Rohr of the Crowd - March 24

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.

Stat of Week: Taylor Edwards' 12 home runs and 43 RBI through the first 29 games of the season ranks as tied-for-second most homers by a Husker in the last 11 years and the fifth-most RBI for a Husker in the last 11 years.

The Loudest Roars: Madison Drake hits her first career home run against New Mexico State, and from the archives, the final out on Peaches James' perfect game in the second round of the 2004 Big 12 Tournament against Oklahoma.

The Battle Begins
A quick word today, since we have only a day in Nebraska before the Huskers begin Big 12 play with the series at No. 12 Oklahoma.
 
The good news is the Huskers are hitting as well as I can remember a Nebraska team hitting. In the six-game road trip just completed, NU went 5-1 with three run-rule victories, highlighted by the astonishing 12 runs scored with two outs in the top of the fourth inning of game two Saturday at New Mexico State in NU's 16-1 victory. The Huskers scored 56 runs in six games, and hit 14 home runs on the road trip. As a team, Nebraska hit 75-for-185, an average of .405 over six games.
 
Even better, some of those returners who hit for power last year are starting to hit for power now after slow starts in that regard. Heidi Foland, Julie Brechtel, Brooke Thomason and Ashley Guile all homered this road trip, leading you to believe the Husker power strokes are coming along at just the right time.
 
But the Big 12 is as tough as we imagined coming in. Missouri opened league play with a pair of one-run wins over Kansas on Wednesday. Remember, the Jayhawks were picked ninth in the league in the preseason while the Tigers were tabbed second. The facts don't lie: eight teams are ranked, and Kansas is getting votes. The Big 12 season will present some huge challenges for Nebraska this season.
 
But they are challenges Nebraska is prepared to face. The Huskers' non-conference schedule had both top-level strength (games against WCWS teams Hawaii and Florida, along with regional champion BYU and nationally ranked Stanford) and mid-level strength (games against Radford, Long Island and Maryland, NCAA regional teams from last year, along with a solid New Mexico State team last weekend). In short, this team has had to bring top effort for nearly 30 games, and has done so successfully.
 
I'm excited to see where this team stacks up in such a talented and difficult conference.

The Final Go-Round in the Big 12
The beginning of conference play is also the beginning of the end of Nebraska's time in the Big 12, both in softball and as an athletic department. We've been through this set of circumstances for both fall and winter sports, but at least in both of those situations, there was always the knowledge that we'd go through these conference opponents one more time in the spring sports. Now, that last time is here.
 
Don't misunderstand me: I'm thrilled Nebraska is going to the Big Ten Conference. In the end, it was a well-advised decision that will serve the NU Athletic Department well both now and into the future. But it is odd to think that this is the last time that Husker Softball will be on the same field of play battling with Oklahoma for a spot in the conference standings. It's odd to know that the Huskers won't have to worry about Jessica Shults or Keilani Ricketts again in league play. Of course, there's always the chance NU plays Oklahoma in a non-conference tournament, but those encounters don't have nearly the same stakes as conference play.
 
And as Nebraska prepares to leave the Big 12, it's important to remember that the Huskers' membership in the Big 12 challenged them to greatness in softball. NU entered the Big 12 at just the perfect time: just as Rhonda Revelle was re-establishing the program as one of the nation's elite. Competing against schools with far-more-advantageous conditions for softball forced Nebraska to invest at softball at the highest level, whether it was through coaching and facilities, and forced the Huskers to be at their best.
 
This league has been a conference in which Nebraska has been successful: three regular-season championships, three more conference tournament championships, with two bids to the Women's College World Series. The Huskers are still the only team to go through a conference season undefeated, 16-0 in 1998. And so as Nebraska pushed itself, the other league schools were forced to invest as well, raising the overall level of the league. It also showed other northern schools, especially in the Big 12, that with the right coach, they too could be nationally competitive, even against the southern schools.
 
In short, it's been a mutually beneficial relationship, and though it is ending, Husker Softball is better off for having been in the Big 12, and Big 12 softball has been made better by the Huskers' competition in it.

I Bleed Husker Red
Heading to Norman brings to mind one of my personal favorite foul-ups. In 2005, the Huskers were preparing to take on an Oklahoma team that qualified for the last five Women's College World Series. Nebraska had swept Oklahoma in the three games the prior year, including Peaches James' perfect game in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. It was also my first regular-season road trip with Husker Softball. I had gone with the team to the Big 12 Tournament the previous year, but this was my first time on the road with the team during the regular season. To top it all off, it was to be a nationally-televised game.
 
For the trip, I had bought a cheap travel kit that included, among other things, a cheap razor. This thriftiness proved to be a crucial mistake.
 
The morning of the first game of the series between the Huskers and the Sooners, I was running late as I got dressed and ready to head to the park. After showering, I began to shave. I failed to heed John Wooden's advice: "Be quick, but don't hurry".
 
I gashed open my chin. Not just a little nick that could be stopped with a small square of tissue, but a giant wound. Already running late, I hurried to finish shaving, then started grabbing toilet paper to cover the cut. I ran out to the bus, holding the length of toilet paper against my chin. The good news was, I was so embarassed by the incident, the rest of my face was too red to pick up where I was bleeding from. Eventually, I was patched up and broadcasted the game with Theresa Becker without incident. And, the Huskers won 6-4 over No. 10 OU, so any pain I might have been feeling was gone by the final out.

Weekend Warmup: No. 12 Oklahoma
The Huskers open Big 12 play with a series at No. 12 Oklahoma. The Sooners are 26-8 after losing 1-0 at Tulsa Wednesday. The Sooners average 6.6 runs a game, despite losing All-American second baseman Amber Flores and All-Big 12 catcher Lindsay Vandever to graduation. The Sooners are paced offensively by Jessica Shults, who is building on a good freshman season with a breakout sophomore year. Shults is hitting .370 with 16 home runs and 51 RBI in just 100 at bats. Freshman Destinee Martinez is setting the table with a .387 average in the leadoff spot, while freshman Brittany Williams is helping Shults produce runs with a .373 average with eight homers and 28 RBI. Brianna Turang has stolen 16 bases while the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, Dani Dobbs, hit 10-for-19 with 10 RBI last weekend at the Judi Garman Classic in six games, including matchups against nationally-ranked Washington and Arizona, among others. Keilani Ricketts continues her development in the circle, pitching to a 14-4 record with an 0.95 ERA. The sophomore lefty has struck out 200 batters and walked just 30 in 118 innings pitched. The Sooners' pitching staff ERA is 1.54 through 34 games.

That's all for now...we'll talk to you Saturday from Norman!

Husker Power!

Nate