Softball

Cougars sweep Cardinals in final homestead

In the final home series of the 2015 season, the Cougars improved to 26-24 overall following the 3-2 and 7-2 victories against the Lamar Cardinals.

The scoring in game one was hard to come by with Lamar up 2-1 after five innings of play. After the Cardinals scored in the top of the third, the Cougars responded in the fourth, tying it 1-1 when Julana Shrum brought home Kaylin Crumpton on an RBI single. Crumpton got on base with her 18th hit by pitch of the season.

Lamar put up another run in the fifth, but Houston would not go quietly and put up two runs in the bottom of the sixth for the 3-2 decisive lead.

Senior Selena Hernandez and sophomore Shelby Miller got the rally started with a couple of singles, and Shrum brought Hernandez home despite grounding into a double play. Courtney Klingler blasted a solo homerun to left center that would put the Cougars up for good.

Miller pitched a gem for the Cougars, giving up two runs on only four hits and striking out a season high seven in the complete game victory.

Following a short break, the teams were back at it for game two and the Houston offense didn’t wait, securing a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-run blast by Hernandez that scored Crumpton.

The lead wouldn’t last for long, though, as the Cardinals quickly tied it up in the second, but the Cougars responded with another three runs in the third. Four straight hits by Katie St. Pierre, Crumpton, Hernandez, and Miller scored two with Shrum adding a third run on a sac fly, her third RBI of the day.

The Cougars would add another couple of insurance runs on another Hernandez two-run homerun, scoring Crumpton and giving her four RBIs in the game.

Shrum got the win for the Cougars, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out two in a complete game.

The Cougars will look to continue their hot streak as they travel to Memphis for the final series of the season before the AAC tournament. They start with a doubleheader Saturday, May 2 with a first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

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