May 9, 2007

ORLANDO, Fla. - Angel Shamblin won her second consecutive Conference USA Pitcher of the Year award, while Jessica Valis and Kyla Holas took home their first Conference USA Player and Coach of the Year accolades Wednesday evening at the league's banquet.

Katie Bush joined Shamblin and Valis on the All-Conference USA First Team. Elaina Nordstrom was the lone Houston representative on the All-Conference USA Second Team.

Shamblin paced C-USA with a 26-7 record and 273 strikeouts in 226.1 innings of work. The Florida native also tossed a program single season record 11 shutouts, including six in league action en route to four C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors.

Shamblin's 26 wins and 273 Ks are just outside the Top 10 in nation. The Florida native rose her play to a new level in league games, registering a 15-1 mark and a 0.93 ERA. Her 15 wins in conference play matches the second-most victories in league history only behind DePaul's Lindsay Chouinard's 15-0 league mark during the 2002 season.

"The award may be the same for Angel, but she is a completely different pitcher than she was at this time last season," head coach Kyla Holas said. "She is a lot more confident and has worked hard to develop her pitches."

Valis ranked in C-USA's Top 10 in six categories, including average (.386-3rd), hits (68-2nd), slugging (.551-10th), runs (36-7th), triples (7-1st) and total bases (97-8th). She improved on those marks in league play as Valis' average (.465-1st), hits (33-1st), runs (19-1st ), on-base (.506-3rd), slugging (.648-4th), doubles (5-4th), triples (4-1st) and total bases (48-1st).

"Jessica has developed into a more complete player this season," Holas said. "She impacts the game and creates things for our offense. Even though she is not here with us in Orlando, she has had a fantastic season."

Bush was second on the team with a .297 batting average, 47 hits and 11 multi-hit games. She hit safely in 33 of 51 games and 13 of her 24 C-USA appearances. The Brenham native also paced the team with 15 sacrifice hits and is 11-for-14 in stolen bases.

"I'm really happy that Katie found a spot on the first team," Holas said. "She's established herself in centerfield and was one of those players that was extremely raw when she got here. Our outfield relies on her speed and strong arm to make plays."

Nordstrom led C-USA catchers with a .377 batting average, four home runs and 16 RBIs in conference play. She paced the Cougars with 28 RBIs and a .542 on-base percentage and was the only Cougar to reach base in each of Houston's 24 conference games.

"Elaina has to deal with a lot of the same issues that Marshall's Rachel Folden deals with as far as teams pitching around her," Holas said. "It's really difficult when you only see one or two good pitches a weekend."

Holas won her first Conference USA Coach of the Year award as the Cougars were the first team since DePaul in 2003 to win each of conference series. Houston also was the first 20-win conference team since Louisville in 2005.

"This award is a reflection of our coaching staff and how hard they have worked," Holas said. "No coach ever single-handily wins this award. Our staff has done an excellent job of getting the most out of our players this season."

Houston returns to the diamond as the No. 1 seed in the Conference USA Championship presented by Coca-Cola on the UCF campus. The Cougars face the winner of the UCF-Marshall game 5:30pm CDT Thursday. A live audio webcast in addition to live stats via GameTracker will be available on UHCougars.com for all tournament games.