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Softball Set for 2014 American Championships
5/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 7, 2014
| No. 4 HOUSTON (32-20 | 13-8) vs. No. 5 RUTGERS 27-18 | 9-9) | |
|---|---|
| When | Thursday | 6:30 p.m. |
| Where | American Athletic Conference Championships Cougar Softball Stadium |
| Video | The American Digital Network |
| Social Media |   |
| Tickets | UHCougars.com |
| Game Notes | Houston | Rutgers |
HOUSTON - The University of Houston Softball program hosts the 2014 American Athletic Conference Softball Championships this Thursday through Saturday (May 8-10) at Cougar Softball Stadium. No. 4 seeded Houston begins play by facing No. 5 Rutgers on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
The winner of Thursday's game between the Cougars and Scarlet Knights will move on to face the winner of No. 1 UCF/No. 8 UConn on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The quarterfinals and semifinals of the single-elimination championship event will be streamed online on The American Digital Sports Network with Saturday's championship televised on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. For more information, visit the Championship Central page.
ON HOUSTON (32-20 | 13-8)
Houston finished its first season of the American Athletic Conference in fourth place in a season full of streaks. UH opened up conference play with 11-straight wins before dropping the next eight and finishing the season on a two-game league winning streak taking the series win over Rutgers.
UH leads the league scoring 5.7 runs per game to rank No. 39 in the NCAA and the defense has helped limit the opposition's chances to score turning the ninth most double plays per game (0.52).
Haley Outon leads the conference with her 15 home runs and 53 RBI as she continues to build her leads in the UH program career records. The senior has been walked the 14th most in the NCAA per game (0.81). Sophomores Katie St. Pierre and Selena Hernandez have helped set the plate for Outon with St. Pierre batting a league-best average (.399) and second-best on base percentage (.497) and leadoff batter Selena Hernandez has belted a team-best 14 doubles while scoring a league-high 43 runs. Junior Tiffani McKnight gives the Cougars a fourth .3+ batter in the top of the lineup batting .321.
Diedre Outon leads the charge inside the circle throwing a 15-9 record to the tune of a 2.70 ERA on the year. Sophomore Julana Shrum possesses a 3.35 ERA with a 10-6 mark and the pitching staff as a whole has a 3.07 ERA.
ON RUTGERS (27-18 | 9-9)
Rutgers ranks third in the league with a .299 team batting average with Chandler Howard (.391) and Jackie Bates (.383) giving the Scarlet Knights two of the five top batters in the league.
Inside the circle, junior Alyssa Landrith sports a team-best 16-7 record and 2.33 ERA. The leftie has thrown 164.1 innings of the possible 268.1 on the year for RU with Shayla Sweeney checking in with the second-most action to the tune of a 4.56 ERA and 9-8 record.
Rutgers is led by head coach Jay Nelson in his eighth season with the program. The Knights return 11 letterwinners from last year's 30-26 squad and currently rank fifth in the league standings heading into the final weekend.
SERIES HISTORY
The two schools met for the first time last weekend with the Cougars winning the series 2-1. UH outscored Rutgers 11-5 during the three-game series with the Scarlet Knights winning the opening game 1-0 in the 10th inning.
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 87 hit by pitches in her career including 81 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 on the NCAA all-time list, was the second time she was hit in that 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.
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. 23. 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 Houston records for home runs and RBI.
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).
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.
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.
RPI
Houston improved one spots and moved to No. 43 in the latest RPI. UH has 8-15 record against top-60 teams this season.
FACING TEXAN COMPETITION
The Cougars carry a 10-4 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), SFA (7-3), Lamar (5-2, 7-1) and HBU. Houston has losses coming to Baylor (0-3), North Texas (1-6), Texas (1-5), HBU (6-5) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-4). 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 52 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 192 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 52 this season. St. Pierre has started all 113 of her games for Houston in center field.
LEADING THINGS OFF
Houston is 15-3 this season when scoring in the first inning and 22-8 when scoring first. As a team, the Cougars are reaching base at a .450 clip to start an inning lead by Kendra Cullum (.594) and Katie St. Pierre's (.636) averages.
CLOSING TIME
The Cougars have posted a 27-1 record when leading after four innings and 21-2 record when leading after six. Diedre Outon has picked up two saves this season and almost had another against HBU on April 25 but due to being the pitcher on record, Outon could not record her third save of the season.
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).
Haley Outon was recently named to the 2014 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.
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.
