Softball Falls In Opening Round Of C-USA Tournament

May 12, 2005

HOUSTON - The first round of the Conference USA Softball Tournament didn't go as hoped for the Houston softball team as the fifth-seeded Cougars fell 2-1 to the fourth-seeded USF Bulls on Thursday afternoon.

In the morning game, sixth-seeded Southern Miss handled three-seeded ECU to advance to the next round with a 4-1 win over the Pirates.

Houston and USF squared off with their freshman pitchers as the Cougars went with C-USA All-Freshman Team member Angel Shamblin, and USF called on the C-USA Freshman of the Year, Bree Spence.

Shamblin threw an excellent game for the Cougars, scattering nine hits in six innings of work, striking out five and allowing just one earned run. Spence, however, got the win with one strikeout, no earned runs and three hits.

After falling behind 1-0 after the first inning to the Bulls, but the Cougars recovered by tying up the score in the top of the second.

Shamblin led off the inning with a double to left field, before the next two batters were retired. Freshman Dru Daniels then came to the plate and hit a single into shallow center that advanced Shamblin to third, but an error by the centerfielder allowed the ball to roll to the center fence allowing Shamblin to score.

In the top of the third, senior C-USA First Team member Kim Nesloney reached base on her second walk of the game and moved to second off a sacrifice bunt by junior Brandi Clark. The Bulls then intentionally walked the C-USA MVP, senior Kristen Glowacz, with just one out in the inning, however a pop out and a grounder ended the inning with the score still tied at 1-1.

USF threatened to break the tie in the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, however, Shamblin came up big in the circle retiring the next two batters with strikeouts to escape the inning without any damage.

Locked at 1-1 since the top of the second, USF broke through for the winning run in the bottom of the seventh after the Bulls' Samantha Ray reached on a single and then stole second. The Bulls' Carmela Liwag then singled to first, advancing Ray to third, but an error at first allowed Ray to come home and end the game with a 2-1 Bulls' victory.

Houston (28-27) will now face the loser of the Southern Miss/DePaul matchup on Friday morning at 10 a.m. (EDT) at the USF Softball Complex. Today's loss creates a must-win situation for the Cougars, as their next loss will be their last of the 2005 season.

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