University of Houston Athletics
Softball Plays Host to No. 4 Texas A&M
3/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
No. 4 Texas A&M at Houston Notes (PDF Format)
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March 7, 2007
HOUSTON - The University of Houston softball team returns home to face No. 4 Texas A&M Wednesday in the program's first-ever "Breast Cancer Awareness Game". Throwing out the ceremonial first pitch will be Veronica Nordstrom, who is a breast cancer survivor and mother of Cougar starting catcher, Elaina Nordstrom. All ticket sales and proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Houston Affiliate.
"It's important any time we can do something as women in sports to enhance and support something as crucial as breast cancer awareness," head coach Kyla Holas said. "We want to show our support and hopefully get a lot of people out in recognition of this event and in honor of Veronica Nordstrom and the Susan G. Komen foundation."
The Cougars will be trading in their traditional white home uniforms for pink jerseys to support Breast Cancer Awareness. A silent auction will be held during the doubleheader, with all of the proceeds to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Houston Affiliate. In addition, all of the ticket revenues will also be donated to the Komen Houston Affiliate.
Some of the keynote items to be auctioned off are the pink jerseys worn during the game by the Cougars, Rowenta Iron, Kitchen Aid Utensils/Bowl set, Kitchen Aid Knife set, Kitchen Aid mixer, George Forman Grill, pink Ipod Nano, pink Ipod Shuffle, pink Ipod boom box, pink Digital camera, digital camera with printer and a pink Nintendo DS Lite with 2 games
Houston (17-7) has won 10 of its last 11 games. Six of the 10 runs during the streak have been by one run. The Cougars will embark on a five game road trip after the Texas A&M doubleheader. The mid-week doubleheader with the Aggies marks the ninth and tenth time these two Lone Star State rivals will meet on the softball diamond.
Texas A&M holds a 6-2 advantage and have won the last four games of the series, including a pair of doubleheader sweeps in 2005 and 2006. All 11 runs allowed by Houston pitchers in last season's series were unearned and scored in the sixth inning as the Aggies claimed 7-2 and 4-1 victories.
Houston has jumped out to a 13-4 start in 2007 at the Cougar Softball Stadium and has won eight consecutive games. Over the last two seasons, the Cougars have gone 38-11 at home. Houston notched a 2-1 win over No. 11 Michigan (Feb. 11) earlier this season.
Angel Shamblin became the third pitcher in Cougar history to surpass the 300-strikeout mark in a relief appearance against No. 5 LSU (Feb. 17). The historic strikeout came at the beginning off the sixth inning on LSU centerfielder Leslie Klein.
At the Marriott Houston Hobby Invitational (Feb. 23-25), Shamblin surpassed Crystal Briscoe (2003-06) for the No. 3 position of program history for career strikeouts and tossed her third career no-hitter against Iowa State (Feb. 25).
The Florida native raised her game to a new level and did not surrender a run in 23.1 innings of work as the Cougars completed a 4-1 weekend at the Sun Devil Invitational (March 2-4).
Shamblin fired two complete game shutouts against 2006 NCAA Tournament participant UC Santa Barbara (March 2) and North Florida (March 4). She has now racked up a program-record 14 career shutouts. In her two shutouts, the opposition had only one runner reach third base.
She is currently working on a 30.2 consecutive scoreless innings streak that dates back over her last five appearances. In a relief outing at No. 2 Arizona State (March 3), Shamblin was touched up for only one hit over 5.2 innings of work.
The junior right-hander has registered double-digit strikeouts in five of her nine starts this season and enters this week's action 53 Ks away from matching Jamie Falco (2001-04) for the No. 2 spot.
Barbie Love also has compiled an impressive scoreless inning streak of her own. Over her last four appearances, Love has not allowed a run in her last 16.0 innings.
She started the streak with a memorable weekend at the Marriott Houston Hobby Invitational (Feb. 23-25). She racked up a career-best nine strikeouts against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 23).
The Manvel native concluded the weekend with a win against New Mexico State (Feb. 25) out of the bullpen. With runners on first and second base in a 3-3 game, she immediately extinguished the threat with a strikeout and ground ball. Love went back to work and got the Aggies to go 1-2-3 in the seventh inning after a Haley Valis sixth-inning homer to secure the 4-3 win.
Love also produced a quality start against Utah Valley State (March 3). She pitched 6.1 innings of shutout ball before giving way to Shamblin.
Jessica Valis ripped her 100th career hit at the Sun Devil Invitational with a double in the third inning against Utah Valley State (March 3). She became the 11th player in program history to reach that feat.
The Shiner native opened the weekend by turning in a 4-for-5 performance against Utah Valley State (March 2). The four hits against the Wolverines were a career-best for Valis, which included a RBI-single in the fourth inning that gave Houston a 4-3 lead. She also scored the game-winning run in the sixth.
Valis also registered a 2-for-3 line against No. 2 Arizona State (March 3). That allowed the sophomore slapper to move into the UH's Top 10 in career hits. Her bunt single in the first inning led to a run that gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead. She enters this week's action five hits away from matching Jeanie Davis (2002-05) for the No. 9 position in program history.
In addition to Jessica Valis, head coach Kyla Holas starts five other sophomores and each player brings a unique talent to the Cougar lineup. Below is a glance at each piece.
Katie Bush joins Jessica Valis at the top of the lineup and is a slapper. Bush has tallied a hit in 11 of her last 13 appearances. She headlines the Cougars with a .369 batting average. The Brenham native has also used her strong arm from the outfield to gun down three runners at the plate, including one in the fifth inning against Utah Valley State (March 2).
Elaina Nordstrom is continuing her climb out of an early season slump and is second on C-USA drawing 15 walks. She shares the team lead with three home runs and is second with 11 RBIs. The California native has reached base in 75 of her 86 career games, including 19 of 23 outings this season.
Christa Raley provided a three-run walk-off home run against Ole Miss (Feb. 9). She has a knack for getting on-base by any means necessary and has reached base in 11 of her last 12 games. Raley has drawn five walks in addition to getting hit-by-a-pitch eight times this season. The La Porte native already holds the program record and has been hit-by-a-pitch 18 times in her career.
Laurie Wagner headlines the squad with 12 RBIs after producing 24 RBIs in her freshman campaign. The Houston native provided a two-out, two-run double in the first inning against No. 11 Michigan (Feb. 11) that ended up being the game-winning hit. Wagner also ripped a two-run home run against Utah Valley State (March 3) and has reached base in five of her last six games.
Haley Valis has produced in key situations this season, including a .333 batting average with runners in scoring position. The Shiner native provided a solo home run in the sixth inning of a 3-3 game against New Mexico State (Feb. 25). Valis also is second and has successfully advanced runners at a .536 percentage.
Senior left fielder Laura Durham provided pop in the middle of the Houston batting lineup last season and has already knocked three home runs this season against No. 11 Michigan (Feb. 10), Southern Illinois (Feb. 17) and UC Santa Barbara (March 2).
The Pearland native has tallied 12 career roundtrippers and has equaled Brandi Clark (2003-06) and teammate Elaina Nordstrom for the No. 8 spot in program history. She also drove home 39 RBIs last season, eighth-most in program history over a single-season.
Durham enters this week's action one RBI from matching her sister, Lindsay, for the No. 11 slot on the program's RBI list. Six of her last nine hits have been for extra bases, including three doubles, a pair of home runs and a triple. She produced the game's only run with a solo home run in the seventh inning against UC Santa Barbara (March 2).
Samantha Cummings is starting to see more at-bats as the season goes along. The Shepherd native hit her first career home run against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 23) and notched her first career multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance against Iowa State (Feb. 25) at the Marriott Houston Hobby Invitational.
She is hitting .316 on the season and has drove home five RBIs, including the game winner in the sixth inning against Utah Valley State (March 2).
Both games against the Aggies from the Cougar Softball Stadium will have live stats via Gametracker on UHCougars.com
