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University of Houston
43-16
No. 23, RV Louisiana-Lafayette
46-17
Softball Outlasts No. 23 ULL
5/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 18, 2007
No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Houston Box Score (PDF)
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COLLEGE STATION - Haley Valis belted a 1-0 pitch over the left centerfield wall as the University of Houston softball emerged with a hard-fought 4-3 walk-off victory in nine innings over No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette to open the NCAA College Station Regional Friday afternoon at the Aggie Softball Complex on the Texas A&M campus.
"The win is a big step for our program," Valis said. "We didn't play well against ULL earlier in the season. It was important to prove to ourselves that we can play with anyone. We haven't had a lot of success against Top 25 teams this season."
Houston (43-16) advances to face No. 7 Texas A&M Saturday at Noon CDT in a winner's bracket game. This is program's first win against Louisiana-Lafayette in seven attempts. The Ragin' Cajuns had defeated Houston 5-0 and 14-0 in a doubleheader one month ago to the day in Lafayette.
"We had a few adjustments in all aspects of the game to make after we played ULL the first time around," Holas said. "I was proud of our players because they stepped up and make every one of them. We were a lot more prepared to deal with everything that came up in today's game."
Angel Shamblin went the distance for the Cougars, earning her 30th win of the season. The Florida native racked up 10 strikeouts and became the 10th pitcher in the nation this season to eclipse the 300-strikeout mark.
"Angel showed this afternoon why she's two-time Conference USA Pitcher of the Year," Holas said. "She's had a lot of obstacles to deal with losing her fellow captain in Jessica Valis. She has showed her maturity and leadership in dealing with those situations."
Elaina Nordstrom gave the Cougars a 2-0 advantage in the first inning, smacking a two-run homer off the left field net. Katie Bush opened the frame with a leadoff walk.
Houston tacked on another run to make it 3-0 in the third inning as Laura Durham knocked a RBI-single up-the-middle to score Nordstrom. Durham matched a season-high with three hits.
Louisiana-Lafayette trimmed the deficit to 3-1 when Lacey Bertucci popped a one-out RBI-single of her own through the left side.
The Ragin' Cajuns (46-17) were down to their final out in the seventh inning with runners on first and second base. Desi Chatman hit a slow roller to UH shortstop Amanda Grote, who threw the ball past Haley Valis covering second base. The ball squirted into right field and allowed ULL to tie the score at 3-3.
Shamblin regrouped in the circle and retired all six of the ULL hitters she faced in extra innings.
"Angel did a great job of regrouping after the infield's mental mistakes in the seventh inning," Valis said. "She did a fantastic job of staying focused on the mound and kept their hitters off-balanced."
Nordstrom started the home half of the ninth inning with a leadoff walk, but was doubled off on a Christa Raley pop-up before Valis ended the game with a walk-off blast.
The Cougars take on No. 7 Texas A&M Saturday at Noon CDT. Live video along with live stats via GameTracker will be available on UHCougars.com
Game Notes
This afternoon's game was the seventh all-time meeting between Houston and Louisiana-Lafayette on the softball diamond ... It's the first meeting in the series in the state of Texas and the first win for the Cougars ... It's also Houston's second NCAA Regional win ... The Cougars improve to 27-0 when scoring four or more runs ... The Cougars have compiled a 117-30 mark since the start of the 2004 season when scoring first, including a 34-7 mark in 2007 ... Houston has won 107 of its last 111 decisions since the start of the 2004 season when taking a lead into the seventh inning ... The Cougars played without Conference USA Player of the Year and shortstop Jessica Valis for the seventh consecutive game ... Angel Shamblin added to her single season program record by picking up her 30th win in the circle ... With 10 strikeouts, the Florida native became the 10th hurler in the nation to surpass the 300-strikeout mark for the season ... The junior right-hander also notched double-digit Ks for the 13th time this season and first time since facing UCF (April 22) ... Shamblin has allowed two or less earned runs in 35 of her last 40 starts dating back to last season ... Elaina Nordstrom has started in all 121 games of her career ... Laura Durham also has played in all 121 games of her Houston career since transferring from Texas A&M ... Katie Bush has made 118 consecutive starts in centerfield ... Bush has scored a run in two of her last three games ... It was only the second time in her last eight games that Amanda Grote failed to get a hit ... The Brenham native did drew a walk in the fourth inning ... Elaina Nordstrom extended her hitting streak to five games with a two-run homer in the first inning ... The roundtripper was Nordstrom's 111th career hit and allowed her to pass Riane Netardus (2001-02) for sole possession of the No. 9 spot in program history ... The California native is one hit shy of matching Leslie Seay (2001-02) for the No. 8 position ... The home run also was Nordstrom's 18th of her career and allowed her to tie teammate Laura Durham and Jeanie Davis (2002-05) for the No. 4 spot on the program's home run list ... Nordstrom drew three walks and surpassed 40 for the season ... It was only the eighth time in the last 46 games that Christa Raley failed to reach base ... She did drop her 12th sacrifice hit in the seventh inning ... Haley Valis pushed her hitting streak to a career-long six games ... Three of the six games have been of the multi-hit variety ... The Shiner native belted her 10th homer of the season in the ninth inning ... She has produced a RBI in five of her last eight games ... Laura Durham also is on a career-long six-game hitting streak ... The Pearland native tied a season-high with three hits ... The last time Durham cracked three hits was at Southern Miss (March 11) ... She has picked up a RBI in four of her last six outings ... It was only the second time in the last six games that Laurie Wagner failed to notch a hit ... Angel Shamblin has recorded a hit in five of her last seven games ... With a fielder's choice, Courtney Spittler has reached base in three of her last four games.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Shamblin, Angel (30-7)
L: Cuevas, Brittany (31-10)
Batting:
RBI: Bertucci, Lacey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hubbard, Karli 1 ; Tankersley, Holly 1 ; Gaspard, Vallie 1
SB: Chatman, Desi 1 ; Gaspard, Vallie 1
Batting:
2B: Durham, Laura 1
HR: Nordstrom, Elaina 1 ; Valis, Haley 1
RBI: Nordstrom, Elaina 2 ; Valis, Haley 1 ; Durham, Laura 1
SH: Bush, Katie 1 ; Grote, Amanda 1 ; Raley, Christa 1 ; Spittler, Courtney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bush, Katie 1 ; Nordstrom, Elaina 2 ; Valis, Haley 1
