Kansas Shuts Out Nebraska, 3-0

Lincoln ? The 13th-ranked Nebraska softball team saw its bid for an undefeated Big 12 Conference season come to an end on Wednesday with a 3-0 defeat to Kansas at Bowlin Stadium.

 

Senior right-hander Peaches James (28-6) took the loss for Nebraska (36-13, 12-1), ending her streak of 15 consecutive victories. Kassie Humphreys (13-10) earned the win for KU (28-25-1, 4-10), tossing her second shutout of the season against the Huskers.

 

James pitched well, allowing only one earned run and striking out 12 in a complete-game effort.

 

The game was scoreless heading into the top of the fifth when the Jayhawks used two hits and two Nebraska errors to push across three runs.

 

KU’s Nettie Fierros led off the inning with a home run to left field to break the scoreless tie. Following an error and an infield single, James got Melaney Torres to ground out for the first out of the inning. With runners on second and third, Destiny Frankenstein flew out to center, scoring Dani May.

 

NU appeared to get out of the inning when James struck out pinch-hitter Serena Settlemier, but a dropped third strike led to another run when catcher Brittney Yolo’s throw went into right field to score Heather Stanley and put the Jayhawks up 3-0.

 

Nebraska’s best chance to score came in the bottom of the first when junior Anne Steffan and sophomore Jessica Yoachim led off with back-to-back infield singles. With two on and no out, Humphreys retired the Huskers’ three, four and five hitters to end the threat.

 

NU mounted a final threat in the bottom of the seventh, but again came up empty. James led off with a walk and senior Liz Lawhorn singled with two outs to put runners on first and third. That brought freshman Devin Porter to the plate, who worked the count full before grounding out to third to end the game.

 

Steffan and Lawhorn each had a pair of hits for Nebraska, which out-hit Kansas five-to-three.

 

Despite the loss, Nebraska still controls its own fate in the Big 12 race. The Huskers return to action on Saturday at 5 p.m. against first-place Texas A&M, which is 13-1 in Big 12 play. The game can be heard locally on KLIN 1400 and live stats are available on Huskers.com