Rohr of the Crowd - Feb. 23

Rohr of the Crowd is the official blog of Nate Rohr, the play-by-play announcer for Husker softball. Nate has called Nebraska softball games since 2004 and will call every game of the 2010 season. Look for new blog entries weekly.

Huskers Face Olympic-sized Task This Weekend

The Loudest Roars
One of the early highights of the season was seeing Whitney Barrett
homer in her return to her home state. Here's how it sounded Saturday
as she hit one out of the park against SIU-Edwardsville.

Robin Mackin channelled some frustration over a ball/strike call Sunday
into a dominant stretch against Ohio, in which she struck out four straight
batters. Here's the fourth strikeout.

The Olympics are in my head as we prepare for the Huskers to head to Columbus, Ga., for the 2010 NFCA Leadoff Classic. Columbus hosted softball competition in the 1996 Olympic Games.

Part of what draws our attention to the Olympics is the chance to watch the best in the world compete, no matter the sport (even curling, which I've watched more than any other sport during this Olympiad!). In the same manner, this weekend's Leadoff Classic is interesting to me to see how the Huskers compete against in the best of college softball.

We'll talk more about this weekend's opponents in the Weekend Warmup, but Nebraska will face two teams that are favorites to not only win BCS conferences (Georgia Tech from the ACC and Alabama of the SEC), but also to make the Women's College World Series.

This weekend looks to be a daunting challenge for any team, let alone a young team that's still working to replace seven starters from last year. But one thing that encourages me about NU softball's chances this weekend is the presence of three people who have competed at that highest level of sport: The Olympic Games. Associate Head Coach Lori Sippel guided a young Canadian team that included current NU volunteer assistant coach Sheena Lawrick and Husker pitcher Robin Mackin to place fourth in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Their experience at the Olympics, while always helpful, will be crucial as Nebraska takes on two of the top 10 teams in the country.

I think of a line ABC color commentator Ken Dryden used in the pregame before the 1980 USA/USSR hockey matchup, that the matchup with the Soviet Union would be, for the U.S. players “one of the most diffcult and demanding, and yet exhilirating times in their lives.” I think the same would hold true for a good chunk of the Husker lineup coming into this weekend. The Husker lineup, especially freshmen like Brooke Thomason and Gabby Banda and players like Tori Tyson and Nikki Haget, who are seeing their first regular action at the college level, will be tested as they've never been tested before in their careers. How they respond to those tests will not only determine their personal success this weekend, but how well Nebraska plays at the Leadoff Classic. The experience of Sippel, Lawrick and Mackin will prove as a valuable starting point for those young players, but the most important lessons that they'll gain are the ones they'll learn from facing a field as tough as the one they'll see this weekend.

Sweet Home Alabama

Stat of the Week
Heidi Foland likes the month of February more than
greeting card shops and jewelry stores combined.
In her career, Foland is a .354 hitter for the month
with seven home runs and 20 RBI.

One of the happier notes from last weekend was Whitney Barrett's success. Barrett, playing just 64 miles from her hometown of Wetumpka, Ala., went 4-for-11 at the plate with three RBI, including a home run in the SIU-Edwardsville game on Saturday. The Husker coaching staff generally schedules one trip to a players' home state during their career at Nebraska, so that player can play in front of extended family and friends who wouldn't ordinarily make it to a game in Lincoln or elsewhere in the Big 12. For Barrett, her home state trip took NU to a state in which they've never before played a game.

Barrett has had a tough start to the season. She was 1-for-9 with five strikeouts in New Mexico. More troubling though were her six errors in Las Cruces, a shock from a usually steady-gloved player like Barrett. It would be easy for a player to doubt her abilities after a difficult weekend like that one. But Barrett bounced back, hit fairly well and showed flashes of again becoming the cornerstone of the Huskers' infield defense as she was expected to do entering the season.

A New Voice and A New Name
If you listened to our broadcasts this weekend, you heard the voice of Matt Smith on our air for the first time. Matt has occassionally served as the public-address announcer at Bowlin Stadium, but this is the first time he's been on our broadcasts. Matt is the second color announcer I've worked with on my broadcasts of Husker Softball. The other was Theresa Becker, who I worked with at the start of my time doing the Nebraska softball broadcasts. In addition, I've worked as a color announcer with Jeff Culhane and Lane Grindle in their broadcasts of Husker softball.

Color commentary for softball is very similar to that of baseball, which means it's very different from color commentary for the three other sports the Husker Sports Network broadcasts-football, basketball and volleyball. In each of the three latter sports, there's an isolated period of action (a play in football, a possession in basketball and a rally in volleyball), then a momentary pause during which the color analyst can break down what just happened, then another isolated period of action, and the process repeats. In baseball and softball, not every pitch or moment is worthy of analysis, which makes the job of the color announcer even more complicated, as they have to be selective when they contribute, and a natural rhythm has to develop between the play-by-play broadcaster and the color announcer.

I've been spoiled in the two color commentators I've had. Theresa was a former head softball coach at Furman University before eventually coming to Nebraska to work in the compliance office (she's currently an associate A.D. for compliance at Kansas), so she had great technical knowledge of softball. In the same way, Matt had extensive technical knowledge to draw from, not only because he's seen almost every Nebraska softball game in the last six years while serving as the media relations director, but also because he played baseball throughout high school. Also, his work as media relations director also forces him to keep a close eye on the stats, and he had several key numbers for us during our broadcasts this weekend.

In addition, his work on our broadcasts was merely an extension of the numerous conversations, softball and otherwise, we have before and after games. We often chat about the Nebraska games or the national softball scene in our down time around games, so the only differences between those chats and the ones you heard this weekend were that they were on the air, with a game to describe somewhere in the middle of that visit.

There was one way that Matt's presence hurt our broadcasts, but it was totally my fault. In both my work on Husker softball and in the high school games I've done, I've generally worked alone. So, as I sign off for games, I generally have one name to worry about: mine. I had both names in mind as I hurriedly signed off from Saturday's broadcast by saying, “This is Nate Smith thanking you...”. I quickly corrected myself, but the damage was done. Even though we share the air, I don't think Matt wants me as a part of his family.

Weekend Warmup: NFCA Leadoff Classic
The horse might be dead by the time we get Columbus, Ga., because I keep beating it. But this is a good field at the NFCA Leadoff Classic. Of the 23 teams in the tournament, 15 (including Nebraska) played in regionals last year and three of them played at the Women's College World Series. Alabama, Michigan and Missouri will play in Columbus this weekend.

Arkansas played in the Norman Regional last year, going two-and-'que. They have a new head coach, Mike Larabee, who takes over for Jamie Pinkerton, now an assistant coach at Iowa State. The Razorbacks are 5-4 on the year, but that mark is deceptively low. Arkansas lost a pair of one-run games in the first weekend of the season at the Metrodome Invitational. Senior outfielder Jessica Bachkora has been red-hot out of the gates, matching last year's career-high mark of five home runs with five this season in just nine games. She is a slugging a blistering .969. Freshman Hope McLemore may be the second-best 5-6 freshman pitcher from the Southeast the Huskers face on Friday. Still, she has pitched well for the Hogs, going 3-1 with a 1.17 ERA in four starts, striking out 22 in 24 innings.

The best 5-6 freshman pitcher named Hope the Huskers may face Friday pitches for Georgia Tech. Hope Rush is 5-1 with a 1.75 ERA in five starts for the Yellow Jackets, who tied Florida State in a poll of ACC coaches as the favorite to win the conference this year. But the real leader has been Jen Yee, who played with Sheena Lawrick and Robin Mackin and for Lori Sippel on the 2008 Canadian National Team. Yee is hitting .625 with four home runs and 10 RBI. Three doubles and a triple boost Yee's slugging percentage to a ridiculous 1.333, all against a schedule that has included games against Florida, Northwestern, Cal and BYU. The Jackets have started the year 8-1, winning their first eight before losing to Cal on Sunday.

Saturday starts with a matchup against Alabama, the favorite to win the SEC. The Crimson Tide started the season by losing two of three to Missouri, but rebounded to win six in a row, including three against nationally-ranked Ohio State. Alabama lost All-American outfielder Brittany Rogers but returned All-American pitchers Kelsi Dunne and Charlotte Morgan (who also is key to the Tide's lineup). But the early story has been the emergence of sophomore Cassie Reilly-Boccia, who has hit .591 with two homers and five RBI while slugging .955 after two weeks of the season. Last year, she hit .340 with four homers and 47 RBI. The Tide went to the WCWS last year and went 2-2, losing to Florida in the bracket final. Georgia lost to Wasington in the other bracket final, making it three SEC teams out of the final four in college softball last season.

Later Saturday, the Huskers take on Central Florida, which has started the season 4-5, including an upset of Tennessee in the season opener. The Knights' coaching staff includes former Husker outfielder Nicole Trimboli, a three-time All-Big 12 pick. Trimboli was a part of two NU Big 12 championship teams (2001 and 2004) and the 2002 team that qualified for the WCWS. Trimboli is in her first year in Orlando, after coaching with fellow former Husker Tobin Echo-Hawk at Portland State in 2009. UCF has overcome hitting just .209 while committing 17 errors in nine games to capture four wins.

The Huskers close their stay in Georgia by taking on Virginia Tech, another 4-5 team. Like Nebraska, the Hokies will be essentially retracing their steps from last weekend, as Virginia Tech played at Georgia's Red and Black Showcase last weekend. The Hokies will be looking to break a four-game losing streak in Georgia, including a pair of losses to top-10 Georgia but also losses to Winthrop and Bowling Green. The Hokies are trying avoid a repeat of last year, when a 2-7 start in tournament season torpedoed any chances of going to regionals they may have had. Tech finished last year 28-28 and lost third-team All-American outfielder Jenna Rhodes, who hit .474 last year with 49 stolen bases.

We'll talk to you Friday from Columbus....

Husker Power!
Nate