Softball
Nordstrom's Career-Day Fuels Softball Past Texas State

The Cougars erase an 8-6 deficit in the seventh inning with a clutch bases-clearing double from Elaina Nordstrom.

Elaina Nordstrom knocked in a career-best five RBIs in the opening game at Texas State.
 
Elaina Nordstrom knocked in a career-best five RBIs in the opening game at Texas State.
  
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April 5, 2006

Final Stats

Houston at Texas State Game 1 Box Score (PDF)
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SAN MARCOS - Elaina Nordstrom went 2-for-3 with a career-best five RBIs including a three-run double in the seventh inning to fuel the University of Houston softball team past Texas State 9-8 in game one of a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Bobcat Field.

The five RBI's for Nordstrom give her a team-best 35 for the season and it matches a Cougar softball program freshman record previously held by Kristin Glowacz during the 2002.

"Elaina just continues to impress with her quality at-bats and continues to produce in clutch situations," head coach Kyla Holas said. "She's locked in and is really seeing the ball well right now."

The two teams combined for 17 runs on 18 hits, including six home runs in the first three innings in a game that had three lead changes.

The Bobcats (24-13) turned an early 5-2 deficit into an 8-5 lead in the third inning using a trio of long balls. Amy Hromadka drew Texas State within 5-4 with a two-run shot chasing Houston starter Candi Kloecker from the game.

Reigning Southland Conference Hitter of the Week Kristin Gunter tied the score at 5-5 ripping a solo homer off reliever Crystal Briscoe, while Ashton Peters put the Bobcats ahead 8-5 with a three-run blast.

Barbie Love entered the game for Houston (26-13) and shut down the Bobcats firing a season-best five innings of scoreless relief being touched for only three hits and recorded three strikeouts.

 

 

"Barbie has done a tremendous job with the opportunities she has been given lately," Holas said. "Over the last month, she sat their quietly and waited for her chance. Her teammates have really responded over the last couple of games when she's gotten out there."

Texas State jumped on the scoreboard first platting two runs in the first inning as Kristin Gunter knocked a RBI-double followed an Alex Newton RBI-single to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.

The Cougars responded with two home runs in the second. Christa Raley took the first pitch of the frame over the left field fence. After Laurie Wagner drew a walk, Jamie Adams dialed long distance to give Houston a 3-2 advantage.

Houston tacked on a pair of runs in the third inning as Jessica Valis opened the frame with an infield single. She moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Katie Bush and came around to score when Elaina Nordstrom cranked a two-run homer making it 5-2.

First pitch for the second game of today's doubleheader with Texas State is slated for approximately 5:30pm.

Game Notes
Houston improves to 6-4 all-time against Texas State and snapped a personal two-game skid to the Bobcats ... The Cougars are now 6-6 in one-run contests ... It was only the second time in 13 games that the Cougars came back when trailing entering the seventh inning ... Houston has won two of three games when hitting multiple home runs ...Angel Shamblin had her consecutive games started streak dating back to last season came to a close at 45 games ... The last time that Shamblin was not in the starting lineup was game two of a doubleheader against UAB (May 7, 2005) ... With Shamblin out of the lineup, head coach Kyla Holas has used a different batting order in 37 of 42 games this season ... Holas has used a different batting order in 17 of her last 18 games ... Holas is now 13 victories away from reaching 200 career wins ... Christa Raley made her first career start at first base ... Raley cranked her fourth home run in the second inning and produced her fourth multi-hit game ... Jamie Adams smacked her second homer of the season in the same frame as Raley ... It was the first time this season that Houston has blasted multiple home runs in the same inning ... Adams has now hit safely in nine of her last 11 appearances ... Jessica Valis added her 15th multi-hit game and extended her hitting streak to team-high five games with an infield single in the third inning ... It was Valis' third multi-hit output in her last four outings ... 33 of Valis' team-best 47 hits have not left the infield ... Katie Bush added her team-leading 12th sacrifice hit in the third inning ... Bush reached on a single in the seventh inning and has now reached base in 14 consecutive games ... Elaina Nordstrom added a career-best five RBIs pushing her total to 35 for the season ... She is the first Cougar to reach 35 RBIs this season ... The LaPalma, Calif. native matches a Cougar freshman record for RBIs in a season ... The previous record was held by Kristin Glowacz who also totaled 35 RBIs during the 2002 season ... Nordstrom has picked up a RBI in nine of her last 10 games ... The five RBIs in a game is second all-time in program history to Kim Nesloney's and Arelis Ferreiers' six in a game reached in 2002 ... Nordstrom also put together her ninth multi-hit and eighth multi-RBI game .. Barbie Love threw a season-best 5.0 innings of shutout relief ... It was the second consecutive game that Love has thrown over 4.0 innings out of the bullpen ... With three strikeouts, Love is now six Ks away from reaching 100 for her career ... Jaci Gonzalez has reached base in 17 of 26 games when in the batting lineup ... The San Antonio, native has scored a run in her last four games and in six of her last eight outings.

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