March 10, 2007

Final Stats

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Laura Durham and Elaina Nordstrom went 2-for-2 with RBIs as the University of Houston softball team emerged with a 6-2 victory over Southern Miss in the Conference USA opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at the USM Softball Complex.

Houston (18-9, 1-0 C-USA) also got a complete game performance Angel Shamblin, who improved to 11-4 on the season. The Florida native was touched up for two runs on five hits, but recorded 10 strikeouts. It was the sixth time in 11 starts that Shamblin has reached double-digit Ks.

"We had to change our gameplan on offense and be patient at the plate," head coach Kyla Holas said. "We hit a lot of balls and had a lot of quality at-bats."

The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Elaina Nordstrom ripped a 0-1 pitch off the left centerfield scoreboard.

"We wanted to start conference play strong at the plate," Nordstrom said. "It felt good to get things going and set the tone with a home run in the first inning."

Laura Durham started the second inning with a walk and used alert baserunning to move to third base on a Christa Raley sacrifice bunt. Haley Valis drove Durham home on a sacrifice fly to push the UH advantage to 2-0.

Houston tried to break the game open in the fourth inning, loading the bases but came away empty on an inning-ending double play. The third base umpire ruled that Laurie Wagner left early attempting to score on a sacrifice fly.

USM (7-14, 0-1 C-USA) used that momentum to trim the deficit down to 2-1 when Logan James knocked a solo homer to left field.

The Cougars charged back with a pair of runs in the sixth inning, capitalizing on two Southern Miss errors. Nordstrom smacked single to centerfield and moved to second base as Allison Bullard overshot her throw into the infield. She came around to score making it 4-1 as Durham knocked a RBI-single to centerfield.

A failed pickoff attempt of Durham at second base allowed the Pearland native to score her second run of the day as UH went ahead 5-1.

The Golden Eagles got another solo shot from James to draw within 5-2, but Houston tacked on an insurance runs in the seventh inning on a Jessica Valis RBI-triple for the final margin of 6-2.

Shamblin finished the game in style by striking out the side in the home half of the frame.

Cougar Notes
Game one of today's doubleheader marks the 27th meeting between Houston and Southern Miss on the softball diamond ... The Golden Eagles are Houston's most faced opponent ... UH has won 16 of the 27 meetings, including eight of the 10 games in the series dating back to the 2005 season ... The Cougars improve to 5-2 in Conference USA openers ... Houston is 12-4 in day games and are 7-2 when wearing blue jerseys and blue pants this season ... The Cougars have won all nine games when scoring four or more runs ... Jessica Valis and Elaina Nordstrom have started in all 89 games of their careers ... Durham also has played in all 89 games since transferring from Texas A&M ... Katie Bush has made 86 consecutive starts in centerfield ... Elaina Nordstrom produced her 19th multi-hit game of her career, while Laura Durham racked up her 10th multi-hit effort ... Nordstrom is 18 hits away from reaching 100 for her career ... The California native has hit safely in three straight games and reached base in 22 of 26 games on the season ... Jessica Valis has hit safely in 20 of 26 games this season and knocked her fourth triple of the season in the seventh inning ... With one hit, Valis is two hits shy from matching Jeanie Davis (2002-05) for the No. 9 position in program history ... Houston improves to 38-11 when the Shiner native scores a run in her career ... Angel Shamblin has recorded double-digit strikeouts in six of her 11 starts ... With 10 strikeouts, Shamblin is 37 Ks from matching Jamie Falco (2001-04) for the No. 2 spot in program history ... With a single in the sixth inning, Christa Raley has reached base in 14 of her last 15 games ... Haley Valis has registered a hit in three of her last four games.