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University of Houston
38-15, 19-3
Marshall
30-23, 10-12
Shamblin Shines as Softball Slides Past Marshall
5/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 5, 2007
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HOUSTON - Angel Shamblin tossed a two-hit shutout coupled with a solo home run in the second inning as the University of Houston softball team defeated Marshall 3-0 Saturday in game one of a Conference USA weekend series at the Cougar Softball Stadium.
Shamblin came out firing on all cylinders and sat down 17 of the first 18 batters she faced. She was touched up for only a pair of singles and improved to 26-6 on the season. The Florida native recorded four strikeouts and moves to six Ks away from matching Jenny Johnson (2001-04) for the No. 1 spot on the program's career strikeout list.
"Angel had another excellent outing," head coach Kyla Holas said. "She set the tone and put some zeroes on the board early. I felt the only thing she could work on was she tried to make a couple of adjustments when she didn't need to. She could do a better of trusting her pitches in tight spots."
The Cougars (39-15, 19-3 C-USA) also were playing without Conference USA Player of the Year candidate and shortstop Jessica Valis. It was the first time in Valis' Cougar career that she has missed a game, a streak that extended to 114 games.
Christa Raley picked up right where Valis left off and opened the Houston first inning with a single. She moved to second base on a Katie Bush sacrifice bunt. After an Elaina Nordstrom ground ball put Raley on third base, the La Porte native came around to score as a failed pickoff attempt by Marshall catcher Rachel Folden sailed into left field to give Houston a 1-0 lead.
"It's tough anytime you don't have one of your leaders," Holas said. "Jessica is the spark plug at the top of our lineup. Christa did a great job of filling in and stayed focused at the plate even if she didn't get a hit. She took pitches when she needed to and did what a leadoff hitter needs to do."
Shamblin kept the momentum and pushed the Cougars ahead 2-0 with a line-drive solo home run to left field in the second inning.
Courtney Spittler and pinch hitter Samantha Cummings strung together a pair of singles in the fifth inning. After an intentional walk to Nordstrom loaded the bases, Spittler scored to make it 3-0 on a Haley Valis sacrifice fly.
Marshall (30-23, 10-12 C-USA) put together a rally and loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning. The rally ended on a sharply hit ball by Gina Guzzo to the right side that bounced off of Caitlyn Jackson, who was attempting to go from first to second base on the play.
Amanda Grote also turned in a 3-for-3 performance on offense for the Cougars. It was Grote's first career three-hit game.
Game two of the doubleheader is slated to start at 3:15pm. Live stats will be available via GameTracker on UHCougars.com
Game Notes
Game one of this afternoon's doubleheader was the fourth all-time meeting between Houston and Marshall on the softball diamond ... The Cougars have now won three of the four games in the series ... Houston has won 37 of its last 40 games against unranked opponents, including 17 consecutive home outings ... Houston moves to 48-13 over the last two season at the Cougar Softball Stadium ... The Cougars improve to 30-8 in day games ... Houston also pushes its record to 30-7 this season and to 114-30 since the start of the 2004 season when scoring first ... The Cougars have notched an impressive 102-4 mark since the start of the 2004 season when taking a lead into the seventh inning .... Houston has won 59 of its last 61 decisions during the stretch, including 27 of 28 games this season ... The Cougars are 17-1 this season when wearing white jerseys and white pants ... Houston has won 30 of 32 games when outhitting its opponent ... Jessica Valis had her consecutive games streak snapped at 114 ... It was the first time in Valis' Houston career that she has missed a game ... Elaina Nordstrom has started in all 115 games of her career ... Laura Durham also has played in all 115 games of her Houston career since transferring from Texas A&M ... Katie Bush has made 112 consecutive starts in centerfield ... With her single in the first inning, Christa Raley has reached base in 35 of her last 41 games ... She has hit safely in three of her last four games ... Katie Bush laid down her team-leading 15th sacrifice bunt in the first inning ... After re-entering for Samantha Cummings in the sixth inning, Bush stole her 11th base of the season ... Cummings broke a stretch of three-consecutive appearances without a hit ... After reaching on an error in the third inning, Elaina Nordstrom is the only Cougar to reach base in each of Houston's 22 Conference USA games ... The California native has now reached base 101of her 115 career games ... Haley Valis has provided an RBI in two of her last three games ... The Shiner native is the second Cougar to reach the 25-RBI plateau ... Angel Shamblin has notched a hit in two of her last three games ... Four of Shamblin's five home runs have come in conference action ... Amanda Grote has reached base in seven of her last eight conference games .... The Brenham native registered her sixth multi-hit game and first three-hit game of her career ... Courtney Spittler has tallied a hit in four of her last five appearances ... Angel Shamblin added to her single season program record by picking up her 26th win in the circle ... She also has won 17 consecutive C-USA regular season decisions dating back to last season ... With four strikeouts, the Florida native moves to six Ks from matching Jenny Johnson (2001-04) for the top spot in program history ... Shamblin is 15-0 in C-USA action and matches Lindsay Chouinard's 15-0 conference record set during the 2002 season ... The junior right-hander has allowed just one earned run in her last 37.1 innings against conference opponents ... She has allowed two or less earned runs in 31 of her last 35 starts dating back to last season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Shamblin, Angel (26-6)
L: HARTER, Abigail (13-14)
Batting:
HR: Shamblin, Angel 1
RBI: Valis, Haley 1 ; Shamblin, Angel 1
SH: Raley, Christa 1 ; Bush, Katie 1
SF: Valis, Haley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Raley, Christa 1 ; Shamblin, Angel 1 ; Spittler, Courtney 1
SB: Bush, Katie 1
HBP: Durham, Laura 1
