(Photo courtesy of University of Mobile Sports Information.)
GULF SHORES, ALA. (May 17, 2022) – The Gulf Shores Bracket's No. 3-seed Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) softball team defeated No. 4-seed Valley City State University (VCSU) and No. 2-seed College of Coastal Georgia (CCGA) to advance to the NAIA Opening Round Championship. The Saints improve to 46-12 on the season.
This marks the first time the Saints have won at nationals. In the team's first appearance at the NAIA National Tournament in 2014, the Saints lost both games, 2-3 and 2-7, to end their season.
Head Coach Bruce Lenington said, "This group just keeps making history. These two wins are the first victories at the national level and were extremely hard fought. Cassandra Valdez (JR/Brownsville, Texas) and Ciera Martinez (SR/San Antonio, Texas) picked up the wins in the circle. Home runs by Rebecca Duran (SR/Austin, Texas) and Valdez provided the offense we needed to get the wins."