After losing the battle against stormy skies Wednesday, the Cougars will fight to increase their 9-0 record on the season as they head into the Marriott Houston Classic this weekend at Cougar Softball Stadium. UH is the only team competing in the Classic who is undefeated.
"We expect this to be a good weekend of softball from top to bottom," head coach Kyla Holas said.
Houston will face California State Northridge, Boston University, Kansas, Centenary College and Texas State throughout the tournament.
"Each of these programs brings strong teams with solid pitchers, hitters and defense," Holas said. "We are going to have to be at our best to win this weekend."
Boston, who was named the American East Conference’s preseason favorite by its head coaches Monday, will play their first games of the season at the Classic. The Terriers were 4-0 in fall games.
Kansas will enter the tournament with a winning record of 8-3 on the season after defeating the Central Florida to win the UCF Invitational.
The Cougars will open the tournament against Cal. State Northridge Friday at 5 p.m. and face Boston at 7 p.m. On Saturday, they’ll face Kansas at 5 p.m. and Centenary College at 7 p.m., they will end the tournament Sunday against Texas State at 1 p.m.
The Cougars are coming off a weekend of wins and big hits. Of the five games played at last week’s Crowne Plaza Classic, UH allowed only one run scored while scoring 33 themselves. The Cougars shut out No. 14 DePaul and Texas A’M Corpus Christi twice and allowed the lone run during their 10-1 victory against Army. With the wins piling up, the Cougars continue to rise in the rankings. Early in the season, UH was named the Conference USA preseason favorite by C-USA head coaches.
Freshman first baseman Jennifer Klinkert hit her first career grand slam Sunday to help bring the Cougars to an 8-0 win over Texas A’M Corpus Christi. In a tight match, UH beat DePaul 1-0 on Sunday as senior pitcher Angel Shamblin pitched seven innings with five strikeouts, four hits and no runs.
"We are headed into this weekend’s tournament with confidence," junior shortstop Jessica Valis said. "We are playing well and want to continue with our best game."
Other impressive outings came from freshman Bailey Lott, who held the mound for the entire game against Army on Saturday, striking out six batters and allowing only one run. Senior Barbie Love assisted in the first win of the weekend against Army on Friday striking out eight while giving up one hit.
In mid February, the Cougars were ranked No. 23 by USA Today’s NFCA Division 1 Top 25 poll. After a 5-0 weekend at the Crowne Plaza Classic, UH moved up to No. 16 in USA Today’s poll and were ranked No. 20 by ESPN.com in their USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll.
"Bottom line, winning games will continue to move us up in the rankings, and that is what we intend to do," Valis said.
