University of Houston
7-3
UC Santa Barbara
2-10
Cougars Fall to UCSB
2/23/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 23, 2012
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - The Houston Cougars softball team dropped a pair of games to the UCSB Gauchos Thursday afternoon on the opening day of the Gaucho Classic.
Houston had a total of ten errors heading into the double-header and doubled their total in the pair of losses. The Cougars fell 5-3 in the first contest with three errors and dropped the second game 6-1 with seven errors.
"The defense can't control the hits, that's the pitchers' job - the defense can only control the outs," said head coach Kyla Holas. "We need to play softball 101 and play basic fundamentals out there. Too many of those hits effected us beyond the at bat they took place and that caused us to start to press."
The games marked the first time Houston took to the road and after a long travel day yesterday totaling 14 hours, Holas is ready to put Thursday's games behind.
"The good thing is we are trying too hard. The effort and desire is there, the hitting is there, but we have to shore up our defense first."
With the losses, Houston drops to 7-4 on the season.
UCSB Game 1 - Box Score
The Cougars committed three errors and gave up seven infield hits in the opening game of the double-header against USCSB and fell 5-3 to the Gauchos.
The Gauchos scored runs in the second and third as a result of those errors before Houston got on the board in the fourth inning.
Facing a 2-2 count, Haley Outon flied to center field but received a reprieve as the pitch was delivered illegally. Taking advantage of second chances, Outon delivered a home run to left field giving Houston their first run. Houston put the next two runners on but Jaime Edwards was caught stealing and Houston was only able to cut the deficit to one.
In the sixth inning, Houston tied the game as Reina Gaber hit her second single of the game. Julia Pecina came in to pinch run for Gaber and scored off Jennifer Klinkert's sacrifice fly. Edwards hit a line drive to the warning track but a diving play by center fielder Soria ended the Cougars inning.
Starting pitcher Bailey Watts gave up a two-RBI triple just past Jaime Edwards glove in right field as UCSB reclaimed the lead in the sixth inning. Freshman Summer Groholski came in relief for Watts and allowed another runner to score before getting out of the sixth inning.
Sydney Gerbracht led off the top of the seventh by stretching a double and scoring on an Ashleigh Jones groundout. The Cougars comeback ended with the tying run up to the plate as Gaber hit a sinking line drive but another diving play by a Gaucho outfielder ended the game and gave UCSB their second win of the year.
UCSB Game 2 - Box Score
The offense struggled to get going in the early part of the game for the Cougars as Houston could only muster one hit through four innings. Starting pitcher Diedre Outon battled to keep the score close as Houston trailed by two heading into the fifth.
With only nine outs remaining, the Cougars found their stroke as they rallied to put up six hits through the final three innings but it was not enough as errors doomed the Cougars to a 6-1 loss.
Houston loaded the bases in the sixth inning with no outs but a hard struck linedrive by Melissa Gregson turned into a double-play and ended the Cougars rally.
Three straight hits with two outs sparked another rally in the seventh inning but fell short as
Freshman Ty'ara Law made her second appearance of the year and threw 1.1 innings of relief for Outon and allowed two unearned runs and two hits.
UP NEXT
The Cougars face the San Diegeo Torreos tomorrow morning at 8:15 a.m. (PST
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wisdom, Shelby (2-4)
L: Watts, Bailey (2-3)
Batting:
2B: Klinkert, Jennifer 1 ; Gerbracht, Sydney 1
HR: Outon, Haley 1
RBI: Jones, Ashleigh 1 ; Klinkert, Jennifer 1 ; Outon, Haley 1
SF: Klinkert, Jennifer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pecina, Julia 1 ; Outon, Haley 1 ; Gerbracht, Sydney 1
SB: Cullum, Kendra 1
CS: Edwards, Jaime 1
Batting:
2B: DePompa, Lainey 1 ; Liepman, Jenny 1
3B: Soria, Jessica 1
RBI: Soria, Jessica 2 ; Kane, McKenzie 1 ; Moore, DeJanee 1 ; Putich, Brooke 1
SH: Kane, McKenzie 1 ; Wisdom, Shelby 1 ; DePompa, Lainey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Soria, Jessica 1 ; Kane, McKenzie 1 ; Pilpil, Kathryn 1 ; Liepman, Jenny 1 ; Putich, Brooke 1
SB: Moore, DeJanee 1
CS: Soria, Jessica 1
