Softball Wins Conference Series Against East Carolina

HOUSTON – The University of Houston softball team split its doubleheader against East Carolina to clinch the series win on Saturday at Cougar Softball Stadium. The series win clinched the victory in both conference sets so far this season.

Houston (18-18, 5-1 The American) fell short against East Carolina (23-17, 1-8 The American) in the first game of the day, 12-8, but rallied from behind in the weekend finale, 7-6, to earn the series win.

Game One – East Carolina 12, Houston 8
Graduate student Saleen Flores (0-1) earned the decision for Houston in her longest outing of the year, tossing three innings. Jordan Hatch (9-7) snagged the victory for East Carolina, tossing all 21 outs for the Pirates.

Player Highlights:

Turiya Coleman: 4-4, 2 R
Bree Cantu: 1-2, 3 R, RBI, HR, 2 BB
Amanda Carden: 1-3, R, RBI, BB, HR

Game Highlights:

Carden hit her first collegiate home run with a solo shot in the second inning.
The Cougars turned two double plays in a game for the third time this season.
Katy Repa tallied two sacrifice flies, the most since Lindsey Stewart also had a pair against Princeton on Feb. 22, 2020.
Coleman's four hits tied Ja'Naiya Thomas' performance against Morgan State (Feb. 18) for the most in a single game by a Cougar this season.
Repa recorded her third multi-RBI game of the year while Coleman posted her 17^th multi-hit game.

Key Innings
3^rd | After trading a run in each half inning for the first two frames, Houston took a one-run lead in the bottom of the third. ECU attempted to get the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt from redshirt sophomore LA Matthews but a throwing error allowed Cantu to score. Repa immediately followed it with her second sacrifice fly of the day to drive home Coleman, putting Houston up 4-3.

5^th | East Carolina exploded for eight runs in the fifth inning, sustaining a rally with three doubles and capitalizing on a Houston error to assert a 11-4 advantage.

7^th | Down seven, Houston's offense surged again in the bottom of the seventh. Coleman and Matthews started the inning with back-to-back singles, with both later scoring on a two-RBI double from senior infielder Britaney Shaw, her fifth of the season. The Cougars' comeback attempt came up short, however. After Shaw scored on a single from Thomas, ECU notched back-to-back outs to earn the 12-8 win.

Game Two – Houston 7, East Carolina 6
Graduate student Kenna Wilkey (13-7) entered in relief to earn the win for the Cougars in game two, tossing eight strikeouts in her third appearance of the weekend. Addy Bullis (13-8) picked up her second decision for the Pirates in the series while tossing the complete game.

Player Highlights

Bree Cantu: 2-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB
Brooke Lorenzo: 2-2, 2 R, RBI, HR, SAC
Britaney Shaw: 1-2, R, RBI, HR, 2 BB

Game Highlights

With two sacrifice flies in the game, Houston hit four on the day and brought its season total to 15, the most the Cougars have had in a single season since the team set the program record of 18 in 2006 and 2012.
With Lorenzo's homer in the nine-spot, Houston has hit a home run from every position in the batting order this season.
With two home runs in the game, Houston brought its total to seven on the weekend and 26 on the season.

Key Innings
2^nd | After a scoreless first frame, East Carolina used a pair of home runs off the bats of Sydney Yoder, a one-run blast to center field, and Mackenzie Kila, a two-run homer to left-center, to take a 3-0 lead.

3^rd | Following another run by ECU in the top half of the inning, Houston cut into the deficit in the third. With two runners on, Cantu doubled to right field, pushing Lorenzo across the plate. Houston shrunk the ECU lead further, as Matthews and Thomas hit back-to-back sac-flies to score senior outfielder Paige Hulsey and Cantu to make the score 4-3.

7^th | After Lorenzo used her first career home run to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, the Cougars loaded the bases with only one out for an opportunity at their fourth walk-off win of the year. Carden laced the first pitch she saw into right-center to send the home crowd home happy, earning the series victory with a 7-6 win.

UP NEXT
Houston caps its six-game homestand with a midweek matchup against McNeese on Tuesday, April 11. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.

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