Louisiana Tech University’s softball team secured a 12-3 victory over Northwestern State in its home opener at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field on Tuesday night. The win moves the Bulldogs to a 9-2 record this season, while Northwestern State drops to 3-9. This game marked the first run-rule win of the year for Louisiana Tech.
Four players from Louisiana Tech—Bradi Gallaway, Reese Torres, Allie Furr, and Rosalie Dufresne—each recorded two hits during the game. Torres led the team with four runs batted in (RBIs) and three runs scored. Elena Heng contributed two RBIs, while Jina Baffuto, Gallaway, Furr, and Dufresne each drove in one run. Gallaway, Furr, Reagan Marchant, and Aleah Brooks all scored twice.
Three pitchers took the mound for Louisiana Tech during the game. Allie Floyd started and delivered two perfect innings with no base runners allowed and two strikeouts. Laney Johnson improved her season record to 4-0 after pitching one inning and allowing two unearned runs on three hits. Bryannah Campos closed out the final two innings, giving up one unearned run on two hits and striking out one batter.
Louisiana Tech’s offense was active early in the game. In the first inning, Cali Bennett walked and later scored on a single by Gallaway. Additional walks loaded the bases for Torres, who drew another walk to bring in a run. The Bulldogs continued to capitalize on errors and hits to build an early lead.
Torres hit a three-run home run in the second inning—the third consecutive game she has homered—bringing her total multi-RBI games this season to six and setting a new career high with four RBIs in this match.
Northwestern State responded with three runs in the fourth inning but could not close the gap further as Louisiana Tech’s defense limited additional scoring opportunities.
Head coach Josh Taylor commented on his team’s performance: “We got a quality start out of Allie [Floyd], and we knew we would. She was dominant for two innings. I think she was perfect for two innings and allowed our offense to score six runs in the first inning. We were really good at getting our pitch to hit tonight. We did not chase out of the zone. We had made her command the zone, and she wasn’t able to do that, so we were able to take our walks, which puts pressure, and then we were able to get some hits in there. The result was a six spot in the first, which certainly is a good thing. Then they responded right again in the second with another four and then another two. I was pleased with our offense tonight. I think they did a really good job of commanding the strike zone as a hitter and getting something to drive. That was really nice to see, and especially coming off the weekend down in Youngsville, where the strike zone was a little bit big, they stayed true to themselves. Sometimes those things can go both ways. I think our hitters showed a lot of maturity tonight.”
With this victory, head coach Josh Taylor’s record improves to 4-1 in home openers at Louisiana Tech.
The Bulldogs now hold an all-time record of 66-52 against Northwestern State.
The team will have Wednesday off before hosting ULML at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field on Thursday evening.
