May 18, 2007

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Haley Valis belted a 1-0 pitch over the left centerfield wall as the University of Houston softball team emerged with a hard-fought 4-3 walk-off victory in nine innings over No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette to open the NCAA College Station Regional Friday afternoon at the Aggie Softball Complex on the Texas A&M campus.

"The win is a big step for our program," Valis said. "We didn't play well against ULL earlier in the season. It was important to prove to ourselves that we can play with anyone. We haven't had a lot of success against Top 25 teams this season."

Houston (43-16) advances to face No. 7 Texas A&M Saturday at Noon CDT in a winner's bracket game. This is program's first win against Louisiana-Lafayette in seven attempts. The Ragin' Cajuns had defeated Houston 5-0 and 14-0 in a doubleheader one month ago to the day in Lafayette.

"We had a few adjustments in all aspects of the game to make after we played ULL the first time around," Holas said. "I was proud of our players because they stepped up and make every one of them. We were a lot more prepared to deal with everything that came up in today's game."

Angel Shamblin went the distance for the Cougars, earning her 30th win of the season. The Florida native racked up 10 strikeouts and became the 10th pitcher in the nation this season to eclipse the 300-strikeout mark.

"Angel showed this afternoon why she's two-time Conference USA Pitcher of the Year," Holas said. "She's had a lot of obstacles to deal with losing her fellow captain in Jessica Valis. She has showed her maturity and leadership in dealing with those situations."

Elaina Nordstrom gave the Cougars a 2-0 advantage in the first inning, smacking a two-run homer off the left field net. Katie Bush opened the frame with a leadoff walk.

Houston tacked on another run to make it 3-0 in the third inning as Laura Durham knocked a RBI-single up-the-middle to score Nordstrom. Durham matched a season-high with three hits.

Louisiana-Lafayette trimmed the deficit to 3-1 when Lacey Bertucci popped a one-out RBI-single of her own through the left side.

The Ragin' Cajuns (46-17) were down to their final out in the seventh inning with runners on first and second base. Desi Chatman hit a slow roller to UH shortstop Amanda Grote, who threw the ball past Haley Valis covering second base. The ball squirted into right field and allowed ULL to tie the score at 3-3.

Shamblin regrouped in the circle and retired all six of the ULL hitters she faced in extra innings.

"Angel did a great job of regrouping after the infield's mental mistakes in the seventh inning," Valis said. "She did a fantastic job of staying focused on the mound and kept their hitters off-balanced."

Nordstrom started the home half of the ninth inning with a leadoff walk, but was doubled off on a Christa Raley pop-up before Valis ended the game with a walk-off blast.

The Cougars take on No. 7 Texas A&M Saturday at Noon CDT. Live video along with live stats via GameTracker will be available on UHCougars.com