UH softball faces Delaware St. in NCAA regional

HOUSTON The Cougars, seeded No. 8 in the NCAA Championship, will be making their second-straight NCAA appearance and the first ever at home.

As the No. 1 regional seed, Houston will play Delaware State at 7:30 p.m. Prior to the Cougars' game, No. 2 seeded Washington will take on No. 3 Texas at 5 p.m. The double-elimination regional will continue through Saturday and Sunday with the winner advancing to the Super Regional on May 23-25 at a site to be determined. Live stats and streaming video will be available for each game by logging onto www.UHCougars.com and going to the Championship Central link on the softball page. The Cougars made an NCAA Regional appearance last season, going 1-2 at the College Station Regional. The defeated Texas A&M in Game 1, 8-1, but lost the following two games.

UH made the program's first regional appearance in 2004 in Waco. The Cougars are 2-4 all-time in NCAA Regional appearances.

Friday's matchup with the Hornets will be the first between the two schools. Houston will also play Washington for the first time if they meet in the later rounds of the Regional.

The Cougars are 2-12 all-time against the Longhorns. They recorded their first wins against Texas earlier this season. UH defeated Texas 6-0 and 5-1 on March 5 at the Breast Cancer Awareness game in Houston. Junior Elaina Nordstrom hit a grand slam in the ninth inning of game two to give Houston the win.

UH is led by senior Angel Shamblin in the circle. She has a 0.68 ERA with 16 shutouts and 267 strikeouts in 236.2 innings of work. She is 32-3 when pitching this season.

Junior Jessica Valis leads the Cougars at the plate with a .446 batting average and a team-high 5 triples. Junior Laurie Wagner is second with a .424 batting average and a single-season record 19 home runs.

Shamblin, Valis, Wagner and freshman Jennifer Klinkert were named to the NFCA All-South Region team earlier in the week. Shamblin and Wagner garnered first team honors while Valis and Klinkert were named to the second team.

Regional all-session tickets are on sale now. Fans can click on the tickets link at www.UHCougars.com or contact the ticket office at 713-GO-COOGS.

Single-session tickets will be available on the day of each event starting 1 hour prior to the first game at the Cougar Softball Stadium ticket windows. Only cash is accepted at the Cougar Softball Stadium ticket windows. All seating at Cougar Softball Stadium is general admission.

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