Huskers Blow Past Cyclones

Lincoln ?  Junior right-hander Ashley DeBuhr tossed a one-hit shutout and senior Trisha Tannahill homered and tied her career-high with four RBIs as the 17th-ranked Nebraska softball team rebounded from Tuesday's loss at Iowa State to run-rule the Cyclones, 8-0, in six innings Thursday at Bowlin Stadium.

 

The win pushed the Huskers' record to 33-8 overall and 7-4 in the Big 12 Conference. NU also improved to 15-1 at Bowlin Stadium, marking the most home wins in the five-year history of Bowlin Stadium.

 

Iowa State fell to 19-21 overall and 3-7 in the league. Amie Ford (10-10) took the loss, allowing seven runs (four earned) on five hits in 2.2 innings.

 

DeBuhr was dominant in the circle for NU while improving to 16-6 on the year. In a complete-game effort, DeBuhr allowed only one base runner, as no Cyclone reached second base. The Beatrice, Neb., native also added five strikeouts while using only 57 pitches on the night.

 

Tannahill led Nebraska's offensive charge, finishing 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBIs. Fellow seniors Lizzy Aumua (3-for-4) and Jessica Yoachim (2-for-4) also recorded multi-hit games, while Aumua added a pair of RBIs.

The Huskers found their first scoring spurt in the bottom of the second inning, taking a commanding 4-0 lead. Freshman Crystal Carwile led off with a double to left center field. Tannahill followed with a bunt over a drawn-in infield, surprising the Cyclones and allowing Carwile to come in to home plate to put the Huskers up 1-0.

NU went up 2-0 when Tannahill came home on a two-base throwing error by the ISU third baseman. Junior Devin Porter, who reached on a fielder's choice after the errant throw, advanced all the way to third. Senior KoKo Tacha reached on another Cyclone error and stole second to put runners at second and third. With two outs, Aumua singled up the middle to score both Porter and Tacha.

 

In the third, the Huskers added three more runs, culminated by a two-run blast by Tannahill. Yoachim led off with an infield single, before junior Jamie Waldecker drew a walk. After Iowa State recorded an out, Tannahill belted a 2-2 offering from Ford just inside the right field foul pole for a towering home run that put NU up 7-0.

 

The Huskers closed the game with a final run in the sixth inning to bring on the run rule, as Aumua singled to third base and was brought in by a single to left field from Waldecker.

 

Nebraska next travels to Lubbock, Texas, for a two-game series with Texas Tech that begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Following the series with the Red Raiders, the Huskers return home for a season-ending six game homestand at Bowlin Stadium.