Fuente Lifts NU Past Texas With Two Homeres

Lincoln -- Nebraska junior Jamie Fuente hit homers in the fourth and sixth innings Saturday to lift the Husker softball team to a 3-2 victory over Texas at the Husker Softball Complex. The win solidified Nebraska's hold on second place in the Big 12, as third-place Texas fell to 11-5 in the conference and the Huskers improved to 12-2. Nebraska improved to 42-18 overall with the one-run win and stretched its school-record home-winning streak to 23 games.

Sophomore Leigh Ann Walker went to the hill for the Huskers and started off by fanning six of the first eight Longhorn batters. Texas pitcher Carmen Martinez fared almost as well, allowing just two Huskers on base in the first three innings. Fuente broke up the tie in the fourth inning with the first of her two homers, a drive to left center, making the score 1-0 Huskers. Texas tied it up in the top of the next inning. Freshman Lindsay Gardner drew a two-out walk before Audrey Hendricks advanced to first on a dropped third-strike passed ball. With two runners on, Keely Franks then hit a single up the middle, scoring Gardner from second. Nebraska opened up the bottom half of the inning with a Leigh Suhr single to center field. After a passed ball moved Suhr to second, Amanda Buchholz sacrificed Suhr to third with one out. Heather Martin came in to pinch hit for Jill Baker and laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Suhr from third. Kim Ogee followed it up with a single to right, but a sacfifice and a strikeout by Jennifer Lizama ended the inning with the Huskers up 2-1. Texas tied the game again in the top of the sixth when Kathleen Richter hit a leadoff solo homer over the leftfield fence. Walker retired the next three to leave the game tied at 2-2. Fuente hit the game winner as the leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth. The homer was her team-leading 12th of the year, surpassing Lizama, and 18th of her career. It also marked the third homer for Fuente in her last five at bats, dating back to a second-inning grand slam against Wisconsin. In the top of the seventh Walker got Tiffiny Valdehueza to groundout before Jenny Voss came in to the save situation. Voss gave up a single bunt to Gardner before retiring the next two batters with a foul out and strikeout to collect her fourth save of the year, which tied her for third in Husker history.

Fuente went 2-for-2 in the game with two homers and a walk. Ogee and Suhr were the only other Huskers to collect hits. Walker struck out 12 to improve to a team-leading 18-5 on the year. Her 12 strikeouts marked the fourth time in her last six starts that she has struck out 10 or more batters. Walker, a sophomore, now ranks fourth in career strikeouts with 341.

Oklahoma clinched first place in the Big 12 Saturday with an 11-3 win over Kansas. The Sooners stand at 16-1 in the Big 12 with just one game remaining.

The Huskers and Longhorns will complete the series with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday at the Husker Softball Complex.