St. Thomas softball faced two Louisiana teams on Saturday at the Mardi Gras Mambo tournament in Youngsville, Louisiana. The Tommies (6-3) defeated Louisiana Tech (7-2), handing the Bulldogs only their second loss of the season, and narrowly lost to 25th-ranked Southeastern Louisiana (9-3) in a close 3-2 contest.
In the first game, pitcher Ava Kleinfeldt secured her third win of the year by pitching a complete game. She allowed two earned runs on nine hits and one walk, recording seven strikeouts—her highest since April 2025 against Wisconsin. Avery Wukawitz put St. Thomas ahead in the third inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Zoe Trotter after Trotter walked to lead off the inning. Louisiana Tech responded with a run following their own leadoff walk.
St. Thomas gained momentum in the fifth and sixth innings with home runs from Laken Lienhard, Abbi Stierlen, and Zoe Trotter. Lienhard’s homer brought in Grace Nosan and Miley Wichman, while Stierlen hit her Summit League-leading fifth home run of the season to score Izzy Vick. Trotter added her third career home run to extend the Tommies’ lead. Stierlen finished as the only Tommie with two hits; Klein and Trotter each reached base twice.
Louisiana Tech scored once more on a wild pitch in the seventh inning.
In their second game against Southeastern Louisiana, Avery Wukawitz hit a home run on the third pitch of the game for an early lead. The Lions tied it up in their half of the first inning after an error by St. Thomas. Ella Cook pitched six innings for St. Thomas, allowing one earned run out of three total runs given up, along with five hits, one walk, and two strikeouts.
Wukawitz tripled to start the third inning and scored on Mya Tautges’ single up the middle; Tautges stole second but was left stranded at third base as the inning ended. Southeastern Louisiana tied things again in the fourth after another error by St. Thomas and took a 3-2 lead following a leadoff walk and single in the fifth.
Cook was also St. Thomas’s last base runner after drawing a walk to open the sixth inning.
Next on St. Thomas’s schedule is Northwestern State (3-7), with first pitch set for 10:00 a.m.
Fans can find updates about St. Thomas softball by following @TommieSoftball on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
