Becca Schulte hit three home runs for UH softball during the Boyd Gaming Classic over the weekend. | James Mueller/The Cougar
The UH softball team traveled to Las Vegas to play in the Boyd Gaming Classic where it went 3-2 over the weekend, including a win over No. 7 Washington.
Friday (Doubleheader)
(7) Washington
The Cougars opened the classic with a victory in a close game against Washington on Friday.
Following a quiet first two innings, UH opened the scoring in the bottom of the third with a double by sophomore infielder Amanda Carden.
The game remained 1-0 for the next two innings before Washington tied the game 1-1 at the top of the sixth.
Senior outfielder Bethany Busch responded with a two-run home run to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth to up the score to 3-1.
Washington did not stay behind for long as it responded with a three-run home run in the top of the seventh to put it ahead 4-3.
A solo home run by redshirt senior outfielder Aspen Howie in the bottom of the seventh tied the score at 4-4 to push the game to extra innings.
Washington failed to score in the top of the eighth, making way for UH to win the game 5-4 with a walk off RBI by Busch.
The win gave UH its first win against a top 10 ranked team since defeating then (7) Oklahoma State last season.
UNLV
UH held UNLV scoreless 3-0 in its second game on Friday.
A pitcher’s duel caused bats to remain quiet most of the game with only seven hits being made throughout seven innings.
An RBI from Carden in the top of the second and an error from UNLV allowed graduate student infielder Becca Schulte to score and bring the score up to 2-0.
A homerun by Howie marked the third and final run of the game to lead 3-0.
In the bottom of the seventh UH held on for the win and allowed no hits for its second straight victory.
Saturday (Doubleheader)
New Mexico State
The Cougars continued their winning streak with an 11-7 win against New Mexico State to start Saturday’s doubleheader.
UH dominated to start the game with nine runs in the first two innings including a three-run homer by senior catcher Kati Ray Brown.
New Mexico State responded in the third with two runs and once again in the fifth with an additional three runs made bringing the score 9-5.
The Cougars ended their three-inning silence with a two-run homer into right field by Schulte to up the score to 11-5.
New Mexico State tried to keep up in the top of the seventh with two RBIs but was unable to score any additional runs resulting in an 11-7 win for UH.
(7) Washington
UH took its first loss of the weekend in its rematch against Washington.
Washington opened the first inning with a two-run home run to lead 2-0.
The Cougars quickly caught up in the top of the second when freshman infielder Ja’Naiya Thomas scored on a groundout from senior infielder Rock Benavides and an RBI by freshman infielder Kylee Gibson.
Washington took the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the second with another RBI before Schulte hit a solo home run in the top of the third to even the score.
In the bottom of third, Washington widened the gap with a three-run home run to extend the lead at 6-3.
A homerun by Howie in the top of the fourth cut the deficit to two before the Huskies scored the last four runs and ended the game 10-4.
Sunday
The Cougars were held scoreless in Sunday’s rematch game against UNLV.
UNLV hit a two-run single followed by an RBI on a double to open the scoring and take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning.
UH recorded its first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning, but was unable to produce any momentum.
UNLV hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to grow its lead to five.
No more scores were recorded as UNLV closed out UH 5-0 to wrap up the tournament.
