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Sports

Cougars can't hang with Miners in best of 3

Candi Kloecker's no hitter in Game 2 would provide UH with their only win of the series

Cougar Sports Services 

Over the last three seasons, the Cougars have managed to put the first runs on the board 75 out of 96 times. It is no doubt that a good start often leads to a win, but if the UH softball team expects to defeat opponents it needs to focus more on finishing strong as well. 

This weekend's action saw UH (25-14, 7-5) finish a three-game series 2-1 against Conference USA opponent Texas-El Paso at the Cougar Softball Stadium.

"The biggest thing that we're fighting for right now is to make the conference tournament," head coach Kyla Holas told uhcougars.com. "Our offense has been shutting down recently after scoring runs. We have to make sure that we continue to apply pressure on offense."

UTEP (14-23, 3-5) took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning of the final game thanks to a solo home run by sophomore Ashley Perez. Houston fought back to score three runs in the third including an RBI-double by freshman Elaina Nordstrom.

The Miners scored another run in the sixth, and took the lead and victory away from the Cougars after senior Sarah Ramirez's sixth homerun of the season brought in teammate freshman Amber Bennett home to end the game at 4-3. 

During Game 1 on Saturday, UTEP's sophomore Simone Holland stretched the Miners' lead to 3-0 after a RBI-single in the third. The Cougars responded back with three runs of their own to tie the score in the fifth. 

A two-run homer by Holland would allow the 5-3 win in the seventh. UH sophomore pitcher Angel Shamblin fell to 10-6 on the season, while the Miners' senior Veronica Flournoy improved to 6-6. 

The Cougars sought revenge during Game 2, as they completely dominated the Miners and walked off with an 8-0 victory in five innings of play.

Junior Candi Kloecker was awarded the win after firing her first career no-hitter as a Cougar. She struck out 12 batters against three walks to improve her record to 8-6.

Junior Laura Durham's triple off the right field fence put the Cougars up 1-0 in the second inning. Junior Jamie Adams increased the lead to 2-0 when she registered her first home run of the season.

A two-run single by Shamblin in the third, two RBI-singles by freshman Katie Bush in the fourth and a two-run single by freshman Haley Valis would be enough to end the scoring barrage. 
 

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