Rohr of the Crowd - March 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.

At the Half....

The Loudest Roars
From game two of Wednesday's doubleheader
against South Dakota....Gabby Banda's double
in the second to tie the game at one and Ashley
Hagemann getting the final out of the game to cap
a good performance out of the bullpen.

The weekend off afforded us a sort of halftime break for Nebraska Softball 2010. It hardly seems possible (especially since the Huskers have been able to practice outside for less than a week), but Nebraska is exactly at the halfway point of its season, at least the season guaranteed to it (55 regular season games plus one in the Big 12 Tournament). It's a good opportunity to take stock of what we've learned through 28 games of seeing this team.

The really encouraging news is that the top half of the Huskers' order looks to be set and potent. All five hitters are hitting over .300, four of five have shown power potential, and four of five reach base at a .400 clip. Three of the five are in their first or second years as starters, so we're only beginning to see what they can do. The two veterans in the group, Heidi Foland and Julie Brechtel, are hitting as well as they have throughout their careers, though not at a clip that you would see as unsustainable for them.

Robin Mackin has also showed flashes of being the big-game pitcher that Nebraska thought it signed in the summer of 2008. The win against No. 9 Georgia Tech and the 1-0 loss vs. No. 10 Arizona State showed that Mackin can still make the big pitches and still has the stuff to get out the best hitters. Mackin's incredible competitiveness and intelligence in the circle has allowed her go toe-to-toe with the best lineups in college softball and be successful, which is good, considering the Huskers face five teams in the Big 12 with team batting averages over .300, and two other teams in Missouri and Oklahoma that typically assemble two of the best lineups in the country. The big question with Mackin is not her ability to succeed, but rather how many times she can be successful this season. As she continues to work back from shoulder surgery, Nebraska will have to closely monitor her workload, using her as much as it can but not too much to where Mackin wears down prematurely.

That makes the improvement of Ashley Hagemann the big key to the second half of the season. Hagemann is 7-8 with a 3.88 ERA and is coming off a roller-coaster of a Wednesday against South Dakota that saw her surrender a combined three home runs to Alaina Novotny and Mel Johnson in game one, only to bounce back and throw 2 2/3 innings of three-hit ball against the Coyotes in game two to close out Nebraska's 9-3 victory. The Huskers will need her to lighten the load on Mackin and pick up victories, not only in the non-conference, but also in the Big 12, if Nebraska is to make regionals.

Another key to a strong second half of the season for the Huskers is improved play defensively. Nebraska is currently last in the Big 12 in fielding percentage of .955. However, that low number is somewhat explained by both the lack of outdoors practice time and the shuffling that has gone on in the Huskers' lineup due to inexperience and injuries. The defensive lineup has stabilized for NU over the last five games, and increased time together both in practice and during games should allow the Huskers to play better defense down the stretch.

Improved defense overall and improved pitching by Hagemann will allow the Huskers to succeed against a tough Big 12 Conference that currently has six teams ranked in the top 25.

Bracketology

Stat of the Week
Freshmen and sophomores have accounted
for 47 percent of Nebraska's starts this season
in the batting order.

With all the talk of brackets surrounding us thanks to NCAA March Madness, it's never too early to start considering the Husker softball team's chances to be part of postseason. To that end, Nebraska received good news on Wednesday from NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis as we found out that all five of Nebraska's games against transitional Division I schools (including the two wins against South Dakota Wednesday) count toward Nebraska's bid for a trip to Regionals.

Last year, wins over North Dakota and South Dakota didn't count toward NU's at-large bid, since they were both in their first official year of reclassification. However, Matt Smith checked in with the NCAA to see what the status would be of this year's matchups with UND and USD, along with the game against SIU-Edwardsville, and found out all five would count. In order to be eligible for an at-large bid to regionals, your team has to earn a record above .500 after the conference tournament, so to get credit for all five of those games takes some pressure off the Huskers as they enter a difficult second half of the season.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Weekly Warmup: Wisconsin and Texas
On Wednesday, the Huskers host Wisconsin. The 7-13 Badgers will be taking the field for the first time in 10 days. Their last action came in Stillwater, where Wisconsin blasted Prairie View A&M in a pair of run-rule victories, split a pair of games with Rutgers and lost 9-1 to Oklahoma State. The Badgers started the year rough, losing their first seven games (including six at the Kajikawa Classic) but have gone 7-6 since. Wisconsin's offense is driven by freshman Molly Spence, who leads UW with a .373 average with four home runs and 13 RBI. Jennifer Kruger is fourth in the Big Ten with 13 stolen bases. The Badgers average just over four runs a game. In the circle, Letty Olivarez has started 16 of Wisconsin's 20 games this year and has a 5-11 record with a 2.97 ERA. She has struck out 62 in 94 1/3 innings pitched. The Badgers' team ERA is 4.00, and UW gives up an average of five runs a game.

Saturday and Sunday, the Huskers open Big 12 play at No. 15 Texas. The Longhorns have a 23-6 record entering Wednesday's game at Texas State. UT will also square off with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a doubleheader on Thursday before facing Nebraska. Last weekend, the Longhorns went 3-2 at the Judi Garman Classic, knocking off No. 5 Michigan and No. 10 Arizona State while losing to Cal State-Fullerton and No. 23 Louisville. Texas leads the Big 12 in slugging percentage at .530 and in home runs with 42 while averaging five runs a game. The Horns feature a balanced lineup, with five regulars hitting over .319. Six Longhorns have hit at least three home runs, led by Shelby Savony, who has eight home runs in just 48 at-bats. Freshman Jordan Hoaglund leads UT with a .415 average, while sophomores Nadia Taylor and Lexi Bennett have both built off their all-Big 12 freshman seasons by hitting well over .300 this year. Taylor has four home runs and 15 RBI while Bennett has homered six times and driven in 20. The Longhorns also lean on freshmen in the circle, as Blaire Luna and Kim Bruins have made 21 of 29 starts for UT. Luna leads the Big 12 with a 0.74 ERA and 158 strikeouts. Luna's record is 12-3 in 10 starts and 94 innings pitched. Bruins is 6-2, with a 2.88 ERA in 56 innings pitched. Nebraska will be looking to win in Austin for the first time in four games and since sweeping the Longhorns in the Big 12 championship year of 2004.

That's all for now...we'll talk to you Wednesday from Bowlin Stadium...

 

Husker Power!

Nate