Huskers Win Seventh Straight With 2-1 Win Over Tigers

Lincoln -- A pair of Husker freshmen paced a banged-up Husker softball team to a 2-1 win over the Missouri Tigers on Sunday afternoon at the Husker Softball Complex. A solo homer by freshman Amber Burgess in the fifth and a bases loaded walk drawn by freshman Amanda Buchholz in the sixth helped lead Nebraska to its seventh straight win overall and sixth straight win over Missouri at home. The Huskers improved to 20-15 on the season and 2-0 in Big 12 play.

Nebraska sent Jenny Voss to the hill while Missouri sent ace Stephanie Falk to the mound for the second straight day. Missouri scored its lone run in the top of the first inning. Stacy Gemeinhardt drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second and advanced to third on a groundout. Linda Swarts, who hit a homer for the Tigers on Saturday, stroked a single down the first base line to score Gemeinhardt and put Missouri up 1-0. Nebraska left two stranded in the first, third and fourth, while the Tigers left two on in the third. The Huskers then tied the game up with one swing of the bat. Burgess hit the third homer of her career on a deep liner to center. Missouri tried to take back the lead in the top of the sixth. After a leadoff walk, sophomore Leigh Ann Walker came in for Voss and immediately sat down the next two batters. But then Mary McGrane collected an infield single, putting runners on first on second. The Tigers' next batter, Lindsey Jacoby then singled to second base, but McGrane was called out on a runner interference to end the Tiger rally. Senior Jenifer Williams, the hero of Nebraska's last two games, opened the sixth with a leadoff double to right field. Two batters later, senior Alice Brewer lined a single to center that put Husker runners on the corners with one out. Sophomore Jill Baker then slapped an infield single to load the bases for the freshman Buchholz. After a pitching change, Buchholz drew a full count before getting ball four to walk in Williams and put the Huskers up for good 2-1. Williams score marked the third straight game she has either collected the game-winning RBI or scored the game-winning run. Walker allowed a one-out single in the top of the seventh to the Tigers before getting a fielder's choice and fly out to left field to pick up her team-leading ninth win of the season. Falk took the loss for the Tigers to fall to 11-7 on the year.

Burgess finished the game 3-for-3 with a homer to lead all Husker hitters. Williams, Brewer and Baker were the only other Huskers to collect hits. Senior All-American Jennifer Lizama and sophomore shortstop Leigh Suhr did not play for the Huskers for the second straight game.

Nebraska will continue its homestand on Tuesday when Colorado State will come to Lincoln for a doubleheader at 5 and 7 p.m.