Softball

Outon’s two clutch hits leads to doubleheader wins

Junior catcher Haley Outon lifted the Cougars past the nationally ranked Golden Hurricanes with two walk-off hits in the doubleheader.

Outon, the two-year letter winner and C-USA Preseason Player of the Year, just came off a weekend against UTEP where she hit two grand slams, accounting for 11 runs over the series and led her to be named to C-USA Hitter of the Week.  Outon is leading C-USA in slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBI’s and home runs.

With the wins, UH is in second place in the C-USA standings with 10 games left in the season and seven games remaining in conference play.

During the first game of the doubleheader, the Cougars were down by two in the bottom of the seventh with Outon up to bat. Outon had her second hit of the game and scored in Katie St. Pierre and Kendra Cullum to defeat the Golden Hurricanes 4-3.

Outon struck again in the second game of the doubleheader when she hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the Cougars their second straight win over Tulsa.

Outon had a lot help from the pitching staff too.

Redshirt junior pitcher Bailey Watts had a complete game, in the first game of the double header, striking out three batters and earning her 16th win of the season.

Junior pitcher Diedre Outon went 5.1 innings in the second game, striking out five and only allowing two runs from a Tulsa offense that is the second best in the conference. Freshman pitcher and outfielder Julana Shrum earned her third win on the season going 1.2 innings with one strike out and didn’t allow a run while she was in the circle.

The Cougars will play their third game against Tulsa on April 21, where the softball team is hosting their Bark in the Park event.

“We turned in a really solid performance today,” said head coach Kyla Holas in a press release. “Complete game from errors, defense, offense and to pitching, We’ve been striving to put it all together and play some good softball down the stretch. These type of wins matter a lot – Tulsa is a top-25 team, we’re both at the top of the league and it’s the final part of the season. This is when we need to be at our best.”

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