March 28, 2007

Final Stats

HUNTSVILLE - Katie Bush went 3-for-4 with three runs scored as the University of Houston softball team notched a 7-3 win over Sam Houston State Wednesday afternoon in game two of a doubleheader at the SHSU Softball Complex.

Carla Kennimer improved to 4-0 in the circle, firing a complete game in her second start of the season. The southpaw surrendered two earned runs and sprayed 10 hits.

"Our pitching wasn't as sharp as it has been, but Sam Houston State is a strong hitting team," head coach Kyla Holas said. "Carla did an excellent job mentally of handling her start. If she continues to use the approach she showed today, she'll get more innings down the road."

"I wanted the ball for this game," Kennimer said. "Besides a couple mistakes, I thought it was a positive outing. My rise and drop balls worked well. Those two pitches haven't been my best in the past. My goal is to continue to work hard in practice and get the ball again."

Houston (27-11) gave Kennimer early run support scoring two runs in the first inning by using alert baserunning.

With two outs in the frame, Elaina Nordstrom knocked a single followed by a Christa Raley walk. Nordstrom and Raley came around to score on an infield error as the ball squirted away from shortstop Tanya Hooser.

"Our baserunning made alert decisions in both games," Holas said. "That has been something that has hurt us in games earlier this season."

The Cougars went ahead 3-0 as Laura Durham slapped a RBI-single to score Katie Bush in the third inning. Laurie Wagner and Samantha Cummings belted home runs in the fourth and seventh innings, while Houston took advantage of Sam Houston State errors in the fifth and six innings.

"After our team hit three home runs in the first game, I challenged them to manufacture runs in game two," Holas said. "Other than the two solo home runs by Laurie and Sam, we did an excellent of job of not only manufacturing runs but taking advantage of Sam Houston errors."

Sam Houston State (14-17) got RBIs from Stephanie Mosley, Mandy Collier and Amanda Lindsay. The Bearkats had a chance to trim the deficit to 7-4 in the seventh inning, but Bush ended the game by gunning down her outfield-leading fourth runner at the plate to end the game.

Houston returns to Conference USA action with a weekend series against UAB at the Cougar Softball Stadium. Saturday's doubleheader against the Blazers begins at 1pm followed by a Sunday single game at noon. The Cougars make their CSTV debut in the series finale. All games this weekend will have live stats on UHCougars.com

"These games were good preparation for UAB," Holas said. "Our goal is to continue to work hard and have two solid practices and get ready for a key conference series."

Cougar Notes
Game two of this afternoon's doubleheader is the 12th all-time meeting between Houston and Sam Houston State ... Houston has won 11 of 12 meetings in the series ... The Cougars have won 26 of its last 27 games against current non-ranked opponents ... Houston improves to 21-6 when scoring first ... The Cougars also are 105-29 since the start of the 2004 season when scoring first ... Houston is 16-0 when scoring at least four runs this season ... Houston has won 32 of 44 games over the last two seasons when Jessica and Haley Valis are in the starting infield ... Jessica Valis and Elaina Nordstrom have started in all 100 games of their careers ... Laura Durham also has played in all 100 games of her Houston career since transferring from Texas A&M ... Katie Bush has made 97 consecutive starts in centerfield ... Jessica Valis had her hitting streak at seven games ... It was only the eighth time this season that Valis has not recorded a hit in a game ... Katie Bush has recorded a hit in five of her last six games ... The three hits by Bush match a career-high ... It was her sixth career three-hit game with her last three-hit effort coming in the series finale against Memphis (March 25) last weekend ... Bush moves to nine hits away from reaching 100 for her career ... Elaina Nordstrom pushes her hitting streak to a season-best eight games and has hit safely in 13 of her last 14 outings ... With one hit, the California native moves to seven hits away from reaching the 100-mark for her career ... It was just the second time in the last seven games that Christa Raley has not recorded a hit ... With a walk in the first inning, the LaPorte native has reached base in 23 of her last 26 games ... It was only the fourth time in the last 13 games that Haley Valis has not tallied a hit ... Laura Durham has notched a hit in four of her last six games ... Samantha Cummings racked up her second career multi-hit game ... Laurie Wagner has reached base safely in five of her last seven games ... Amanda Grote reached base twice via an error.