BEAUMONT, Texas – After an important series victory in conference play, Lamar University softball heads west on I-10 for a midweek clash at Houston on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Cardinals took two of three at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over the weekend to move three games clear in fifth place in the Southland. After splitting Friday's doubleheader, LU "walked" off against the Islanders in a 2-1 pitcher's duel on Saturday to improve their conference record to 11-7, their best start since 2019.
 
KEY STORYLINES
The 25 wins on the season are the most for the Cardinals under head coach Amy Hooks. She has led the team to improved win totals in each of the last three seasons and has eyes on a deep run in the conference tournament in three weeks.
 
LU has shown a knack for winning close games this season as their second walk-off victory of the season pushed their record in one-run games to 9-3. They also moved to 20-0 after this past weekend in games where they allow two runs or less.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Shenita Tucker stole home in the first inning on Saturday to push her season total to 25 which tied the all-time single season school record for Lamar set by Shannon Klaus in 2019. Tucker also added two RBI and three runs in the series against the Islanders.
 
Kalie Amos enjoyed her best weekend of the season with her first two multi-hit games of the year as she took over the starting shortstop role. She leads the Cardinals in conference play with a .379 batting average and ranks second with an .852 OPS.
 
Aside from an errant sixth inning in Game 1 on Friday, the Cardinal pitching duo of Emma Wardlaw and Karyana Mitchell allowed just two runs and 13 hits across 20 innings of work. Both pitchers still maintain sub-2.00 ERAs while ranking third and fourth in the Southland in that category.
 
OPPONENT INFO: Houston (22-20, 3-15 Big 12)
Time: Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Series Record: Houston 12-5
Last Meeting: Houston 9-1 (2/10/23)
 
Lamar has won two of the last three meetings between these two teams in Houston. The Cougars enter this game on a six-game losing streak after series sweeps at the hands of Oklahoma State and UCF. While struggling in their first year of Big 12 play, Houston boasts a 19-5 record against nonconference opponents.
 
Offensively, Houston ranks third in the Big 12 and tenth nationally in runs per game with seven batters hitting better than .300 and four launching seven or more home runs. Kennedy Thomas leads the Cougars in batting average (.381), runs scored (42) and steals (13) while Jazmyn Rollin takes the top spot with home runs (9) and OPS (1.091).
 
It's been a different story on the mound for the Cougars where they rank last in the Big 12 in team ERA (5.79) and hits allowed per game (7.9). This should provide an opportunity for the Cardinal offense to get back on track.