Rohr of the Crowd - Feb. 16

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 2011 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 Loudest Rohrs The weekend got started with a bang with Tatum Edwards' two-run homer in the top of the second vs. Portland State. Taylor Edwards might have hit the ball even harder than her sister with her RBI double in the third against the Vikings. Megan Southworth drives in Tatum Edwards to push Nebraska to a 3-2 win over No. 20 Stanford.

Just Getting Started...
It's only one weekend, I keep telling myself. They don't give trophies for anything you do in February.

But I can't help but be excited with what I saw from the Huskers last weekend at the Kajikawa Classic, and I'm guessing more than a few followers of Husker Softball are pleased with the results in Tempe.

Entering this season, it would be easy to have some doubt about how Nebraska would perform this season. Didn't the Big 12 coaches just pick us eighth? Didn't we just barely make it into regionals last year?

Stat of the Week Nebraska's two wins over Pac-10 teams were the most in one season for the Huskers since 2005, and marked the seventh time in Rhonda Revelle's 19 years as NU's head coach that the Huskers have won multiple games against Pac-10 schools.

No questions about any softball team can be totally answered after one weekend. But I think it's safe to say after six games in 2011 that this is a different Husker team from last year's squad.

Ashley Hagemann was strong in the circle, showing good command while changing speeds effectively. Taylor and Tatum Edwards mashed the ball, slugging .700 while driving in a combined 12 runs. An infield that saw new starters at three of four spots and didn't have any opportunities to work together on dirt before the first gameday was solid save a stretch of two batters against Stanford. The lineup learned from prior at-bats and hit better the next time. Even Nikki Haget hit anout-of-the-park home run.

The results in Tempe speak for themselves. On Thursday, Nebraska run-ruled a Portland State team that is picked to win its conference. The Edwards twins began their intra-sister batting battle by seeing who could hit a ball harder in their first collegiate game. The jury is still out as to whether Tatum's line-drive homer to center in the second innning or Taylor's one-hopper off the wall in center in the third was the harder-hit ball. But both blasts were warning shots that Nebraska's lineup, bringing back the vast majority of its production from the year before, was getting a huge infusion of power from two impact bats.

On Friday, the Huskers battled back from a 3-2 deficit to beat San Jose State, 7-3. Even in the loss to Arizona later that night, Nebraska showed that its hitters could hang in with one of the top pitchers in the county, Kenzie Fowler, scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth.

Saturday, the Husker lineup showed how far they've come in terms of making adjustments. Against Cal St. Fullerton, NU started out 0-for-9 its first time through the order against Ari Cervantes. The next time through, the Huskers went 3-for-8, including home runs by Haget and Tatum Edwards. That highlighted a larger trend on the weekend: This Nebraska lineup was really good at making adjustments from at-bat to at-bat against a pitcher. The first time through the order against a pitcher, the Huskers hit .192 (12-for-62). The second time through, that average climbed to .308 (16-for-52). The third time, the numbers climbed more: a .324 average (11-for-34). Even a fourth look at a pitcher proved beneficial, as Nebraska hit for a .375 average if they saw a pitcher a fourth time (though the sample size is admittedly small; only 3-for-8).

That ability to learn from prior at-bats would be a necessary skill in the next game on Saturday against No. 20 Stanford, a nine-inning, 3-2 win. With All-America candidate Teagan Gerhart in the circle for the Cardinal, the Huskers went 0-for-7 the first time through the order. In round two, they were 3-for-8 with Taylor Edwards doubling in two runs to give the Huskers the early lead. Even after the two-run lead slipped through Nebraska's hands in the seventh, you felt good about the Huskers' chances to break through for a run at some point. Nebraska nearly scored in the eighth, but it took a phenomenal catch by All-Pac 10 shortstop Ashley Hansen to keep the Huskers off the board. With 90 percent of the shortstops in the country, that ball lands and the ninth inning never happens. But Hansen is an elite-level shortstop and NU would have to wait a half-inning plus two pitches to break through with the game-winning run, as Megan Southworth blasted a ground-rule double down the line to give the Huskers the upset victory.

Had Nebraska stopped at just four wins on the weekend, I think most people would have been pleased with the Huskers' performance on the weekend. But the win over Stanford also increased expectations for the Oregon State game: Win it, and you've had a great weekend. Lose it, and while you've met your expectations coming into the tournament, you've also dropped a game you felt you could have won (and as we learned last year, every single game counts, even the ones in February).

NU made sure that this weekend would exceed expectations with a 4-1 win over Oregon State. Taylor and Tatum Edwards picked up their game of Home Run Derby, each knocking one out of the park against the Beavers. Hagemann came out of the bullpen and somehow threw five more innings after throwing over 300 pitches from late Friday night through Saturday's action.

The Huskers showed many encoruaging signs during the Kajikawa Classic. Perhaps the most encouraging thing is that Nebraska won five of six games, even without its playing as well as it could have. No one who hit a home run last year hit a home run last weekend. NU pitching walked 26 batters in 42 innings, and of those 26 who drew a walk, eight scored, meaning that over half of the runners who scored against Nebraska last weekend reached base via walk. While the defense was solid, it also committed seven errors.

In short, despite not playing its A-game, Nebraska won five games, which means both the Huskers are good right now, and with a few improvements here and there, they can be flat-out dangerous.

Big 12 as Good as Advertised
The Huskers' great start was a part of a larger strong start by the Big 12 in the first weekend of the year. The Big 12 was a combined 41-7 through the first weekend, and that's with Missouri, a two-time Women's College World Series participant, not playing. Perhaps the more impressive mark is the 12-5 record the Big 12 compiled against other BCS-Automatic Qualifier schools, including a 4-5 mark against the Pac-10. Kansas and Texas Tech impressed with upset wins over nationally-ranked North Carolina and Cal, respectively. The Raiders also opened with a 7-5 upset of nationally-ranked BYU Thursday night. Oklahoma served notice that it's a team to be reckoned with on a national stage, blitzing top-ranked Arizona 11-1 in five innings. It was against freshman pitcher Shelby Babcock, but it's still impressive for the Sooners to run-rule a team with as great an offense as the Wildcats. Oklahoma State lost just 1-0 to Arizona State in the Sun Devils' home stadium while otherwise marching to four wins.

With a lot of young talent coming back in the Big 12, this is what we expected from the conference. A year older, a year more experienced in college softball has left the talent level of this league high, and if the first weekend is any indication, eight Big 12 teams to regionals is a possibility in 2011.

Weekend Warmup: The Sleep Inn Classic
Nebraska travels to Denton, Texas, for the Sleep Inn Classic for five games starting Friday. The Huskers open competition against Tennessee Tech Friday, and the Huskers will also take on the Golden Eagles to close their time in Texas on Sunday. The Golden Eagles are 0-2 after losing to by one run to both Georgia State and defending Big East Tournament champion Syracuse on Saturday at the Georgia State Tournament. Tennessee Tech returns all but one starter from last year's team that went 28-30 overall and 11-12 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Tournament host North Texas will take on Nebraska on Friday as well. The Mean Green went 2-4 at the Kajikawa Classic last weekend, beating Cal State Bakersfield and Appalachian State before losing to Stanford, Oregon State, Oregon and Northwestern. North Texas gave up an average of seven runs a game in its four losses, and the Mean Green hit .231 as a team at the Kajikawa Classic. Last year, North Texas was 29-20 and 12-9 in the Sun Belt.

Centenary will be the Huskers' first opponent on Saturday. The Ladies (their men's teams are the Gents) open their 2011 season at the Sleep Inn Classic under first-year head coach Mark Lambert. Last year, Centenary was 10-34 overall and 4-19 in the Summit League. The Ladies lost nine of 15 letterwinners and five starters from last year's team.

Northwestern State will take on Nebraska on Saturday. The Lady Demons were 3-2 in the Louisana-Monroe Mardi Gras Tournament last weekend, and have a home game Wednesday against Jackson State. The Demons pitched to a team ERA of 4.35 in Monroe, while hitting .265 as a team. After playing in the Sleep Inn Classic, Northwestern State will host Baylor Monday night. The Demons were 27-27 last year with a 13-17 record in the Southland Conference. They return 10 letterwinners and six starters from last year's squad.

That's all for now...we'll talk to you Friday from Denton!

Husker Power!

Nate