The No. 19 Cougar baseball team has dropped two games so far this season. | File Photo/The Cougar
While women’s basketball honored its seniors in their last game in Hofheinz Pavilion, baseball and softball had contests of their own.
Women’s Basketball
The Cougars wrapped up their last game ever in Hofheinz Pavilion with an 81-65 win over the ECU Pirates last Saturday. With this win, Houston moved up to No. 9 in the American Athletic Conference.
In the first period, East Carolina couldn’t keep up with the Cougars’ defense. The Pirates went 4-for-15 from the field.
Both offenses found momentum going into the second period. Senior guard Kierra Graves led the Cougars into halftime with five straight points, good for a 33-27 lead.
The second half was all about freshman guard Jasmyne Harris.
In the first half, she contributed only four points but took control of the game coming out of the locker room. She put up nine points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth quarter.
At the end of the game, Harris scored a career-high 27 points, more than double of any other Cougar last Saturday.
Other than Harris, three Cougars scored double-digits, including senior center Jacqueline Blake with 13 and both freshman guard Angela Harris and junior guard Chyanne Butler with 10.
The Cougars will play their last regular season game against the SMU Mustangs on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
Baseball
In the Kleberg Bank College Classic, No. 19 Cougar baseball won two of their three games, losing to Missouri on Friday before beating Illinois on Saturday and Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Sunday. The Cougars move to 5-2 on the year.
Despite junior left-handed pitcher Seth Romero’s 12 strikeouts, the Cougars couldn’t bring the game back.
Down 2-0 in the fourth quarter, junior second baseman Jake Scheiner hit the Cougars first homerun of the season to bring the score to 2-1. Two innings later in the sixth, junior catcher Conner Wong hit another homerun to tie the score.
However, Missouri regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth at 4-2 where the score remained for the rest of the game.
On Saturday, the Cougars blew out Illinois 11-5.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Cougars scored seven runs on seven hits. Later in the eighth inning, the Cougars scored four more to seal the game away.
On Sunday, the Cougars beat Texas A&M Corpus Christi 4-2.
The game featured a complete pitching performance by senior left-hander John King. He allowed only two runs on eight hits with no walks.
Four Cougars made the all-tournament team. King, Scheiner, Romero and freshman third baseman Jared Triolo all made the team.
The Cougars play next on Tuesday against UT Rio Grande Valley at Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park at 6:30 p.m.
Softball
Cougar softball lost three of its four games over the weekend in the Mary Nutter Classic. They beat Purdue while dropping games to No. 17/17 Utah, Oregon State and Northwestern.
Utah continued its undefeated season with an 8-0 six-inning game.
Freshman shortstop Arielle James had the Cougars’ only hit of the game. Sophomore centerfielder Elise LaBeouf also reached first base when she was hit by a pitch.
On Saturday, the Cougars played two back-to-back games. They dropped the first 7-6 against Oregon State, but won the second against Purdue 8-2.
Against Oregon State, Houston looked good to take the game in the first two innings, scoring one run in the first and four in the second. However, Oregon State responded back with three runs in the third inning and one more in the fourth inning.
Oregon State took their first lead in the eighth inning, and the Cougars couldn’t come back.
Against Purdue, the Cougars led with two runs in the second. In each of the fifth and sixth innings, the Cougars added three more to take the game.
On Sunday, the Cougars trailed for the entire game. With one run in the first inning and two in the second, Northwestern kept the lead.
The Cougars travel next to play Texas A&M on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
