May 5, 2007

Final Stats |  Gallery 

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

HOUSTON - Carla Kennimer allowed three hits and an unearned run, while Laurie Wagner drove home a career-best four RBIs as the University of Houston softball team notched a 7-1 victory Saturday afternoon in game two of a Conference USA weekend series at the Cougar Softball Stadium.

With the victory, Houston is the fourth team in C-USA history to record 20 conference wins and first since Louisville during the 2005 season.

"Senior Day is always something special," head coach Kyla Holas said. "It's good to find a way to say thank you to Laura, Candi and Carla for their contribution to our program."

Kennimer made the most of her Senior Day start in the circle, scattering three hits and allowed an unearned run to improve to 5-0 on the season. The Porter native has won 13 of her last 14 decisions since a loss in the 2006 season opener.

"There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to end on a good note," Kennimer said. "I wanted to make my family proud, and I wanted to show my teammates that they can still count on me. I was able to rely on my rise and drop balls. Both pitches were extremely effective today."

Marshall (30-24, 10-13 C-USA) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning taking advantage of an Amanda Grote throwing error.

Laura Durham responded right away for the Cougars (39-15, 20-3 C-USA) with a solo home run to open the home half of the frame to tie the score at 1-1.

Houston continued to put the pressure on the Thundering Herd as Angel Shamblin and Grote continued the inning with consecutive singles. Candi Kloecker reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases and Wagner knocked in the first of four runs on a sacrifice fly to give Houston a 2-1 edge.

The Cougars broke the game open to 6-1 after getting a pair of two-run home runs from Haley Valis and Wagner in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

"It's been a rollercoaster season for me," Wagner said. "There have been stretches where I haven't done well on offense. I was fortunate enough today to take advantages of pitches in my hitting zone."

"Laurie is one of those players that are starting to come back around on offense," Holas said. "She's had to deal with some injuries. Her hard work in rehab and practice is starting to pay dividends at the right time."

Wagner completed her career day and tacked an insurance run with a RBI-double in the sixth inning for the final margin of 7-1.

Houston concludes the regular season with the series finale Sunday against Marshall. First pitch is set for Noon at the Cougar Softball Stadium. Live stats are available via GameTracker on UHCougars.com

"We need to finish this series out and keep our momentum going heading into the conference tournament," Holas said. "There is no reason for us to be on cruise control."

"We need to play our game and execute," Wagner said. "It's really important for us to take care of business."

Game Notes
Game two of this afternoon's doubleheader was the fifth all-time meeting between Houston and Marshall on the softball diamond ... The Cougars have now won four of five games in the series ... Houston is the fourth team in Conference USA history to record 20 conference wins ... The last team to reach that feat was Louisville during the 2005 season ... The Cougars also move to 25-0 this season when scoring four or more runs ... Houston has won 38 of its last 41 games against unranked opponents, including 18 consecutive home outings ... Houston moves to 49-13 over the last two season at the Cougar Softball Stadium ... The Cougars improve to 31-8 in day games ... Houston moves to 9-8 this season when the opposition scores first ... The Cougars have notched an impressive 103-4 mark since the start of the 2004 season when taking a lead into the seventh inning .... Houston has won 60 of its last 62 decisions during the stretch, including 28 of 29 games this season ... The Cougars are 18-1 this season when wearing white jerseys and white pants ... Houston has won 31 of 33 games when outhitting its opponent ... Elaina Nordstrom has started in all 116 games of her career ... Laura Durham also has played in all 116 games of her Houston career since transferring from Texas A&M ... Katie Bush has made 113 consecutive starts in centerfield ... It was only the seventh time in her last 42 games that Christa Raley failed to reach base ... With her single in the first inning, Elaina Nordstrom now has 104 career hits and three hits away from matching Jeanie Davis (2002-05) for the No. 10 position in program history ... Nordstrom is the only Cougar to reach base in each of Houston's 23 Conference USA games ... The California native has reached base 102 of her 116 career games ... Haley Valis provided her seventh multi-hit and eighth multi-RBI efforts of the season ... The Shiner native has notched a RBI in three of her last four games ... Six of Valis' team-leading nine home run have come in conference play ... Laura Durham has hit safely in 14 of 23 conference games ... The solo home run for Durham in the second inning was the 17th of her Cougar career and allowed her to pass teammate Elaina Nordstrom and Michelle Keith (2002-05) for the No. 5 spot on the program's home run list ... The Pearland native is one homer away from Jeanie Davis (2002-05) for the No. 4 position ... Durham also picked up her 54th RBI of her career and passed Ali McDougall (2001-02) for sole possession of ninth place on that program list ... Angel Shamblin has tallied a hit in three of her last four games ... Amanda Grote has reached base in eight of her last nine conference games .... The Brenham native registered her seventh multi-hit game of the season ... It's the first time in Grote's career that she has totaled back-to-back multi-hit efforts ... Candi Kloecker has reached base in two of her last three starts ... Laurie Wagner came through with her third multi-hit and seventh multi-RBI games of the season ... The four RBIs are a career-best for Wagner ... Her previous career-high was three which was last reached in the middle game of the UCF series (April 21) ... The Houston native also has matched her RBI total from last season ... Carla Kennimer tossed her second complete game of the season ... The Porter native has won 13 of her last 14 decisions dating back to the 2006 season opener against Florida.