Rohr of the Crowd - April 6

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. Nate is not employed by the University of Nebraska and the opinions and content of this blog are his own. Look for new blog entries weekly.

Roller Coaster Saturday at Bowlin Stadium

The Loudest Roars
My two favorite snapshots from the Saturday doubleheader:
Robin Mackin's strikeout of Meagan May in game one with
the bases loaded and noone out in the third inning. Then,
perhaps the highlight of the season, the bottom of the sixth
inning home run by Alex Hupp to give Nebraska the lead in
game two, 5-3.

I love sports because they make you intensely feel something, good or bad. Total joy or utter frustration. Despondency or excitement. Relief or fear. Saturday's doubleheader against No. 18 Texas A&M had both ends of emotional roller coaster in the Huskers' split with the Aggies.

Game one saw Nebraska sprint out to a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the third inning, the Huskers' grip on that lead looked tenuous at best. Texas A&M's patience allowed them to load the bases on three walks for Meagan May, who looks for all the world like not only the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, but perhaps the Big 12 Player of the Year. She came to the plate Saturday hitting .430 with 16 home runs and 50 RBI. When the count went to 3-1, the emotion of the moment was utter terror. May had put on a show in batting practice, and I was worried that May would add another tape-measure home run. But then Robin Mackin worked the count full, then May fouled off a ball keep the count full. Then Mackin dealt a vicious changeup over the outside corner for strike three that froze May. At that point, it was total joy.

But then the following batter, Rhiannon Kliesing, hit a pop-up down the left field line. Whitney Barrett raced to her right, going into foul ground to try and chase it down. The 20 miles-per-hour winds blowing out to center changed the equation, pushing the ball back into the field of play. Nikki Haget raced in. Haget and Barrett collided, leaving Barrett crumpled on the turf as Kelsea Orsak came into score to put the Aggies on the board to cut the lead to 3-1. Another break had gone against Nebraska. Joy swung to frustration. Frustration changed to relief as Mackin struck out Alex Reynolds and Melissa Dumezich to end the inning and get Nebraska out of the jam still holding the lead.

Then in the top of the sixth, dread set in. Texas A&M loaded the bases with a walk, a fielder's choice resulting in an error and an infield single. After a strikeout, A&M scored a run on a wild pitch to draw within one run with one out. Another walk loaded the bases with one out and the top of the powerful A&M order scheduled to hit. Kara Rau drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game at three. Mackin was lifted from the game for Ashley Hagemann. Veteran Kelsey Spittler hit the second pitch Hagemann threw in the air to center to drive in the go-ahead run. Two more runs scored on back-to-back singles by May and Kliesing. Despondency sets in as it looks like an opportunity to steal a game from No. 18 Texas A&M looks to have slipped through the Huskers' hands.

Game two was another see-saw battle. Nebraska took a 1-0 lead, only to lose it on a single and a bases-loaded walk to fall behind 2-1 in the top of the third. The hole deepened as the first two NU hitters in the bottom of the third were retired on one pitch each. Ashley Guile then jumped on the first pitch she saw, but she hammered it to right field to extend the inning. Three pitches later, Julie Brechtel followed with a double to center to score Guile and tie the game again, this time at two. The hope of having a shot set in; after a gut-wrenching game one, the Huskers were trading blows with the Aggies in game two!

The hope grew as Ashley Hagemann sat down the first two hitters of the top of the fifth, running the total to six A&M hitters retired in a row. But then May did what we feared she'd do all game. She swung and hit a high fly to the right of straightaway center. The howling winds out to center pushed it over the fence to give A&M a 3-2 lead. More frustration; was Nebraska going to fall one run short again?

The Huskers stormed back in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Brooke Thomason hammered a 2-1 pitch over the fence against a tiring Rebecca Arbino to tie the game at three. Gabby Banda followed with a double to center, to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Two pitches later, Alex Hupp blasted a homer to left to give NU a 5-3 lead. Again, total joy set in. After a year that has seen Nebraska lose three two-run leads in the seventh inning and lose six of seven games decided by one run, it was great to see the Huskers come back to take the lead. Nebraska added three runs in the inning to build the lead to 8-3 heading to the seventh, and the Huskers closed out the victory.

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat is why we watch sports. It was striking to me the fact that we got the whole range of emotions in both games on Saturday.

Illegal pitches update

Stat of the Week
The six-run sixth inning by Nebraska matched
the most runs it has scored in an inning this year,
tying the sixth inning against Penn State in a 11-6
NU win and the top of the third against Pacific in the
Huskers' 11-2 run-rule win.

I blogged last week about the rash of illegal pitches being called around the country this season. The NCAA has heard the many concerns about the number of illegal pitches called, and issued a release addressing those concerns. The meat of the release says, that while umpires should continue to keep an eye on the enforcement of pitching rules, that the benefit of the doubt should go to the pitcher.

It has cut down on some of the illegal pitch calls, but not all of them, and more are still being called than normal. In Creighton's first game Friday against Missouri State, Tara Oltman was called for eight straight illegal pitches in the second inning to allow a run to come around to score. So while the directive to lock in on illegal pitches has been watered down, the pitching rules are still being called tighter than normal.

Bring Your FM Radio!
All of our broadcasts are on Huskers.com this season, so we are available to not only reach a national audience but (at least in theory), a worldwide audience. Still, it's a bit frustrating that someone in Bowlin Stadium can't hear our broadcasts even though someone a few states away can hear the play-by-play (for what it's worth, I have been told that I speak so loud, that the players can hear my call on the field).

We've remedied that issue, as we have recently obtained a low-power FM transmitter to broadcast our games. In fact, the transmitter is small enough that we can take it on the road, so if you bring your radio to a Husker softball game, home or away, we'll have the play-by-play for you on the FM dial.

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

Husker Power!
Nate