University of Houston Athletics
Softball ready for Southern Miss
3/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 26, 2004
HOUSTON - After taking almost two weeks to rest up from a hectic early season schedule, the University of Houston softball team heads back into action Saturday afternoon when they take on Conference USA foe Southern Miss at the Cougar Softball Complex in a double header starting at 1 p.m.
Houston head coach Kyla Holas said the time away from competition has been a good thing for her team, giving them time to get refocused.
"It's been exactly what we needed," she said. "I think we lost the game to UT-Arlington due to not being as healthy as we could have been. I feel like we've been able to take a step back, get some people healthy and refocus. We've had a great week of practice and I'm excited about playing again."
Solid pitching and clutch hitting has Houston off to its best start in school history after 35 games with a 24-11 record and a 3-0 Conference USA mark. Senior pitcher Jenny Johnson has been dominant for the Cougars to this point with a 0.51 earned run average, eight saves and a 9-4 record in 96 innings pitched.
Offensively Kim Nesloney and Kristen Glowacz who are both hitting .315 on the season lead Houston. Glowacz has team-high 23 runs batted in with five home runs while Arelis Ferreris has blasted seven round trippers this season.
Southern Miss (15-17) enters the series on the heels of a 6-0 victory over in state rival Mississippi State Wednesday. The Golden Eagles have won 10 of their last 15 games and are 3-3 in C-USA play.
Historically the Cougars have had success against Southern Miss, winning five of six games last season and compiling a 7-5 record over the past three seasons. However, the last time the two teams met the Golden Eagles got the better of Houston.
In the 2003 Conference USA Tournament, hosted by the Cougars, the Golden Eagles got the best of Houston, grabbing a 7-6 extra inning win to end the Cougars season and their hopes of playing in a regional.
Holas said the memories of that game are going to be a motivating factor for her team when they face the Golden Eagles this weekend.
"That's all the motivation we have," Holas said. The first thing in your mind is the last thing you did and for us that was Southern Miss. They took something from us. We felt like if we had beat them in our conference tournament we would have made it to regionals. For us to miss out on that last year is a big part of this year's motivation."
The two teams will play a double header starting at 1 p.m. Saturday and will close out the series Sunday afternoon with a single game starting a 1 p.m.
