Softball Hosts Eighth Annual Striking Out Breast Cancer Game

April 1, 2014

HOUSTON (19-10 \| 6-0) VS. NO. 18/21 TEXAS A&M (26-9 \| 7-5)
When	Wednesday, April 2 \| 6:30 p.m.
Where	Cougar Softball Stadium
Online	Video \|
Social Media
Tickets	UHCougars.com \| 713-GO-COOGS
Promotions	Auction \| pink t-shirts to first 1,000 fans Auction List
Game Notes	Houston \| Texas A&M

HOUSTON - Houston Softball hosts the eighth annual Striking Out Breast Cancer Game presented by Wells Fargo on Wednesday, April 2 at Cougar Softball Stadium. The annual Pink Game has been rescheduled from last week's rainout and partners Houston Softball with the Susan G. Komen For the Cure with proceeds from the night are given to the foundation. Houston and No. 18/21 Texas A&M will play a single game starting at 6:30 p.m. inside a stadium decked out in pink with the first 1,000 fans in attendance receiving free pink t-shirts.

SUSAN G. KOMEN FOUNDATION

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the CureÂ® and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Susan G. Komen is the boldest community fueling the best science and making the biggest impact in the fight against breast cancer. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, the foundation has invested almost $2 billion to fulfill our promise, working to end breast cancer in the U.S. and throughout the world through ground-breaking research, community health outreach, advocacy and programs in more than 50 countries.
For more information about the Komen foundation, visit their website at www.komen.org.

AUCTION ITEMS

Over 170 items will be available for auction at the game including the pink game-worn jerseys and helmets and pink softball bats with individual player numbers. Autographed Houston Athletics memorabilia will include an Andre Ware football, Hakeem Olajuwon/Clyde Drexler/Elvin Hayes basketball, Case Keenum and DJ Hayden football, Carl Lewis track shoes and much more. The gates open at 4:30 p.m. and the auction will close after the third out in the fifth inning.

WATCH AND LISTEN

Wednesday's game will be streamed online at UHCougars.com with commentary provided by Crawford and Katy Beth Jones. Follow the action on GameTracker now available on most mobile devices.

LAST TIME OUT

Houston swept Louisville posting wins of 6-5, 4-0 and 8-5 to begin American Athletic Conference action with a 6-0 record. Following the weekend, Kendra Cullum picked up Player of the Week honors from the conference after the senior left fielder batted 5-for-10 filling up the stat sheet with two runs, three RBI, four steals and hit by two pitches. Sisters Diedre and Haley Outon earned American Honor Roll distinction after the pair delivered a pair of impressive performances over the weekend. Diedre threw for two wins and hit two home runs on Sunday and Haley hit her fourth career grand slam on Saturday.

ON HOUSTON (19-10 | 6-0)

Houston rolls into the midweek contest on a season-high seven-game winning streak for the second time this year. The season has been up-and-down for Houston after starting the year on a 9-2 run before hitting a 1-7 stretch that saw Houston play five Top 10 opponents. The Cougars notched the program's highest-ranked win in history beating No. 4/5 Michigan 5-2 on March 7 - current Houston assistant coach Kristin Vesely was a member of the No. 5/6 2004 Sooner squad that was the previous best win. The Cougars have won six straight games to open conference play for the third time in program history and the first time since 2008.
Four batters on the team are swinging over .300 led by Katie St. Pierre's .381 average. Haley Outon paces the program in home runs (7) while ranking first in the league with 26 RBI.
Diedre Outon has thrown to a 9-5 record this season and picked up three conference wins already (3-0). She owns the team's lowest ERA at 2.29 and is two wins away from tying Amanda Crabtree (40) for fifth-most in school history.

ON TEXAS A&M (26-9 | 7-5)

The No. 18/21 Aggies enter the midweek game with a 10-2 road record this season after sweeping conference rival Arkansas in Fayetteville over the weekend. Texas A&M won three high-powered offensive games with the scores 11-7. 9-8 and 8-7. As a team, A&M ranks No. 13 in the NCAA in scoring (6.6) per game.
Emily Albus and her .452 batting average rank No. 21 in the nation and tops on the Aggie squad as the team bats .308 as a whole. Six batters including Albus sport a .300+ average. Nicole Morgan carries the big bat on the team as she has a team-best 10 home runs and 40 RBI on the year.
Inside the circle, A&M has relied on Abby Donnell, Katie Marks and Rachel Fox to handle the pitching duties and all three possess an ERA under 3.00.m Marks and Fox have both logged over 84 innings and struck out over 50 batters.

SERIES HISTORY

Houston is 5-16 against A&M in all time with the two programs splitting the last season series in 2012. Houston ended the nation's longest home-winning streak in 2012, snapping the Aggies 34-game streak in a 3-2 win. A&M won the next day 3-2 the last time these two teams played.

USA SOFTBALL TOP 50 "WATCH LIST"

Houston's Haley Outon is one of 50 student-athletes that has been named to the "Watch List" for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award awarded by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball. This is the second-straight season the senior catcher has been named to the Preseason Watch List. Outon is one of four American Athletic Conference student-athletes named to the list along with Katie Keller (Louisville), Sara Nevins (South Florida) and Stephanie Pasquale (Temple). The Top 25 Finalists for the 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award will be announced April 9.

DODGE, DUCK, DIP, DIVE, DODGE...OR DON'T

Kendra Cullum was a three-sport athlete at Conroe High School but dodgeball was not one of those. Cullum has taken a beating on her way to first base as she's totaled 77 hit by pitches in her career including 71 while wearing the Red and White. She set a school record with 21 bean balls in 2012 and then broke her own mark in 2013 with 38 bean balls. The 38 bean balls rank as the third-most in a NCAA single-season.

Cullum moved into second place in the NCAA history for career hit by pitches (1. 92 Mariah Gearhart, Oklahoma State) when she took three body shots against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 16, 2013. The three times she was hit by a pitch was the 15th time she's been plunked multiple times in a game (and 16 after Louisville) and the record-setting beanball was her second of the inning as Houston batted around the lineup. Against Northwestern (May 19) in the 2012 NCAA Regionals, Cullum was hit by a pitch four times to set another program record in the category.

RECORD GRADES

Houston was recognized as one of the 2013 NFCA Top Ten All-Academic Teams. UH ranked eighth in the nation with a 3.53 cumulative team GPA which was an all-time record for the Cougars. Houston softball tied for the UH sport program lead with a fall semester GPAs of 3.48 while sporting the second-highest cumulative GPA behind the tennis team. Haley Outon earned the Team's Academic MVP and was named to the Conference USA All-Academic Team.
Ten Cougars earned NFCA All-American Scholar Athletes in 2012-13 (Holly Anderson, Jaime Edwards, Reina Gaber, Sydney Gerbracht, Ashleigh Jones, Diedre Outon, Haley Outon, Katie St. Pierre, Tess Soefje and Bailey Watts)

OUTON BOMBS

Haley Outon has established herself as the program's premier long-ball hitter as she moved into first place in the record books with her 48th career home run against Nicholls State on Feb. 22. Outon's fifth home run of the year added to her impressive weekend where she went 6-for-13 (.462) with three home runs, nine RBI and seven walks. Outon now holds the career and single season (22, 2011) Houston records. She also shares two NCAA records thanks to her power prowess. She became the fifth player in NCAA history with home runs in six-straight games (May 1-11, 2012) and the eighth to hit two grand slams in a single game (April 13, 2013 at UTEP).

Haley has totaled 170 career RBI to rank second in program history. She needs five more to tie Kristen Glowacz's total of 175 (2002-05)

FACING TEXAS TEAMS

The Cougars carry a 4-2 record against fellow Texan teams this season with wins over Texas (5-4), Sam Houston State (11-5, 13-5) and SFA (7-3) and losses coming to North Texas (1-6) and Texas (1-5). The Cougars have 11 games remaining against teams from the Lone Star State facing Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Houston Baptist, Lamar and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

FAMILIAR FACES

Six starters for Houston have been on the lineup card for all 26 games this year in their respective positions - Kendra Cullum (LF), Katie St. Pierre (CF), Selena Hernandez (SS), Kayla Holland (2B), Jaime Edwards (1B) and Haley Outon (C). St. Pierre and Outon started all 61 games at both of their positions in 2013 while Outon has started 163 consecutive games dating back to April 9, 2011. The catcher started the last 20 games of 2011 (56 overall), all 59 games in 2012, all 61 in 2013 and 23 this season.

LEADING THINGS OFF

Houston is 9-1 on the season when leading after the first inning having outscored their opponents 21-11 in the opening frame this year. The team as a whole reaches first safely 49.7% of the time when leading off an inning highlighted by Kendra Cullum's .800 reaching base clip followed by Selena Hernandez .600 average.

LOOKING BACK TO 2013

Houston went 41-20 advancing to their third-straight NCAA Regional for the first time in program history. Houston competed in Conference USA for the 13th and final season while finishing second during the regular season (19-5) and tournament. Houston went 1-2 in the Austin Regional earning a win against Army while falling to South Carolina twice while posting a 12-14 against tournament teams during the year.

UP NEXT

Houston travels to Storrs, Conn. this weekend for the first ever contest with the UConn Huskies. Houston and Uconn will play a three game set starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m. and close out the series on Sunday at 10 a.m.

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