May 16, 2007

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Angel Shamblin and Jessica Valis earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-South Region Second-Team honors Wednesday afternoon as announced by the NFCA.

This is the fifth consecutive season that Houston (42-16) has placed at least one player on the NFCA All-South Region Second Team. It also marks the first time in program history that two Cougars were named to the team during the same season.

"Being able to have two players on the All-Region Team is a huge step for our program," head coach Kyla Holas said. "Angel proved once again this season that she is worthy of this honor. She really stepped up to the challenge and has improved on her wins total in addition to her strikeout numbers. This honor for Jessica shows the strides that she has made since last season. She has taken her play to a new level, and this reinforces all the hard work she has put in."

Shamblin won her second consecutive Conference USA Pitcher of the Year award and has tallied an impressive 29-7 record and a stifling 1.16 ERA. She paces C-USA, racking up 294 strikeouts in 247.1 innings of work. Her 29 wins and 294 strikeouts are not only single-season program records but are among the Top 10 nationally.

Valis ranks in C-USA's Top 10 in six different categories, including batting average (.386-2nd), hits (68-3rd), slugging (.551-8th), runs (36-7th), triples (7-2nd) and on-base percentage (.419-2nd). She's also among C-USA's Top 10 in eight different categories, including (.465-1st), hits (33-1st), runs (19-1st ), on-base (.506-3rd), slugging (.648-4th), doubles (5-4th), triples (4-1st) and total bases (48-1st) in league play.

The Cougars return to the diamond as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA College Station Regional and face off against No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette Friday at 1:00pm CDT. Live video along with live stats via GameTracker will be available on UHCougars.com for all NCAA Regional games.