Huskers No-Hit KU, Shutout OU AT Big 12 Tournament

Oklahoma City, Okla. --- The Nebraska softball team continued its Big 12 Tournament dominance Thursday by no-hitting the Kansas Jayhawks and shutting out the first-seeded Oklahoma Sooners to advance to the semifinals of the 1999 tournament at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. Leigh Ann Walker and Jenny Voss combined for a 1-0 no-hit win in the morning contest against the Jayhawks and Voss held OU to five hits for the 2-0 win in the nightcap. Nebraska stretched its scoreless streak in Big 12 Tournament play to 47 innings, dating back to the Oklahoma game at the 1997 Big 12 Tournament. The wins Thursday advanced Nebraska to the tournament semifinals where they will face the winner of the Kansas-Texas/Missouri game at 8 p.m. on Friday. Nebraska improved to 30-18 with the pair of shutouts.

Big 12 Freshman of the Year Jennifer Stewart went to the mound for Oklahoma in the tournament quarterfinals. Jennifer Lizama took the first pitch from Stewart and singled to center to start off the game. A Jamie Fuente walk put Lizama in scoring position, but Lizama got nabbed at third a few pitches later attempting a steal. Nebraska advanced runners into scoring position in both the second and third as well, but failed to bring a runner home. Meanwhile, the Sooners put runners on second in both the first and second but couldn't bring any around. The Huskers broke up the scoreless tie in the top of the fifth. Lizama led off with a single and soon switched places with Ginger Taylor who hit into a fielder's choice. Nebraska then loaded the bases when Fuente and Martin collected infield singles. The first run scored when OU catcher Ashley Barrett had a passed ball allowing Taylor to come home. A couple of pitches later Leigh Suhr started a squeeze play that brought in Jill Baker from third for the 2-0 lead. Oklahoma threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Treva Whitaker reached on a walk and advanced to single on Christy Ring's single down the left line. But Voss retired the final two OU batters to preserve the win. Voss improved to 19-8 with the win and has now thrown 42 straight scorless innings in Big 12 play. Nebraska collected at least one hit in all seven innings against Oklahoma. Lizama went 3-for-3 with her second triple of the year. Suhr went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

In the morning game on Thursday, Nebraska faced its largest threat in the top of the first inning. Walker walked three Jayhawk batters to load the bases with two outs. But Walker and the Huskers escaped unscathed by striking out Christy McPhail to end the inning. In the bottom half of the first Nebraska scored the game's only run. With one out, Taylor hit a grounder to Kansas second baseman Megan Urquhart who overthrew the first baseman allowing Taylor to reach. Fuente then hit a bloop single that dropped between the left fielder and the shortstop to put runners on first and second. Leigh Suhr came up to the plate and hit another bloop that dropped between three Jayhawks in center field, allowing Taylor to score from second. Heather Martin ended the inning with two runners on by grounding out to shortstop. Nebraska left a pair of runners in scoring position in the second and third, but wouldn't get a runner past first the rest of the game. After loading the bases in the first, Kansas didn't reach base again until the fourth when Suhr committed a fielding error. Voss came on in the fifth and retired KU in order with the exception of a sixth inning leadoff walk. Fuente went 2-for-3 in the game with a double. Walker improved to 9-7 and Voss picked up her third save of the year.

Walker and Voss' no-hitter was the first no-hitter in Big 12 Tournament history and the first combined no-hitter in Husker history. The pair of wins improved the Huskers to 10-4 all-time in Big 12 Tournament play which ties Oklahoma for the best in the league. The win against Oklahoma was the first win by a lower seed at the 1999 tournament.