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Lincoln--The 20th ranked Nebraska softball team improved to 44-18 on the season and 14-2 in the Big 12 with a doubleheader sweep over Kansas in front of a season-high crowd of 1,014 at the NU Softball Complex Friday evening.
The Huskers, who close out the Big 12 regular season at Iowa State on Sunday afternoon, won the opener, 10-0 in five innings, and came back to win the nightcap, 4-1. NU, which has won 25 straight games at home, finishes the regular season with a perfect 20-0 home record, the first undefeated home season since 1992 and only the fifth time in school history that NU posted a perfect home record.
In the opener, the Huskers used home runs from Jennifer Lizama and Leigh Suhr in a 10-0 five-inning win. Lizama's three-run homer, her 12th of the season, in the second moved her into a tie for ninth place on the NCAA career charts with 46, while Suhr added a two-run shot in the fourth. Leigh Ann Walker (19-5) picked up the victory, allowing one hit and striking out five in just three innings of work. Melanie DeWinter (8-17) took the loss for KU, allowing six runs on six hits in just two innings.
In game two, the Huskers fell behind Kansas (30-31 overall, 5-14 Big 12) 1-0 after the Jawhawks scored on an unearned run in the third. In the bottom of the sixth, Jaime Fuente tied the score with her 12th homer of the season to center. With two outs, Amanda Buchholtz broke the tie with a three-run shot off the leftfield scoreboard. Senior Jenny Voss picked up the win to improve to 17-8 on the season, allowing three hits and stretching her streak of not allowing an earned run to 36 innings dating back to April 15. KU starter Sarah Clompton dipped to 16-13 with the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits.
The Huskers close out the regular season on Sunday, May 7, when NU travels to Ames, Iowa, to take on the Iowa State Cyclones, beginning at 1 p.m. Nebraska, which clinched the second seed in next week's Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla., will begin tournament play against the Baylor/ISU winner on Thursday, May 11, at 12:30 p.m.