Softball Bounces Back to Claim Series Finale at UTEP

April 7, 2007

EL PASO - Laura Durham and Elaina Nordstrom belted a pair of home runs that combined for seven RBIs as the University of Houston softball team bounced back with a 9-1 victory over UTEP Sunday afternoon in the series finale and rubber game of a Conference USA weekend series at the Helen of Troy Field on the UTEP campus.

"The team regrouped well and proved that the second game yesterday was not Cougar softball," head coach Kyla Holas said. "They remembered what it felt like last night to stand out there. We did a great job of staying focused even when they scored first."

Angel Shamblin (21-5) turned in another dominant performance being touched up for just two hits and an unearned run. The junior right-hander also picked up seven strikeouts en route to her 48th career victory, which allowed the Florida native to pass Jenny Johnson (2001-04) and Jamie Falco (2001-04) for the top spot on the program's career wins list.

"Angel did a fantastic job of pitching her game," Holas said. "You can see that her teammates really play hard for her out in the field. She dug deep and dealt well dealing with the conditions."

"I wouldn't be where I am right now without the support of my teammates," Shamblin said. "It's a nice personal accomplishment, but we still have some work to do as a team."

Down 1-0, Amanda Grote started a fifth inning rally for the second consecutive day. She knocked a leadoff single to left field. Jessica Valis added a single and the duo moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.

Katie Bush evened the score at 1-1, slapping a RBI-single through the left side of the UTEP (25-15, 4-8 C-USA) infield. The Cougars (32-12, 13-2 C-USA) took a 4-1 advantage when Elaina Nordstrom belted a three-run homer that just cleared the right centerfield fence. The roundtripper also was Nordstrom's 100 career hit of her Cougar career.

"I got pitched a lot during the series," Nordstrom said. "I try not to let that frustrate me. In that scenario, I was looking for a hit not a walk."

Houston tacked on five more runs in the sixth inning as Grote once again opened the frame with a single and scored on a UTEP throwing error. After Nordstrom and Christa Raley drew consecutive walks to load the bases, Laura Durham crushed a grand slam for the final margin of 9-1.

"Laura chose the right pitch to hit in that sequence and made UTEP pay for pitching around Elaina and Christa," Holas said.

Houston will have 10 days off until it squares off at No. 15 Louisiana-Lafayette. First pitch on Wednesday, April 18th against the Ragin' Cajuns is set for 4pm. Live stats via GameTracker will be available on UHCougars.com for both games of the doubleheader.

"It's nice for us to regroup and have a week off without any games," Holas said. "We'll take a couple of days off and have a full week of practice to get ready for ULL."

Cougar Notes
Today's series finale and rubber game is the sixth all-time meeting between Houston and UTEP on the softball diamond ... The series is now all squared at 3-3 ... Houston pushes its record to 20-0 on the season when scoring four or more runs ... The Cougars have won 31 of its last 33 games against current non-ranked opponents ... 17 of Houston's last 20 home runs have produced multiple runs ... The Cougars are 18-5 when hitting a homer ... Houston has won 37 of 50 games over the last two seasons when Jessica and Haley Valis are in the starting infield ... The Cougars are 25-6 in day games ... Houston has won 13 of 15 decisions this season when the game is decided by four or more runs ... Jessica Valis and Elaina Nordstrom have started in all 106 games of their careers ... Laura Durham also has played in all 106 games of her Houston career since transferring from Texas A&M ... Katie Bush has made 103 consecutive starts in centerfield ... Jessica Valis is the only Cougar to hit safely in each of Houston's 15 Conference USA contests ... The Shiner native has hit safely in 13 of her last 14 games ... Eight of the 13 outings over the stretch have been multi-hit efforts ... Houston improves to 46-12 when Jessica Valis scores a run in her career ... The Cougars also are 30-11 when Valis tallies a multi-hit effort ... Valis now has 129 career hits and is 31 away from matching Jenilee Skender (2002-05) for the No. 4 slot ... Katie Bush has registered a hit in nine of her last 12 outings ... She also has scored a run in five of her last nine games ... The Brenham native is now three hits away from reaching 100 for her career ... Elaina Nordstrom has tallied a hit in 13 of her last 14 games ... She joins Jessica Valis as the only Cougars to reach base in each of Houston's 15 C-USA games ... The home run in the fifth inning was Nordstrom's 100th career hit and also her 16th career roundtripper, tying her with Michelle Keith (2002-05) for the No. 5 spot in program history ... She is the 11th player in program history to reach that feat ... The California native is currently tied with Lindsay Durham (2001-04) on the program's career hits list ... With a pair of walks, Christa Raley has reached base in 29 of her last 32 games ... The La Porte native has scored a run in nine of her last 13 outings ... Laura Durham has popped a hit in seven of her last 10 games ... The grand slam in the sixth inning was Durham's 15th career home run ... She passes Kim Nesloney for sole possession of sixth place and is one homer away from matching teammate Elaina Nordstrom and Michelle Keith (2002-05) for the No. 5 spot ... Haley Valis has notched a hit in three of her last five games ... It was Valis' fifth multi-hit game of the season and seventh of her career ... Laurie Wagner has provided a hit in four of her last seven outings ... The Houston native has also reached base in 10 of her last 13 games ... Amanda Grote has slapped a hit and scored a run in four of her last five games ... Two of the four outings have been of the multi-hit variety ... It was her fifth career multi-game ... Angel Shamblin added to her single season program record by picking up her 21st win in the circle ... The Florida native also notched her 48th career win and passed Jenny Johnson and Jamie Falco for the No. 1 spot in program history ... With seven strikeouts, the Florida native is now 51 Ks from matching Jenny Johnson for the top spot in program history ... She also is 10 strikeouts shy of 500 for her career ... The junior right-hander also has allowed two or less earned runs in 26 of her last 29 starts dating back to last season.

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