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HOUSTON - One by one when asked to make sense of this postseason run by UL's softball team, the players involved kept repeating the same basic premise.
"We're executing what we practice," third baseman Melissa Verde said.
"We're a team that has each other's back," said pitcher Ashley Brignac. "This isn't about one person - this is about the team."
"It's just about taking advantage of opportunities," catcher Lana Bowers added. "Good teams find ways - we're finding ways."
But following Friday night's 6-4 roller-coaster win over Houston in game one of the best-of-three Super Regional series at Cougar Softball Stadium, maybe there's one word that explains it best:
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080524/SPORTS/805240329/1006/rss02" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Bob Heist •
bheist@theadvertiser.com • May 24, 2008
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Destiny.
"If that's what it is, fine," Verde said. "But I just think it's as simple as we're playing better than the other teams."
And that's at four straight since the start of the NCAA tournament, and, "Hopefully more," Verde said.
But none quite matched Friday night before a stadium-record crowd of 1,217 as the Cajuns (50-12) handed Houston's All-American candidate, senior pitcher Angel Shamblin, one of the worst losses in her career.
Holding a 4-1 lead after Jennifer Klinkert blasted a one-out grand slam off Brignac in the third inning, Shamblin crumbled.
UL missed an opportunity in the fourth after leaving the bases loaded, but the Cajuns more than made up for it in the fifth.
With one out, Shamblin was touched for a season-worst five consecutive hits.
Holly Tankersley snapped a 1-for-10 slump with an RBI double to score Vallie Gaspard. Verde followed with an RBI single to score Vanessa Soto. Then came Bowers.
Working a classic at-bat against Shamblin to a 3-2 count, the sophomore from Crosby, Texas, put an exclamation point on this return to her home state, connecting on a three-run homer that cleared the fence in left-center field and landed on a hill outside the stadium.
Cajuns 6, Cougars 4.
Brignac, who struggled to improve to 29-6 this season, took advantage by allowing just two hits through the remainder of the game.
"We always work on different situations and being prepared when you get an opportunity," said Bowers, who has nine homers this season, but two in the last five games. "It's just about preparation and taking advantage when you get a chance. It worked out for me tonight."
But it sure didn't look that way early.
While Verde's seventh homer of the season to lead off the second inning gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead, it was short-lived as Brignac's struggles caught up to her in the fourth.
Consecutive one-out singles by Jessica Valis and Katie Bush, followed by a walk to Elaina Nordstrom, loaded the bases. Then came Klinkert, who took a 2-1 pitch to dead centerfield for a grand slam.
"That should have been enough," said Houston coach Kyla Holas, a three-time All-American during her UL career. "There's no question about that with Angel pitching."
Surprisingly, it wasn't.
Entering the game, three-time Conference USA pitcher of the year Shamblin was among the national leaders in numerous categories, including wins with a 35-3 record and 0.66 ERA. She'd already one-hit UL in a 2-0 decision on April 30 and allowed just one earned run in pitching all three of the Cougars' wins in the Houston Regional.
But an UL offense that's averaging nearly seven runs per game since the Sun Belt tournament, wouldn't go away.
UL's six earned runs were the second-most allowed by Shamblin in her career. The most were seven in the first game of last year's College Station Regional championship series. Only one other time had she allowed two homers in a game - on Feb. 23 this year against Kansas.
"They capitalized on my mistakes - that's all on me," Shamblin said. "I pitch my game, I pretty much can't be beat.
"The offense produced enough runs and we should have won."
The win was the first for UL since the inception of the Super Regional format in 2005. Now the team is one win in two possible games today from its first World Series appearance since 2003.
Today's first game is at noon with freshman Donna Bourgeois (16-4, 0.97 ERA) facing Shamblin in a rematch of the Cougars' 2-0 win in April. A win by national tournament No. 8 seed Houston (53-10) forces the if-necessary game at 3 p.m. Brignac - who beat Houston's backup pitcher Barbie Love, 4-0, in the second game of the April doubleheader here - would earn that start.
"We know where we stand," Holas said. "We knew we had to have the first game to be in a good position. They have a deeper staff than we do ... and we know Angel's going in every game for us. This is going to be a fight for us. They have all the advantage."
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