)
Red River Top Overall Record
44-11
2014
2
0-2
0
Rio Grande (Ohio)
River States Regular Season Champion
39-13
2021
7
8-12
0
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.)
River States Tournament Champion
29-12
N/A
1
0-0
0
Saint Xavier (Ill.)
Chicagoland Regular Season/Tournament Champion
36-6
2021
8
16-12
2
Science & Arts (Okla.)
At-Large
47-8
2021
6
11-7
2
Southeastern (Fla.)
The Sun Regular Season Champion
46-10
2018
5
6-6
1
Southern Oregon
At-Large
46-12
2021
6
15-4
3
Taylor (Ind.)
Crossroads Tournament Runner-Up
26-27
2019
4
3-6
0
Tennessee Wesleyan
Appalachian Tournament Champion
34-7
2015
2
0-2
0
Texas A&M Texarkana
Red River Tournament Champion
42-12
N/A
1
0-0
0
Valley City State (N.D.)
North Star Tournament Champion
33-16
2019
2
3-0
1
Webber International (Fla.)
The Sun Tournament Champion
39-21
2016
2
3-0
1
William Carey (Miss.)
At-Large
45-9
2021
8
12-10
2
William Jessup (Calif.)
GSAC Tournament Champion
36-13
N/A
1
0-0
0
William Woods (Mo.)
AMC Tournament Runner-Up
23-23
2019
4
1-6
0
For more information on the 2022 Softball NAIA Opening Round, CLICK HERE.
The baseball program has announced its date for the 2022 OLLU Baseball Showcase.
The prospect showcase will take place on June 10 at Missions Baseball Academy. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. with the showcase following from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost for the showcase is $100 and can be paid online or in-person with a check. The showcase is for 2022-2024 high school graduates, as well as junior college players who may be interested in transferring to OLLU.
The No. 3-seed OLLU baseball team fell to No. 8-seed University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) in the consolation bracket of the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Baseball Tournament to end the 2022 season. The Saints finish 31-24 overall while the Jaguars improve to 22-25.
Head Coach Bryan Aughney commented, “I’m very proud of this team. We faced a lot of adversity this season, and from how things started out to where we went this group continued to work. This was our third 30-win season in a row. We didn’t finish how we wanted, but we rolled with some young players and this experience will pay off for them. Our seniors continued to believe and give us their all every day. They took pride in being a Saint and have taken our program to another level. I love each and every one of them. Now it’s our returners turn to carry the torch.”
History
The Saints were 23-13 against the Jaguars prior to the game.
Basics
The Jaguars strung together five runs in the first six innings. The Saints were able to score their first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning when Jarod Smith (FR/Baytown, Texas) singled to score Matthew Klar (SR/San Antonio, Texas). Houston-Victoria added two more runs in the seventh inning on a walk and a fielder’s choice. Despite being down 7-1, the Saints battled back. They scored four runs in the bottom of the frame to cut the Jaguars lead to two. The scoring started when Jacob Mitchell (SR/Harker Heights, Texas) walked with bases loaded to allow Sebastian Ledezma (FR/Los Fresnos, Texas) to score. Klar hit a two-run double to left field and Jimmy Valle (FR/San Antonio, Texas) later scored on a Francisco Martinez (FR/San Antonio, Texas) ground out. Houston-Victoria’s offense carried its momentum into the top of the eighth inning by scoring 12 runs. The Saints lost 19-5 to end the 2022 campaign.
Starting pitcher Javier De Alejandro (FR/San Antonio, Texas) suffered the loss after allowing three earned runs with five strikeouts in three innings of work. The Saints used six relief pitchers that combined to allow 15 earned runs. Robert Arredondo (SR/Corpus Christi, Texas), Jacob Montejano (JR/San Antonio, Texas) and Klar all had a multi-hit game.
The No. 1-seed OLLU softball team downed No. 2-seed Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) to advance to the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Championship Game which will be played today at 12:30 p.m. on the OLLU Softball field. The Saints improve to 44-9 overall while the Eagles fall to 40-12.
Head Coach Bruce Lenington commented, “I’m very proud with how our team played today. Cassandra Valdez (JR/Brownsville, Texas) led us offensively and defensively. Joanna Gonzalez (SR/San Benito, Texas) and Kayla Dreese (SR/San Antonio, Texas) hit huge solo home runs for us. We’ll need another big day tomorrow to finish this thing off.”
History The Saints were 5-7 against the Eagles prior to the game.
Basics The Saints and Eagles engaged in a pitching batting until the fourth inning. Erika Richardson hit a two-run home run with two outs to give the Eagles the advantage. The Saints responded in the bottom of the frame when Valdez doubled to left field to score Ariel Montgomery (SR/Castroville, Texas) and Dreese. Gonzalez gave the Saints the permanent lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when she homered over the left field fence. Dreese added an insurance run for the Saints in the next inning with a solo home run to left-center field. The Saints won 4-2 to advance to the championship game in the RRAC Softball Tournament.
Valdez pitched the entire game in the circle and struck out seven batters to earn the win. Dreese had a multi-hit game and Valdez tallied two RBIs.
Up next The Saints face TAMUT in the RRAC Championship Game tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.
Baseball’s Brandon Betancourt was selected Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Freshman of the Year, while four other members of the Saints team were selected to the All-Conference Team.
The conference’s coaches made the selections on the eve of the RRAC championship tournament, and the awards were presented between games at Sterlington Sports Complex on May 6.
OLLU placed three players on the first team, including repeat first-team winners Jacob Mitchell and Brett Vasquez, as well as Robert Arredondo. Receiving Gold Glove recognition was Jacob Montejano, who also was the team’s Champions of Character winner.
Betancourt shares his Freshman of the Year Award with LSU-Alexandria’s William Vice.Betancourt, an outfielder, batted .386 in his first college season and drove in 19 runs.
Jacob Mitchell led the team in runs with 47, hits with 54, doubles with 17, homers with 11, RBIs with 49 and slugging with .741. He has a .378 batting average and a .497 on-base percentage.
Robert Arredondo leads the team in at-bats with 170, and he has the second-most hits with 52 and is tied with the most walks with 35. He is batting .306 and has an on-base percentage of .428 and a slugging percentage of .359.
Jacob Montejano has 48 runs, 42 hits, 10 doubles, 20 RBIs, 35 walks, a .457 on-base percentage and a .426 slugging percentage. He has 55 putouts, 89 assists and 13 double plays.
Brett Vasquez has pitched in 84 innings and has 27 earned runs with 129 strikeouts. His ERA is .289.
The baseball team finished the regular season by sweeping the University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) in a three-game series. The Saints head into the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Championship Tournament with a 29-22 overall record and 21-11 conference mark. The Jaguars move to 20-24 overall and 15-18 in the RRAC.
The Saints were 20-13 against the Jaguars prior to the series.
Game One, 5-4
The Saints took the lead in the second inning of game one. Christian Martinez (FR/Corpus Christi, Texas) hit an RBI ground out to score Matthew Klar (SR/San Antonio, Texas), and Robert Arredondo (SR/Corpus Christi, Texas) drove in Jonathan LaCourse (SO/San Antonio, Texas) on an infield single. Jacob Montejano (JR/San Antonio, Texas) increased the Saints’ advantage in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly to score Sebastian Ledezma (FR/Los Fresnos, Texas). The Jaguars’ bats came to life in the top of the eighth inning. They plated four runs on three hits to take a 4-3 lead. Montejano was the hero for the Saints in the bottom of the ninth inning. He doubled on a line drive to right field that scored two runs to give OLLU a 5-4 victory in walk-off fashion.
Montejano batted 3-for-4 and was responsible for three of the five Saints RBIs. Arredondo went 3-for-4 at the plate. Starting pitcher Brett Vasquez (JR/Baytown, Texas) went seven innings with 12 strikeouts and no earned runs. Pablo Montante (SO/San Antonio, Texas) earned the win after protecting the tie in the top of the ninth inning.
Game Two, 4-1
OLLU used a solid third inning to take game two. Noah Rodriguez (JR/Victoria, Texas) started the scoring by bringing in Montejano on a sacrifice fly with bases loaded and no outs. Christian Martinez scored Francisco Martinez (FR/San Antonio, Texas) on a fielder’s choice, and Klar later stole home to improve the Saints’ lead to four runs. UHV put up one run in the fifth inning, but the Saints sealed the 4-1 victory to secure a series victory.
Starting pitcher Trey Ramirez III (SR/Donna, Texas) got the win after pitching a complete game. He allowed only one run with seven strikeouts. Jacob Mitchell (SR/Harker Heights, Texas) went 2-for-2 at the plate and scored one run. Jarod Smith (FR/Baytown, Texas), Christian Martinez and Rodriguez all had an RBI.
Game Three, 13-11
The programs combined for 20 hits and six errors in the series finale. Following a 1-0 advantage after the first frame, the Saints put up seven runs in the second inning. Christian Martinez, Arredondo and Montejano were responsible for two RBIs each in the inning. The Saints also added one run in the fourth inning to grow their lead to 9-0. The Jaguars were able to get on the board in the following inning with three runs. Montejano scored in the bottom of the sixth inning after a ground-out RBI by Rodriguez.
The Saints led 10-3, but the Jaguars didn’t back down. They plated five runs on four hits in the top of the seventh inning to cut OLLU’s advantage to 10-8. The Saints continued their hot hitting and won an offensive battle 13-11. Three Saints players had a multi-RBI game. Montejano scored four runs and batted 3-for-4. Jacob Mitchell pitched five innings and picked up the win with six strikeouts and two earned runs. Layne Klostermann (JR/Raymondville, Texas), Joshua Mendez (JR/Corpus Christi, Texas) and Ziegen Farley (FR/San Antonio, Texas) all pitched in relief.
Up next
The Saints compete in the RRAC Championship Tournament from May 6-9 in Sterlington, La. The No. 4 Saints will play No. 5 University of the Southwest Mustangs on May 6 at 2 p.m.
The women’s track and field team finished in fourth place at the 2022 Red River Athletic Conference Championships. The Saints hosted the two-day event at Holy Cross High School.
Capturing the conference title was Xavier University of Louisiana with 202 points. Wiley College followed with 144.5 points, Huston-Tillotson University tallied 131 points, and OLLU finished with 104 points. Jarvis Christian College had 79.5 points, and Paul Quinn College ended with seven points.
The men’s track and field team finished in third place at the 2022 Red River Athletic Conference Championships. The Saints hosted the two-day event at Holy Cross High School.
Capturing the conference title was Xavier University of Louisiana with 213 points. Huston-Tillotson University followed with 167.5 points, and OLLU finished with 146 points. Fourth-place went to Wiley College with 98.5 points, Jarvis Christian College with 72 points, the University of the Southwest with 27 points and Paul Quinn College with seven points.
