Rohr of the Crowd - April 13

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.

The Road Less Traveled

The Loudest Roars
Nikki Haget edition of The Loudest Roars, as she had the
two biggest plays of the weekend. On Saturday, Haget
made a sliding catch on a fly ball hit by Leah Legler with
the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning to keep
the game at 1-0 Texas Tech before the Huskers came back
to win, 3-1. Then on Sunday, Haget's two-run double in the
fourth gave NU all the scoring it would need en route to the
2-0 win to finish off the sweep.

An important step for any team, but especially a young one, is to learn to win on the road. It takes an elevated level of toughness and focus to take on an opponent in an environment that truly is like home for them, and come out with the win against them. Nebraska took on the challenge of a week that saw them play three games, all on the road, and won them all. With that, this team showed how much it has grown since the early part of the season and shoved itself squarely into the conversation for a postseason bid. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Each game saw Nebraska take a different road to victory. Wednesday against Creighton, Nebraska jumped on Tara Oltman, as she continued to work on a new pitching motion to deal with the increased focus by umpires on calling illegal pitches. Heidi Foland lined the third pitch of the game over the center field fence to ignite the Husker offense, and Nebraska scored another run on a bases-loaded walk to Alex Hupp.

 

NU built the lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth inning after Julie Brechtel continued her strong hitting with a two-run double to left. Those two runs would prove the difference in the game, as the Bluejays' Amy Baker lined a three-run home run to right to pull Creighton within one in the bottom of the sixth. Ashley Hagemann stepped in and shut down the Jays' offense in the seventh, and the Huskers held onto the 4-3 lead.

 

While Wednesday's win was important for Nebraska, it marked the second straight time that they had beaten the Bluejays in Omaha. Last weekend, the Huskers did something that no one on the roster had done before in their careers: sweep a road Big 12 series.

On Saturday, Texas Tech took a 1-0 lead in the third on a walk, a stolen base and a single to left by Leah Legler. Legler's hit was the only one of the game for the Red Raiders, as first Robin Mackin and then Hagemann shut down the Tech offense, allowing the Nebraska offense time to breakthrough to take the lead. Brooke Thomason's two-out solo home run in the sixth tied the game, and in the seventh, with the bases loaded and two outs, Ashley Guile drove in two with a single to right give Nebraska the 3-1 lead it rode to victory.

After winning a game that they led throughout on Wednesday and a come-from-behind win on Saturday, the Huskers pounded 10 hits in a steady 2-0 win over the Red Raiders on Sunday. Once again, Mackin and Hagemann locked down Texas Tech's bats, giving up just three hits. Meanwhile, Nebraska's offense put constant pressure on the Red Raiders defense by having at least two runners reach in all seven innings. In the third, Nebraska had two on with none out but didn't score. Again in the fourth, the first two Huskers who came to the plate reached, as Mackin doubled to center and Hupp walked. But after a popped-up bunt and a fly out to left, it looked as if Nebraska would again let a great opportunity slip through its fingers. Nikki Haget had other ideas, lacing a double to left-center that couldn't have been better placed if it were thrown from home plate into the power alley. The Huskers had a 2-0 lead in the fourth and held on to win the game, giving Nebraska its first sweep of a Big 12 road series since the Huskers swept Texas Tech in Lubbock in 2006.

 

Wednesday's game was the beginning of a five-game, four-city road swing for Nebraska. The Huskers needed to show this week that they would be able to beat a team in its own stadium, and Nebraska did exactly that.

Nit Picking

Stat of the Week
Since settling on a top five in the batting order of Foland,
Haget, Guile, Brechtel and Thomason, Nebraska has won
11 of 15 games, with three of the four losses coming against
ranked teams.

It's tough to find fault with a team that wins all three of its games, especially when all three wins come on the road. But it's worth noting that Nebraska's performance last week could have looked even better.

 

All four runs the Huskers gave up in the three games came with two outs. In fact, that's about the only time an opponent has been able to score on NU lately. In the last 12 games, the Huskers have allowed 37 runs. Of those, 30 have come with two outs. So while Nebraska has given up just over three runs a game over that 12-game stretch, they could have cut it to nearly half-a-run a game by closing out innings more efficiently.

Another area where the Huskers could improve is converting with runners on base. Nebraska left a combined 26 runners on base in three games last week including a season-high-tying 13 Sunday at Texas Tech. In the third, fourth and fifth innings Sunday, the first two Husker hitters reached, and only once did Nebraska turn that strong start to an inning into runs.

Even in a 3-0 week, the fact that there are still areas that need improvement is almost encouraging. It suggests that better things are to come for the Huskers, if they improve in the areas of closing out innings and driving in runners on base. If Nebraska improves in those areas, this past week could be only the start of big things for the Big Red.

Unwelcome Guests on the Broadcast
This weekend was my first visit to Lubbock, Texas. It was the only Big 12 city I hadn't visited. For the most part, I was impressed with the little bit I saw of the town and by the facilities at Rocky Johnson Field, especially the press box. The radio booth was spacious and close, but not too close, and enclosed, but with windows that opened, with a working phone line and power supply.

I did have one complaint about the facility. Because the press box was just above the walkway above the stands, that left my crowd mic that I sat on a ledge just outside of the window of our booth at head level for passers-by. If you were listening closely Saturday late in the game, you heard a young voice say, "hello!" at least twice. Two little girls apparently realized that our mic was right at head level for them, and decided to take advantage. Nevermind that they were distracting me during our broadcast of a tight, Big 12 game. I was just worried that she'd sound better than me on the air. After the second time, I yanked the mic away and put it in our booth, while Matt Smith alerted the stadium event staff that two young ladies were making unwelcome contributions to our broadcast. They were shooed away, and the problem was solved. Sunday, I learned my lesson and taped the mic high above that walkway, and our broadcast was just Matt Smith and me, without the addition of any random elementary-school-age broadcasters.

Weekly Warmup: Kansas, Iowa State and Baylor
It's a busy four-game week for Nebraska, with all four games in the Big 12. On Wednesday, the Huskers travel to Lawrence to take on Kansas. The Jayhawks are coming off their first conference win, a 2-1 triumph over Baylor in Waco on Sunday. Under first-year head coach Megan Smith, KU is 17-22. Smith came to Kansas after serving as an assistant coach at LSU for the past three seasons. KU hitters are producing 3.6 runs per game, with only two hitters hitting above .300. The encouraging news for the Hawks is that both those hitters, Rosie Hull and Alex Jones, are freshmen. Hull is hitting a team-leading .386 with 4 RBI, while Jones is hitting .344. Junior Sara Ramirez, who stands only 5-1, may be the shortest player in the country leading her team in home runs. Ramirez has hit six homers, while Brittany Hile and Allie Clark have five each. KU pitchers have struggled, with a staff ERA of 4.38. Jones, Clark and Sarah Vertelka have split the starts. Jones is 5-5 with a 3.90 ERA, while Clark has pitched to a 6-5 mark with a 3.93 ERA. The senior Vertelka is 6-12 with a 5.12 ERA.

On Thursday, the Huskers take on Iowa State, which fell to 22-19 on the year after being swept this weekend by red-hot Oklahoma State. The Cyclones average four runs per game and have four regulars hitting better than .300 while hitting .281 as a team. Iowa State hasn't hit for much power this year, with only 16 home runs. Sydni Jones (sister of KU's Alex Jones) and Alex Johnson are tied for the team lead at four homers each. Sophomore Heidi Kidwell leads the team with a .364 batting average, while her sister Kelsey (a senior) has the second-best average among ISU regulars by hitting .312. Senior Rachel Zabriskie has seen most of the time in the circle, pitching 180 2/3 of Iowa State's 271 1/3 innings this year (nearly two-thirds of the innings), and is 18-11 with a 2.25 ERA in 25 games started. Tori Torrescano has emerged as a second option in the circle for the Cyclones as a freshman, earning a 4-5 record with a 3.80 ERA in 14 starts.

Baylor comes to Bowlin Stadium on Saturday to start a regular-season-ending stretch in which the Huskers play 10 of their last 12 at home. The Lady Bears are 23-15 after splitting with Oklahoma Christian in a Monday doubleheader. Baylor also plays at Texas on Wednesday. The Lady Bears are shorthanded in the circle, as last year's Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Whitney Canion, was sidelined with a stress reaction in her left (pitching) arm after making just eight starts this season. In her place, a freshman has emerged in circle: Courtney Repka. The right-hander is 15-9 with a 1.83 ERA in 27 starts and has thrown 71 percent of BU's innings. Offensively, Baylor relies on its speed (102 stolen bases, 39 more than second-place Missouri) to score over five runs a game. Four Lady Bears have more than 10 stolen bases on the season, led by Kayce Walker, whose 19 stolen bases rank second in Big 12. Nicole Wesley is right behind Walker with 18 stolen bases and leads the team with a .419 average. Five BU regulars are hitting better than .300, while Dani Leal leads the team with seven home runs.

That's all for now...talk to you Wednesday from Lawrence...

 

Husker Power!
Nate