Stesha Brazil and her University of Houston softball team made a nice turnaround after losing to Oklahoma State in Friday's NCAA Division I Stillwater Super Regional opener. The Cougars entered Saturday knowing they needed to win two straight games in order to advance to the College World Series for the first time in program history.
With Brazil - a 2010 Hilmar High graduate - starting at first base, the Cougars won the second game in the series 1-0 to force a deciding third and final game. In the latter game, Houston overcame an early three-run deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the third inning but just couldn't prevail in the end and lost 6-5.
Brazil finished up an impressive freshman season, in which she started 56 out of 62 games to bat .305 with 33 hits and four home runs and 13 RBIs.