University of Houston Athletics
Softball Heads Up To Southern Miss
4/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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April 14, 2005
HOUSTON - Fresh off of a series sweep against Conference USA rival Saint Louis, the Houston softball team heads out on the road to continue league play with a three-game series in Hattiesburg, Miss., against the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss this Friday and Saturday, April 16 and 17.
Houston will be looking to improve upon its 8-9 all-time mark against the Golden Eagles, in a rivalry that has been defined by its series sweeps in C-USA play.
The past three seasons have seen the two teams alternate series sweeps with Southern Miss claiming the series in 2002 and 2004 while Houston claimed the series sweep in 2003. However, despite dropping their conference series to the Golden Eagles last season, the Cougars knocked the Golden Eagles off in the 2004 C-USA Tournament with a 5-1 win in Louisville, Ky.
Currently, the Cougars (23-20, 6-6) are riding a five-game winning streak that began by sweeping Sam Houston in a doubleheader, and a three-game sweep of the Billikens last week.
Senior Kristen Glowacz was named the C-USA Hitter of the Week after batting .692 on the week, setting a new C-USA record for most career home runs, and tying the school and league records for most hits in game with her 4-for-4 performance in Game 2 against the Billikens.
Houston's pitching crew has been strong over the last five games, with freshman Angel Shamblin recording the second no-hitter of her career against SLU, and freshman Barbie Love registering her first one-hitter as a Cougar, also against SLU.
The NCAA released its first national statistics this week and Houston finds itself among the nation's best at No. 14 in home runs per game (1.0), No. 30 in doubles per game (1.44), and No. 19 in slugging percentage (.465).
For Southern Miss (19-26), the Golden Eagles are returning to their home field after falling 6-2 at Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday, and is currently on a seven-game skid.
At the plate, Jessica Huerta leads Southern Miss with 47 hits, 31 runs, 13 doubles, and 28 RBI. Also batting well is Charity Butler, whose .369 batting average is tops on the roster, while Ashley Davis has turned in a team high six home runs on the year.
As a team, the Golden Eagles are batting .276 to their opponents' .289 and have been out run 221-180 on the year.
In the circle, the pitching crew has a combined 4.30 ERA, having given up 178 earned runs on 340 hits and have pitched 11 shutouts.
Freshman Krystal Crooks and Danielle Wymer handle the majority of the pitching duties for Southern Miss. Crooks, who has thrown 137 innings, carries a 10-9 record with a 3.42 ERA, while Wymer stands at 8-13 with an ERA of 4.55 through 117 innings of work.
Houston and Southern Miss get underway with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m., and conclude the three-game series with a single game on Sunday also at 1 p.m.
