Feb. 16, 2009
Feb. 16 Softball Notebook 
IRVING, Texas - Powered by a one-hit shutout by pitcher by Jackie Lawrence and a grand slam by Lauren Lindsay, Tulsa vanquished Colorado State 6-0 Sunday morning in the UC Riverside aTen Construction Tournament held at Amy S. Harrison Field. The Golden Hurricane are now a league-leading 7-2 on the season and have been led by the pitching of Katie Lee, who threw her second consecutive no-hitter on Saturday.
RECENT RESULTS
Sunday, February 15
# Marshall 3, Illinois 1
@ Tulsa 6, Colorado State 0
$ (1) Alabama 8, East Carolina 0 (6 inn.)
* Texas State 4, (14) Houston 3
& Oregon 14, Southern Miss 0 (5 inn.)
Saturday, February 14
$ Notre Dame 2, East Carolina 1
$ Wisconsin 3, East Carolina 0
* (7) Oklahoma 5, (14) Houston 3
* (14) Houston 9, N.C. State 3
# Hofstra 3, Marshall 1
# USF 5, Marshall 4
Memphis 6, Alcorn State 2
Memphis 10, Alcorn State 2
& BYU 10, Southern Miss 4
& Southern Miss 9, South Dakota St. 8 (9 inn.)
@ Tulsa 4, UC Riverside 0
% UCF 4, George Mason 1
% (11) Tennessee 1, UCF 0 (8 inn.)
! Eastern Illinois 6, UTEP 1
! UTEP 4, Central Michigan 3 (8 inn.)
Friday, February 13
$ East Carolina 2, Wisconsin 1
# (10) Arizona 10, Marshall 4
@ Tulsa 4, Colorado State 1
@ Tulsa 6, San Diego 0
% Villanova 5, UCF 3
% UCF 5, Texas-Arlington 1
& (16) DePaul 8, Southern Miss 5
& UNLV 6, Southern Miss 2
! UTEP 9, Saint Mary’s 5
! UTEP 3, Central Michigan 1 (8 inn.)
Thursday, February 12
! New Mexico State 10, UTEP 7
Wednesday, February 11
UCF 2, North Florida 1
North Florida 7, UCF 5
Southern Miss 7, Mississippi State 3
RECENT GAMES KEY
! - Troy Cox Classic, Las Cruces, N.M.
@ - aTEN Construction Tournament, Riverside, CA
# - 2009 Wilson Tournament, Tampa, FL
$ - BAMA! Bash, Tuscaloosa, AL
%- UCF Early Bird Invite, Orlando, FL
&- UNLV Invitational, Las Vegas, NV
* - Marriott Houston Classic, Houston, TX
HITTER OF THE WEEK
CHELSEA TROUPE - UTEP
UT, Fr., Oceanside, Calif. (El Camino)
Troupe was named to the Troy Cox Classic All-Tournament team after registering a team-high nine hits and hitting .529 (9-for-17). She was also the team leader in runs (six), doubles (three) and RBI (six) to lead the Miners to a 3-2 weekend. She slugged a team-high 1.059. Troupe was 3-for-3 in stolen bases, drew two walks and struck out just twice in 17 at bats. Defensively,Troupe saw action at catcher and left field where she recorded 12 putouts and three assists in the outfield. This is Troupe’s first career weekly honor.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
KATIE LEE - Tulsa
P, Sr., Edmond, Okla. (Edmond North)
Lee threw her second consecutive no-hitter Saturday at the UC Riverside Tournament, leading Tulsa to a 4-0 victory over the host team, UC Riverside. In the game, Lee allowed just one walk in 7.0 innings and struck out six batters. Lee retired 11 straight batters to begin the game and 10 straight to end it. Only one ball even got out of the infield during the game – a fly out to center field for the final out of the ballgame. The other 20 outs were a combination of groundouts, infield pop outs and liners, strikeouts, and a pair of bunts. Lee is now 2-0 on the season with two no-hitters and carries a 1.19 ERA. She previously no-hit Prairie View A&M in her last outing, an 8-0 victory in five innings on Feb. 8. In that game, she struck out 11 of 15 batters faced. The weekly honor is the first of the senior’s career.
DIAMOND STARS
Each week, teams have individuals who shine both at the plate and in the circle and this is where those efforts will be highlighted throughout the season.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES AT THE PLATE (2/9- 2/13)
LAURIE WAGNER - Houston
Wagner went 4-for-8 in the Marriott Houston Classic. She hit two three-run home runs and added a double and eight RBI. She went 3-for-3 against N.C. State.
REBECCA GAMBY - Marshall
Gamby started all four games at catcher and went 4-for-13 with a double and three RBI for the Herd. Her weekend was highlighted by a 3-for-4 effort against No. 10 Arizona.
KAMRI CHESTER - Memphis
Chester went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, two RBI and two stolen bases in a doubleheader sweep over Alcorn State.
MEGAN HILL - Southern Miss
Hill finished the week batting .474 (9-for-19) with four doubles, one triple and two home runs. She added seven runs scored and seven RBI. Hill registered a 1.105 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.
Brooke Smart - Tulsa
Smart hit .455 for the weekend (5-for-11) with a home run, a double, four RBI and three walks as TU went 4-0. She totaled a .818 slugging percentage and a .571 on-base percentage.
TIFFANY LANE - UCF
Lane posted a .400 (8-for-20) batting average with three triples, five runs scored and a .700 slugging percentage. She accounted for six of UCF’s 19 total runs scored.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES IN THE CIRCLE (2/9- 2/13)
KATIE MURPHREE - Marshall
Murphree tossed 16.1 innings and allowed just three earned runs, while striking out six. Against No. 10 Arizona, the junior fanned three batters in three innings of work.
JANELLE VALLE - Memphis
Valle tossed a three-hitter in the second game of Memphis’ doubleheader sweep of Alcorn State. The southpaw struck out five in seven innings or work.
JACKIE LAWRENCE - Tulsa
Lawrence won two games, allowing only one run on five hits in 14.0 innings, walking only two and striking out 17 batters. For the season she is 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA in 23.1 innings, has given up eight hits, three runs (all earned), 11 walks, and 27 K’s.
ASHLEIGH COLE - UCF
Cole picked up two wins in three starts last weekend, posting a 0.57 ERA. In 24.2 innings of work, she struck out 17 batters and allowed just two earned runs. Against No. 11 Tennessee, she held the Vols scoreless through seven innings and gave up just two hits and an unearned run.
AROUND THE HORN
EAST CAROLINA
PLAYING THE NATION'S BEST
East Carolina’s game against Alabama on Sunday marked the first time the Pirates played against the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The highest ranked team ECU had played prior to the contest with the Crimson Tide was No. 3 South Carolina, in April of 1997.
MOWING THEM DOWN
With her 21 strikeouts over the weekend, redshirt sophomore pitcher Toni Paisley moved into sixth place on the ECU strikeouts in a career list with 280. Paisley passed current teammate Brooke Swann, who has fanned 264 batters in her career, to move into the sixth spot all-time.
HOUSTON
COUGARS HOST MARRIOTT CLASSIC
The Cougars are now 4-3 after a 1-2 finish in the 2009 Marriott Houston with a win over NC State. The first day of the event was cancelled due to heavy rain in the Houston area. The Cougars had nine hits against The Wolfpack, including a 3-for-3 performance by senior outfielder Laurie Wagner. Wagner hit a three-run home run, a single and a double. She also hit a three-run homer in the 5-3 loss against No. 7 Oklahoma. Wagner finished the weekend 4-for-8. Sophomore hurler Baillie Lott struck out three against OU, walking three and allowing five runs. Amanda Crabtree got the win in the circle against N. C. State, allowing just four hits in five innings pitched, while striking out two. Houston will play Baylor on Wednesday at the Cougar Softball Stadium at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
MARSHALL
GAMBY GROWS UP
Freshman Rebecca Gamby, who was the team’s starting catcher in all four games for the Thundering Herd, started off the weekend with a 2-for-4 performance against No. 10/12 Arizona. Saturday night against USF, Gamby would tack on two more hits including a two RBI double to take the lead in the top of the seventh. Sunday, she would draw two walks showing patience at the plate as a true freshman.
EARLY LEAD = WIN
For the third time in the last three games, Marshall started out with a first inning lead on Sunday against Illinois. Freshman Alianna Telles lead off with a double followed by senior J.J. Bitner reaching first on a throwing error that scored Telles. Marshall went on to lead the whole game and take the win, 3-1.
MEMPHIS
DOUBLE TRIPLES
Sophomore Heather Mott set a Memphis record with two triples in game one against Alcorn State. Both triples came in the same inning and knocked in a total of four RBI in a 10-run inning for Memphis in its 10-2 victory. The shortstop is the program’s all-time leader in career triples with five. She had three triples last season.
PUT THEM ON THE BOARD
Memphis scored a school-record 10 runs in the third inning of a 10-2 victory against Alcorn State. The Tigers had 15 total at bats in the inning and scored the 10 runs on five hits and seven Braves errors.
SOUTHERN MISS
HITTING IT WELL
Southern Miss finished with a .310 batting average, scoring 27 runs and recording 53 hits, including eight doubles, three triples and four home runs. Six players had a batting average of .300 or better, including Courtney Hill who hit .467 (7-for-15) with two triples and a game-tying double. 12 different players recorded a hit during the week.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Freshmen Chanell Thurman and Ashley Razey recorded six and five hits, repsectively, last week. Razey notched the game-winning hit against South Dakota State. Rookie pitcher Courtney Ramos finished the week with a 2-2 record and 20 strikeouts as USM played six teams from five different conferences at the UNLV Invitational.
TULSA
TU ON A ROLL
Tulsa - winners of six straight - shut out three of its four opponents at the UC Riverside Tournament, allowing only one run throughout, and committed zero errors during the weekend. TU has gone five games without committing an error, a span of 32.1. In 28 innings, the Golden Hurricane threw three shutouts. Offensively over four games, Tulsa tallied 30 hits, 20 runs, two doubles, three home runs, 19 RBI, 12 walks and 18 K’s. The Hurricane also laid down two sacrifice bunts, and totaled a team on-base percentage of .361. Base runners were 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts.
KINARD STRONG IN THE CIRCLE
Sophomore pitcher Jordan Kinard pitched a shutout to earn her first win of the season in a 6-0 victory over San Diego. In the game, she threw 7.0 innings, allowed four hits, zero runs, three walks and struck out eight batters.
UAB
BLAZERS TAKE SECOND
The UAB softball team dropped its final game of the Hawai’i Paradise Classic to No. 6 Oklahoma, 13-1, finishing second in the tournament on Feb. 7. The highlight of the tournament came when three Blazers were announced to the Hawai’i Paradise Classic. Juniors Cameron Skates and Martina Landrum, along with freshman Lindsey Croft received the honor.
STELLAR SKATES
Cameron Skates led UAB at the Hawai’i Paradise Classic hitting .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles and two RBI. She led the Blazers in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. UAB retuns to action this weekend in LSU’s Purple and Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, La.
UCF
BARROW BASHES
Junior Hillary Barrow continued to swing a hot bat through six games last week, hitting .353 (6-for-17) with four doubles, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored during the span. The junior posted a .765 slugging percentage and a .421 on-base percentage as well. In the Knights’ meeting with No. 11 Tennessee, Barrow posted UCF’s only hit, a double, in the second inning.
JAVIER CLIMBS RBI LIST
With two RBI on the week, Breanne Javier took sole possession of the third spot on the UCF all-time register with 92 career RBI. The senior posted a team-leading 40 RBI last season to help the Knights claim the 2008 C-USA Championship crown.
UTEP
CURRAN FANS 10
Kelly Curran fanned a career-high 10 batters against Eastern Illinois in the Miners’ 6-1 loss on Saturday. Of her five runs (one was on starting pitcher Chelsea Mayer) just one was earned. Her previous best strike out total was nine against Utah on Feb. 23, 2007 as a freshman.She had two eight strike out games in the same season.
TOWNSEND HOMERS
Stacie Townsend laced three home runs over the weekend to add to her league-leading total of four. Her long ball versus Central Michigan was good for two runs, enough to give the Miners the extra inning victory over the Chippewas. In total, the junior utility player has blasted 18 for long balls in her career and is on pace to break her season total of nine set last season.
WEEKLY RELEASE
The Conference USA media relations staff will produce a weekly release each Monday throughout the season, including Player and Pitcher of the Week selections and updated standings. Complete league results and statistics will be updated daily throughout the season on the conference web site.
ON THE WEB
For the latest Conference USA softball game recaps, scores, standings, stats and notes, please log on to the league’s official website: www.ConferenceUSA.com
