University of Houston Athletics
Softball On the Road to Lamar
4/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 16, 2014
| Houston (26-12 | 11-1) at Lamar (19-16 | 12-5) | |
|---|---|
| Location | Beamount, Texas |
| Live Stats | Game | |
| Series History | Houston leads 2-0 |
| Game Notes | • Houston Notes • Lamar Notes • The American Notes |
| Social Media |   |
LAST TIME OUT
Houston won the series at Memphis 2-1 taking both games Saturday in a 12-5, 11-inning win and 9-0 victory before falling 6-5 in the seventh inning on Sunday.
Saturday's 11-inning affair was the Cougars second of the week after taking on No. 13 Baylor and splitting the series with the Bears. Julana Shrum took a no hitter into the eighth inning before surrendering three hits and runs with the Bears winning the first game 3-0. Houston rebounded with a 3-2 win in the nightcap.
Haley Outon was named to the American Athletic Conference Honor Roll for the third-straight week going 6-for-15 with two home runs before being pitched around with six intentional walks over the weekend.
SERIES HISTORY
Houston leads the series 2-0 after taking last year's doubleheader at home. Katie St. Pierre hit a walk off single as the Cougars mounted a 7-3 comeback in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Kendra Cullum hit her first career grand slam to make it an 8-0 win for UH and give the Cougars the run-rule win the second game.
ON HOUSTON (26-12 | 11-1)
The Cougars are in first place in the American Athletic Conference having won the first 11 of their first 12 games to start league play.
Haley Outon paces the program in the power categories with 11 home runs and 39 RBI as she continues to improve upon her school career records. For the second time in the past week, Outon hit two home runs in the same game connecting on two homers against Memphis on Saturday. The Outon sisters have hit multi homers in three straight weeks including Deidre's two-homer effort against Louisville and Haley's other performance at UConn.
The cleanup batter has three batters above .300 ahead of her with Katie St. Pierre (.407), Tiffani McKnight (.366) and Selena Hernandez (.321) setting the table. Hernandez ranks second with her five home runs and leads the team at 12 doubles and St. Pierre's sports a team-best .511 on base percentage.
Diedre Outon leads the UH pitching staff 12-5 record with a 2.41 ERA. The senior now has 41 career wins ranking fifth all time in program history. Julana Shrum has steadily improved as the season has progressed lowering her ERA two full runs over the past month bringing it down to 3.16. Shrum ranks second on the team with her 9-5 record.
Houston leads the conference in home runs and scoring while No. 19 in the nation with 6.32 runs per game. The defense ranks No. 7 in double plays per game (0.53) across the NCAA.
ON LAMAR (19-16 | 12-5)
Lamar is nearing the program's 100th win after starting softball back up after a 26-year hiatus. The Lady Cardinals softball program ran from1983-87 and is in its second year under head coach Holly Bruder. LU sits in second place in the Southland Conference with a 12-5 record after posting a 24-35 overall record in 2013 and 14-13 conference mark.
Lamar ranks second in the Southland Conference with a .302 batting average with five batters above .300. The team carries a balanced attack with four student-athletes above .300 and five or more home runs. Tina Sculz and Shannon Millman share identical 8-8 records with Shulz having the best ERA at 3.76 for LU.
RPI
Houston moved up 3 spots in the latest RPI climbing to No. 31 after the 3-2 week. The Cougars have a 8-8 record against Top 50 RPI opponents this season facing six Top 20 opponents with a 3-6 mark against those teams.
500
Head coach Kyla Holas picked up her 500th win leading Houston to a 12-5 win in 11 innings over Memphis on April 12, 2014. She has been at the helm for all 500 of the Cougars wins and earned the 200th conference victory over the Tigers with the win.
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 83 hit by pitches in her career including 77 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. She's been hit multiple times in a game 18 times and the beanball to move into second place was her second of the inning. 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 179 career RBI to rank first in program history. Twice this year Haley has hit multiple times in a game (at Memphis, April 12 and at UConn, April 5) joining her sister Diedre as the only Cougars to hit multiple home runs in a game this season - a feat they accomplished three straight weeks.
FACING TEXAN COMPETITION
The Cougars carry a 6-3 record against fellow Texan teams this season with wins over Texas (5-4), Texas A&M (2-1), Baylor (3-2), Sam Houston State (11-5, 13-5) and SFA (7-3) and losses coming to Baylor (0-3), North Texas (1-6) and Texas (1-5). The Cougars have 6 games remaining against teams from the Lone Star State facing Houston Baptist, Lamar and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
For the first time since 2011 and the second time in program history, Houston recorded wins over Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor in the same season.
FAMILIAR FACES
Six starters for Houston have been on the lineup card for all 38 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 178 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 38 this season. Outon is the only batter in the lineup to hold the same spot (cleanup) all season-long.
LEADING THINGS OFF
Houston is 11-2 on the season when leading after the first inning having outscored their opponents 29-14 in the opening frame this year. When scoring first, Houston is 18-2 on the year. The most productive inning thus far has been the third with Houston outpacing the opposition 60-22 the second time through the line up. The team as a whole bats reaches base at a .471 clip led by Kendra Cullum's (.765) and Katie St. Pierre's (.636) averages.
LOOKING BACK TO 2013
Houston went 41-20 advancing to its third-straight NCAA Regional for the first time in program history. The Cougars competed in Conference USA for the 13th and final season while finishing second during the regular season (19-5) and tournament. The schedule included a 12-14 against tournament teams during the year including the results at the Austin Regional where UH went 1-2 with a win against Army while falling to South Carolina twice.
UP NEXT
Houston hosts USF (30-13 | 4-5) with a doubleheader on Friday and concluding the series on Saturday.
