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University of Houston
%Arkansas
Cougars Drop Two In Season Opening Tournament
2/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Jan. 31, 2003
SAN MARCOS, Texas---On the opening day of the 2003 season, the University of Houston Cougar softball team came out on the short end of both its contests here today at the SWT/Century-Tel Softball Classic hosted by Southwest Texas State University.
UH resumes play on Saturday evening, taking on the University of Oregon at 5 pm and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi immediately following at 7 pm. The Cougars will conclude the three-day tournament with a Sunday afternoon contest versus Texas Tech.
In the first game against host SWT, the Cougars struggled at the plate and managed only four hits in the 3-1 loss to the Bobcats. The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when sophomore Jeanie Davis, who reached on one of her two hits, scored on a groundout by freshman Brooke Johnson.
The Bobcats roared back in the top of the sixth against junior pitcher Jenny Johnson, when designated player Katie Bard reached base on a clean single. Junior Jamie Falco replaced Johnson and worked a 3-2 count to Ryan Stukel before the SWT catcher deposited her next pitch over the right-center wall to give the Bobcats the 2-1 lead they would never relinquish. SWT tacked on an insurance run in the seventh for their final run of the game.
Jenny Johnson took the loss against Southwest Texas, even though she had to re-enter the game and bail Falco out of further damage in the sixth. Jenny Johnson gave up only one earned run on five hits while striking out 10.
In the final game against the University of Arkansas, it was the Cougar defense that let them down this time, committing four errors, which contributed to the Lady Razorback late-inning rally. With freshman Crystal Briscoe pitching in the first collegiate game of her career, the Cougars staked her to a 3-1 lead thanks in part to the big stick of Davis. In the top of the third after sophomore Kristen Glowacz coaxed a walk to start the frame, Davis blasted a two-run shot over the left-center fence to give Houston a 2-0 lead.
After the Lady Razorbacks tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the inning, Davis countered again in the fifth when her double to the gap scored junior Arelis Ferreris, who had reached base on a single and moved into scoring position on a fielder's choice. With Briscoe on the mound it looked as though the 3-1 lead would stand and give Houston its first win of the young season.
With two outs and one runner on in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cougar defense caved and gave Arkansas hope. Ferreris dropped an easy pop fly for an error to put runners on second and third. The next batter, Arkansas shortstop Lauren Hendrix, dropped a single in front of UH leftfielder Brooke Johnson who proceeded to overthrow Ferreris at the plate allowing the runner to move into scoring position.
Arkansas designated player Melissa Johnson laced a run-scoring single to leftfield to give the Lady Razorbacks their first lead of the game.
The Cougars would not go down quietly, however, tying the score in the top of the seventh in hopes of extra innings. Sophomore Kim Nesloney led of the inning with a sharp single up the middle and advanced on a passed ball. Ferreris redeemed herself with a run-scoring single to knot the game at 4-4, setting up Arkansas' seventh-inning heroics.
Pinch runner Julie Young scored on Mindy O'Malley's two-out single to give Arkansas the come-from-behind win and drop the Cougars to 0-2 on the year.
