Rohr of the Crowd - April 27

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.

Freshmen Driving the Big 12

The Loudest Roars
From the Kansas game Thursday, Tori Tyson's RBI double
puts the Huskers on the board, and Julie Brechtel's two-run
homer in the fourth pushes the NU lead to 7-3 in an eventual
8-5 Nebraska win.

I mentioned earlier this season the impact that this class of freshmen has had on Big 12 softball. Theproduction of those first-year players has held up as we hit the home-stretch of the 2010 regular season. The importance of this class of freshmen was apparent this weekend, both in the series between No. 13 Oklahoma and Nebraska and also throughout the league. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Freshmen picked up both wins for the Sooners over the Huskers. On Saturday, Keilani Ricketts, the nation's top freshman coming into this season according to ESPN RISE, was equal to those lofty expectations, locking down NU in a two-hit shutout from the circle while building OU's lead with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Ricketts is currently fourth in the Big 12 with a 1.45 ERA, while ranking second in the league in both wins (22) and strikeouts (233).

 

NU saw Oklahoma's other freshman pitcher, Michelle Gascoigne, out of the bullpen Sunday. She gave up just one hit in one and 2/3 innings pitched while striking out three of the six batters she faced in picking up the win. Meanwhile, OU's freshman hitters started to produce in game two after being held in check in game one. Leadoff hitter and centerfielder Brianna Turang was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while clean-up hitter Jessica Shults was 1-for-4 with an RBI single.

As much as freshmen changed the NU/OU series, the importance of first-year players was even greater in the two big games elsewhere in the league Sunday. In a matchup of the top two teams in the conference in Austin, No. 8 Oklahoma State got off the mat after getting run-ruled by No. 14 Texas the day before.  Thanks to a no-hitter thrown by freshman Kat Espinosa, the Cowgirls were able to even the series at one game each and keep pace with Oklahoma for second place in the league with a 1-0 OSU win. Espinosa out-pitched fellow freshman standout Blaire Luna, who lost despite giving up just three hits. Luna scooped up the win in game one of the series, a 9-1 run-rule win for the Longhorns.

 

Meanwhile, on national television in College Station, a pair of freshmen shown as No. 21 Texas A&M beat No. 15 Missouri with a run in the bottom of the seventh, 6-5. A&M freshman catcher Meghan May broke the Aggies' school record for home runs with a solo shot in the bottom of the first, then added another homer in the sixth, part of a three-run inning that pushed Texas A&M's lead to 5-1. The Tigers rallied, with freshman infielder Jenna Marston roping a double to pull Mizzou to within one in a four-run inning that tied the game at five against Aggies freshman Melissa Dumezich. But in the bottom of the seventh, May would again have an impact. With two outs and a runner on first, Missouri pitched around May, walking her on four pitches in a classic unintentional-intentional walk (a walk in which the pitching team does not have the catcher stand up and fully intentionally walk the hitter, but also an at-bat during in which the pitching team has no intention of throwing the batter a strike). That pushed the runner to second, setting the stage for Rhiannon Kliesing's game winning single.

 

While Nebraska freshman starters Brooke Thomason and Gabby Banda were quiet during the Oklahoma series, both helped the Husker cause during the two mid-week games. Banda lined a home run over the fence in left-center against Iowa State, while Thomason drove in a run and had two hits against Kansas Thursday.

 

A look at the conference leaders only highlights the impact freshmen have had this year. Of the 10 lowest ERAs in the conference, freshmen own five of them, with Luna, Espinosa and Ricketts all in the top four. Freshmen May, Texas Tech's Mikey Kenney and Shults own the top three spots on the home run chart. Four of the top 10 in slugging percentage are freshmen, including NU's Thomason in ninth. The numbers from Big 12 games are just as strong for freshmen. Marston is second in the Big 12 in conference-only batting average, while Shults and May are both in the top 10. The top four pitchers by ERA are all freshmen, with two more in the top 10.

 

Just look at who Big 12 teams give the ball to: Of the 10 teams in the league, five have freshmen ace pitchers (Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas), while freshmen have seen significant time in the circle for two others (Texas A&M and Texas Tech).

 

In short, players are a making an impact from their first game on campus. Better coaching and increased specialization by young athletes means players are more refined from their first day in the college ranks. We're seeing that trend in very, very vivid fashion this season in the Big 12.

 

I Bleed for the Big Red

Stat of the Week
With just two weeks to go in the regular season,
just 1 1/2 games separate fourth-place Texas A&M
from Nebraska and Baylor, tied for seventh in the Big 12
Conference.

Anytime Nebraska and Oklahoma square off in anything, it's an exciting matchup. Both athletic departments are perpetually battling for conference supremacy in most sports, and numerous great games and unforgettable moments come out of these meetings.

 

This has been especially true in softball. Some of my most favorite memories in covering Nebraska softball have come against the Sooners. The second game I called for the then-Pinnacle Sports Network was Peaches James' perfect game at the 2004 Big 12 Tournament against an Oklahoma team that had gone to the prior four WCWS and would go again that year. The Huskers' second-round victory in the 2008 Big 12 Tournament also stands out as the tipping point for the Huskers' improbable run to the conference tournament finals before ultimately losing to eventual national runner-up Texas A&M.

 

But perhaps my most vivid memory came in 2005, as the Huskers traveled to Norman to take on the No. 10 Sooners for a two-game set, including a game Saturday on national television. I woke up that morning (perhaps a little later than I should have), and began to get cleaned up to head to the OU Softball Complex for the big game. Excited about the matchup I was about to call and also in a bit of a hurry, I began to shave. Midway through the grooming process, I sliced open my chin. I had a inch or so gash on my chin. I did my best to finish shaving, then stuck some toilet paper on the wound, dressed and trudged onto the bus.

 

The Huskers jumped on Oklahoma starter Stacie Braddock for four runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings and withstood two homers from OU catcher Heather Scaglione to win, 6-4. Jamie Waldecker and Anne Steffan went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Ashley DeBuhr won her 20th game for NU. I'm sure I would remember the game and the pregame wound in a far more negative light had Nebraska lost, but since the Huskers won, it was all part of a big win for the Big Red. However, it should be noted that I switched to an electric razor soon after that game.

 

Weekly Warmup: Northern Iowa, Creighton and Oklahoma State
The Huskers have concluded their stretch of 10 straight games of Big 12 play, and play a pair of Missouri Valley Conference foes Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

It starts Tuesday against Northern Iowa. The Panthers are 24-20 on the season after winning four MVC games last weekend. After beating Bradley 9-2 last Tuesday, UNI blasted Evansville last weekend, winning all three in the series by a combined 31-6. That comes a week after the Panthers went 0-4 while scoring just five runs in four games against Creighton and Iowa State. Eranne Daugharty was red-hot at the plate last week, earning MVC Player of the Week honors while hitting 8-for-11 with six RBI. Three Panther regulars are hitting better than .300, led by senior Jen Larsen, who is hitting .369 with four homers and 25 RBI. Impressively, Larsen has 25 walks while striking out just 14 times. Lindsay Callanan is hitting a robust .329 while Mackenzie Daigh, last year's MVC Newcomer of the Year, is performing well this year with a .304 average with 11 doubles. Courtney Dunker leads UNI with 11 home runs. Northern Iowa has struggled in the circle, with a team ERA of 3.61. Melissa Tillett and Jen Larsen have both started 20 games. Tillett, a sophomore lefty from San Diego, is 7-12 with a 3.53 ERA, while Larsen is 12-7 with a 3.97 ERA.

 

Creighton visits Bowlin Stadium on Wednesday. Since the Bluejays' last matchup with the Huskers, the Jays have won 12 of 13 games entering their game Tuesday against Drake in Omaha. That includes a sweep of Northern Iowa two weeks ago. Tara Oltman has overcome her problems with illegal pitches and is the reigning MVC Pitcher of the Week, surrendering just one earned run in 29 innings while picking up five Creighton wins. Overall, Oltman is 24-9 with a 1.38 ERA. Offensively, the Bluejays have averaged over six runs a game during this 13-game hot streak, and CU has raised their team batting average 28 points in that run. Senior Renee Sinkler and freshman Amy Baker continue to drive the Creighton offense. Sinkler is hitting .394 with 17 homers and 45 RBI, while Baker has a .322 with 11 home runs and 37 RBI. Baker has slugged five homers in the last 14 games for Creighton, including a three-shot that drew the Jays to within one of Nebraska in the April 7 matchup in Omaha, eventually won by Nebraska, 4-3.

 

The Huskers travel to Stillwater this weekend to take on No. 8 Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls were 9-0 to start Big 12 play, but dropped three in a row last week. That losing streak was stopped in resounding fashion as Kat Espinosa no-hit Texas Sunday in a 1-0 win. Espinosa has made 24 starts and is 18-4 with a 1.29 ERA. Anna Whiddon has started 23 games and is 20-5 with a 2.15 ERA, making a dangerous one-two punch in the circle for OSU, which has a team ERA of 1.89. Oklahoma State returned its entire starting lineup from last year, and the Cowgirls are tough at the plate as well, hitting .287 as a team while averaging just under five runs a game. Mariah Gearhart paces the OSU attack with a .386 average and 20 stolen bases. Julie Ward is a power threat behind Gearhart, hitting 20 doubles and nine home runs while hitting .346.

 

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

 

Husker Power!
Nate