March 24, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

IRVING, Texas - Three Houston softball players recorded home runs in the Cougars 6-0 defeat of Southern Miss on Saturday at Cougar Softball Stadium. Houston ran its Conference USA win streak to six and earned its second-straight sweep of a league opponent. Houston outscored Southern Miss 26-5 over the weekend and has outscored its conference opponents 62-10. No. 11 Houston moves to 28-4 overall this season and 6-0 in Conference USA. The Cougars are now 21-11 all-time against Southern Miss.

RECENT RESULTS
Sunday, March 23
^ No. 5 Stanford 9, East Carolina 0

Saturday, March 22
*UCF 8, Tulsa 0
*Marshall 7, UTEP 4
*No. 11 Houston 6, Southern Miss 0
*UAB 9, Memphis 1 (5 inn.)
*UAB 4, Memphis 3
^ East Carolina 5, Princeton 1
^ Wisconsin 7, East Carolina 3

Friday, March 21
*No. 11 Houston 7, Southern Miss 3
*No. 11 Houston 13, Southern Miss 2
*UCF 6, Tulsa 5
*UCF 2, Tulsa 0
*Marshall 6, UTEP 0
*UTEP 8, Marshall 6
*UAB 6, Memphis 4
^ BYU 7, East Carolina 6
^ East Carolina 8, Princeton 0

Thursday, March 20
UCF 4, Iowa 1

Wednesday, March 19
Tulsa 5, Bethune Cookman 1
UCF 9, Jacksonville 1

Tuesday, March 18
Tulsa 4, Iowa 2
South Alabama 3, UAB 1
South Alabama 5, UAB 3
UTEP 9, No. 7 Arizona 6
No. 7 Arizona 8, UTEP 2
No. 24 Virginia Tech 1, No. 11 Houston 0
No. 21Mississippi St. 9, Southern Miss 0
Tulsa 2, Stetson 0

* - C-USA Game
^ - Stanford Invitational II, Palo Alto, CA
# - Border War, Fayetteville, AR

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

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (3/24)
CO-HITTER S OF THE WEEK
CHRISTA RALEY - Houston
3B, Jr., LaPorte, Texas (LaPorte)
Raley hit a grand slam in the Cougars game one 13-2 win over Southern Miss. The blast was her first grand slam this season and her seventh home run in 2008. The junior led her team last week hitting .500 (5-for-10) and her 1.000 slugging percentage and .545 on base percentage were second best. Raley had just one strikeout in four games and notched five RBI.

KELLY NIELSON - Marshall
SS, Jr., Tucson, Ariz. (Pima CC)
Nielson had a clutch sixth-inning grand slam in the final game of a three-game series against UTEP to help the Herd claim the series. Down 4-3, the junior shortstop blasted her first NCAA grand slam. Nielson finished the weekend with a .500 batting average (4-for-8). She scored a run in every game and registered five RBIs. She scored the winning run in the first game of the series.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
ALLISON KIME - UCF
P, Sr., Brandon, Fla. (Hillsborough C.C.)
Kime registered four of the Knights' five wins during the week, picking up all three victories in the league series with Tulsa. The senior allowed only one run in 20 innings pitched while posting a 0.35 ERA. Against the Golden Hurricane, she pitched 15 of the 20 total innings and did not allow a single run in three appearances, recording two complete-game shutouts and a 0.00 ERA. She allowed only seven total hits to Tulsa and struck out 15 batters, while walking only two.

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 (3/18 - 3/23)
CHRISTEN AONA - East Carolina
Aona hit 5-for-14 (.357) with two runs scored, eight RBI and three walks with a stolen base. She produced one multi-hit game and two multi-RBI efforts.

LEANDRA HINES - Memphis
Hines went 5-for-8 (.625) in the Tigers' three-game series with UAB. She had a .700 on-base percentage and stole two bases.

LAUREN LINDSAY - Tulsa
Lindsay led her team with a .368 average (7-for-19), including a .579 slugging percentage and a .429 on-base percentage. She also led her team with seven hits, including a double and a home run.

LEIGH WALKER - UAB
Walker hit .438 for the week (7-for-16) and drove in three runs. She went 4-for-9 in the Blazers sweep of Memphis.

MARQUITA COUNCIL - UCF
Council helped her team to a 5-0 record on the week. The redshirt junior posted a .467 batting average (6-for-15) and posted a hit in every contest.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES IN THE CIRCLE (3/18 - 3/23)
AUTUMN MITCHELL - Marshall
Mitchell pitched 3.1 innings of relief in two Herd victories last week. She registered four strikeouts and gave up no earned runs and just one hit in her relief appearances.

JORDAN KINARD - Tulsa
Kinard allowed only three hits against Stetson and did not allow an earned run in two appearances. The two runs against UCF were scored only after a TU throwing error. She notched 11 strikeouts in 13 innings of work.

JENNIFER NELSON - UAB
Nelson went 2-1 last week and helped the Blazers to a series sweep of Memphis. The senior struck out 21 batters in 20 innings of work and passed the 750 career strikeout plateau. Nelson recorded a 1.75 ERA on the week allowing just five earned runs.

C-USA NOTEBOOK
EAST CAROLINA
DRIVING IT IN
Cristen Aona has been on a tear at the plate in the last few weeks. In her last 10 contests, the sophomore has hit 14-for-30 (.467) with 15 RBI, two doubles, her first-career triple and a home run. Aona is averaging 1.5 RBI in those 10 games while raising her batting average from .302 to .336.

CLOSE CALLS
In two of the Pirates' losses at the Stanford Invitational II, they held the lead only to let it slip away in the final innings. Against BYU, ECU led 6-4 going into the bottom of the sixth. However, the Cougars scored three runs, including a walk off long ball to snatch the victory. The Pirates also held a 3-0 advantage versus Wisconsin, but the Badgers used six runs in the top of the sixth to eventually win 7-3.

HOUSTON
SCORING MACHINE
Three Houston softball players recorded home runs in the Cougars 6-0 defeat of Southern Miss on Saturday at Cougar Softball Stadium. Houston ran their Conference USA win streak to six and earned their second-straight sweep of a league opponent. Houston outscored Southern Miss 26-5 over the weekend and have outscored their conference opponents 62-10. No. 11/12 Houston moves to 28-4 overall this season and 6-0 in Conference USA. The Cougars are now 21-11 all-time against Southern Miss.

SHAMBLIN CLOSING IN ON 700 K's
Houston pitcher Angel Shamblin moved to 16-2 in the circle this season with her win on Saturday. She pitched the complete game allowing two hits, no walks and three strikeouts. The senior notched 10 strikeouts last week and now has 699 for her career. Her total ranks fourth on the C-USA career strikeout list. She also has 74 career victories, also good for fourth all-time.

MARSHALL
NIELSON NAILS a GRAND SLAM
Marshall junior shortstop Kelly Nielson had a clutch sixth-inning grand slam in the final game of a three-game series against UTEP to help the Herd claim the series. Down 4-3, the junior shortstop blasted her first NCAA grand slam. Nielson finished the weekend with a .500 batting average (4-for-8). She scored a run in every game and registered five RBIs. She scored the winning run in the first game of the series.

FIRST CAREER TRIPLE
Marshall senior Samantha Rodriguez's three-run fifth inning home run led the Herd to a 6-0 victory over host UTEP in game one of Marshall's league series last weekend. The Oakley, Calif., native finished the game with three RBIs, a home run and a triple. Rodriguez tripled in the first inning, the first of her career.

MEMPHIS
WALK THIS WAY
Junior infielder Leila Dolfo has been walked at least once in 10 straight games and 14 out of the last 15 contests. She leads the team with 23. Last week walked for times in a three-game series with UAB.

HINES HITS
Junior left fielder Leandra Hines went 5-for-8 (.625) last week in a three-game series with UAB to lead the Tigers in hitting. The Memphis speed demon also was 2-for-2 in stolen bases and had a sac hit. Hines is third on the team in batting with a .305 average and ranks in the top 10 in the conference with eight sac hits and 10 stolen bases.

SOUTEHRN MISS
FOX LEADS GOLDEN EAGLES
Southern Miss 3B Jennifer Fox continues to pace the Golden Eagles as she finished last week batting .364 (6-for-13) with four hits, including a two-run home run against No. 11 Houston. She collected three RBI on the week.

HILL DRAWS A PASS
Megan Hill drew her fifth career intentional walk, tying her for first on the all-time Southern Miss intentional pass list.

TULSA
LINDSAY LEADS DURING FLORIDA TRIP
Lauren Lindsay led her team hitting .368 (7-for-19), including a .579 slugging percentage and a .429 on-base percentage. She also led TU with seven hits on the week, including a double and a home run. Against league foe UCF, she went 6-for-10, including a 3-for-4 performance in game two. Lindsay posted a 1.000 slugging percentage against the Knights with 10 total bases in 10 at-bats. She also had three of TU's five RBI against UCF, as well as two of TU's five runs scored on the Knights.

BORDER WAR
Tulsa will jump out of conference play with a pair of mid-week games. On Wednesday, TU will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the annual Border War. TU will play Oklahoma State at 3 p.m., then take on Arkansas at 7 p.m. The Hurricane will return to the friendly confines of the Donna J. Hardesty Sports Complex on Saturday, Mar. 29, to host East Carolina in a three-game C-USA series. Tulsa is 7-0 at home this season.

UAB
WALKER DOES IT ALL
Leigh Walker hit .438 for the week and drove in three runs for the Blazers. She went 4-of-9 from the plate in the Blazers' sweep over Memphis. She also turned two inning-ending double plays against the Tigers. She hit her third home run of the season in the first game against South Alabama on Tuesday. In that game she went 3-for-3 and also stole two bases.

NELSON MOVES UP LISTS
Pitcher Jennifer Nelson went 2-1 on the week and helped the Blazers sweep Memphis in their three-game series. The senior struck out 21 batters in 20.0 innings and passed the 750 career strikeout plateau. Nelson recorded a 1.75 ERA on the week allowing five earned runs. Her 752 career Ks are third all-time on the C-USA career strikeout list.

UCF
SEVEN IN A ROW
With five wins last week, the Knights extended their winning steak to seven games, while posting victories in 11 of their last 13 contests. UCF has recorded wins over East Carolina, No. 14 Baylor, UAB, Jacksonville and Tulsa, while recording 87 hits, 12 doubles, 54 runs and 42 RBI during the stretch.

SECOND SWEEP
The series sweep over Tulsa last weekend marked only the second time that UCF has swept a C-USA opponents since joining the league for the 2006 season. Last year, the Knights swept UTEP at home to clinch their first C-USA Championship berth.

UTEP
ROUND TRIPS
UTEP blasted five home runs over the weekend, including three in one game bringing the Miners' total to 33 in 2008. For the week, the Miners slammed seven, two against No. 8 Arizona and five against Marshall. Camilla Carrera knocked two out of the park against the Herd to tally a team-high seven on the year. Carrera becomes just the second freshman to accomplish the feat. With one more home run, Carerra breaks the freshman record for home runs in a season. She needs just three to tie the season record (10).

WOW! WEBB!
Mariann Webb had just three at bats before becoming the Miners' designated hitter against Marshall. She connected for her first base hit of her career with a bunt to third base. An inning later, Webb blasted her first career round tripper, good for two runs. She got off another hit in UTEP's final game of the series and got to base off a hit-by-pitch and is now batting .444 for the Miners.

AROUND THE HORN
EAST CAROLINA
Stanford used two big innings to down East Carolina (23-13, 4-2) Sunday afternoon, 9-0, at Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium. The Pirates concluded the Stanford Invitational II with a 2-3 record. The Pirates defeated Princeton 5-1 in its first game of Saturday but allowed Wisconsin to rally for a 7-3 win in game two. ECU also their first two games of the tournament Friday afternoon, dropping a tough 7-6 decision to BYU while taking out Princeton 8-0 in six innings. Christen Aona played and started in all five games over the weekend and went 5-for-14 with two runs scored, three walks and a stolen base. She produced one multi-hit game and two multie-RBI efforts. Aona also tallied her first career triple against BYU. East Carolina returns to conference play next weekend as it travels to Tulsa for a three-game set with the Golden Hurricane. The teams will play a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Hardesty Softball Complex.

HOUSTON
Three Houston (28-4, 6-0) softball players recorded home runs in the Cougars 6-0 defeat of Southern Miss on Saturday at Cougar Softball Stadium. Houston ran its Conference USA win streak to six and earned its second-straight sweep of a league opponent. Houston outscored Southern Miss, 26-5, over the weekend and has outscored its conference opponents 62-10. No. 11 The Cougars are now 21-11 all-time against Southern Miss. The Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Saturday after junior Haley Valis hit her sixth home run of the season. Houston used two home runs in the second inning of game two to defeat Southern Miss 7-2 on Friday. Freshman Jennifer Klinkert and Shamblin each recorded home runs for Houston. The Cougars took out Southern Miss 13-2 after Christa Raley hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning in game one. Houston will remain on its home field for a weekend series against Memphis on March 29-30.

MARSHALL
Trailing 4-2 in the sixth inning, Marshall (12-16, 4-4) scored five runs culminated by a Kelly Nielson grand slam to defeat UTEP, 7-4, capturing its second Conference USA road series of the season, Saturday afternoon at Helen of Troy Field. Trailing by one, Nielson blasted her first NCAA grand slam giving the Herd the lead. After scoring six runs in the final two innings, Marshall was unable to score any more runs as it lost the second game to UTEP, 8-6, Friday afternoon. Marshall senior Samantha Rodriguez's three-run fifth inning home run led the Herd to a 6-0 victory over host UTEP in game one. The Oakley, Calif., native finished the game with three RBIs, a home run and a triple. Rodriguez tripled in the first inning, the first of her career. The Herd will next travel to the state of Arizona for a pair of non-conference doubleheaders. Marshall will square off against No. 1 Arizona State, Tuesday, March 25 at 6 p.m. The Herd concludes the seven-game road trip against No. 8 Arizona, Wednesday, March 26 at 6 p.m.

MEMPHIS
Memphis dropped its C-USA series with UAB over the weekend. The Tigers fell 6-4 on Friday afternoon, and then was swept 9-1 and 4-3 in Saturday's doubleheader. Junior Leandra Hines led Memphis (16-14, 0-5) with four hits in the two games and matched a career high with a 3-for-4 performance in game two. Hines finished the week hitting 5-for-8 with one walk. The Tigers fell behind in the second game after UAB scored a run in the second inning. Memphis knotted the game at one in the fourth inning on a RBI by Kailey Kassner. Memphis gave up eight runs in the third inning in the first game of the doubleheader. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but lost for only the third time this season when scoring the first run in a game. Leigh Rowan went 2-for-3 in game one Friday, but the Tigers fell 6-4. Memphis will next play a three-game Conference USA series at No. 11 Houston on Saturday and Sunday, March 29-30.

SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss (14-18, 2-7) finished last week with a tough midweek loss to No. 21 Mississippi State and three losses to No. 11 Houston. Jennifer Fox continues to pace the Lady Eagles as she finished the week batting .364 with four hits, including a two-run home run against Houston. She collected three RBI on the week. Allison Bullard recorded her 28th career double last week. Megan Hill drew her fifth career intentional walk, tying her for first on the all-time Southern Miss intentional pass list. Samantha Davis pitched a team-high 11.1 innings last week and led her team with four strikeouts. Southern Miss begins a five-game homestand, beginning with a midweek double-header against Northwestern State Wednesday (Mar. 26) and remain at home to host UAB in a three-game weekend series (Mar. 29-30).

TULSA
Four straight hits to start the bottom of the fourth inning, including three consecutive doubles, broke open a scoreless game as Tulsa fell to UCF Saturday afternoon in Orlando. The Golden Hurricane (17-14, 5-4) had its six-game winning streak snapped on Friday afternoon by UCF. The Knights took the first game of Friday's doubleheader 2-0 , followed by a 6-5 win in the nightcap. Sophomore Lauren Lindsay recorded both of TU's hits in the first contest, with a pair of singles. Freshman Jordan Kinard took the loss for TU, pitching six innings and striking out four Knights. In the second game, Lindsay was again the big bat for the Hurricane. The Oklahoma City, Okla. native went 3-for-4 from the plate with a home run and three RBIs. She also scored two of TU's five runs in the game. Tulsa will jump out of conference play with a pair of mid-week games. On Wednesday, TU will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the annual Border War to play Oklahoma State and Arkansas.

UAB
UAB (17-18, 4-5) completed a three-game conference series sweep over Memphis winning both games of a doubleheader on Saturday at George Ward Park. The Blazers run ruled the Tigers in game one, 9-1, in five innings and were defeated in series finale, 4-3. Kayla Harris earned the run-rule victory for the Blazers , holding the Tigers to one run on three hits and striking out two. Harris and Cameron Skates guided UAB to a 6-4 victory against Memphis Friday evening. Harris went 2-for-3 and had two RBI while Skates went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs, including the game winning for the Blazers. Skates earned her RBI in a variety of ways, including a hit-by-pitch which turned into the game winning run for UAB. She also plated runs with a line drive of Kimber Bossom's left shin in the third and a line-drive double to left center in the sixth. The Blazers will next play No. 2 Alabama on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa before traveling to Hattiesburg, Miss on Saturday for a C-USA series with Southern Miss.

UCF
Breanne Javier's single in the sixth inning helped lead UCF (25-14, 6-3) to an 8-0 win and a series sweep of Tulsa, Saturday afternoon at the UCF Softball Complex. With the victory, the Knights improve to 25-14 overall and 6-3 in C-USA action. Javier went 2-for-4 from the plate with two RBI, while Hillary Barrow registered a 2-for-3 performance with three RBI and two runs scored. Allison Kime picked up her third win of the series, throwing a complete-game shutout with six strikeouts. The hurler allowed no runs on four hits, moving her record to 14-7 on the season and 5-1 in league play. UCF took Friday's doubleheader with 2-0 and 6-5 wins over the Golden Hurricane. Kime picked up both wins for the Black and Gold in the circle. UCF hits the road for five games next week, visiting Florida Atlantic and Florida International Tuesday and Wednesday, before facing Marshall for a C-USA series.

UTEP
Camilla Carrera blasted her seventh home run of the season, but it was not enough, as Marshall defeated the Miners, 7-4 to win the series 2-1. Carrera ended the day 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI for UTEP (21-12, 4-5). Jennifer Stalter sailed a long ball in the outing, her third of the season to add to the Miners' 33 in 2008. She ended 1-for-3. Mariann Webb hit her first home run to lift UTEP past Marshall, 8-6, in the second game of the Friday's doubleheader. The Miners dropped the series opener, 6-0. Stacie Townsend and Carrera also knocked the ball over the fence. Townsend received the loss in the first game and falls to 9-6. She allowed five runs on six hits and struck out three in 4.1 innings of play. Kelly Curran, who came in relief, fanned four and gave up a run. UTEP will take a break from league action to play a two game series at Texas Tech on Tues., March 25. They return home on March 27 to take on former WAC foe Nevada in a doubleheader tilt. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.