Rohr of the Crowd - April 21

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 the Week: Nebraska's win over Creighton in Omaha clinched a sweep by Huskers over the Bluejays in back-to-back years, stretching NU's winning streak over CU to five games. From 2005 to 2009, Nebraska was just 3-7 against Creighton.

"It's a long season, and you gotta trust it."-Annie Savoy, Bull Durham

No doubt about it, last weekend in College Station was tough for the Nebraska softball team. There are plenty of things that this team needs to improve if it is to finish this season as well as it began it, and those were made clear in the two losses to A&M.

While the final scores weren't uplifting, the good news is that these struggles are happening at a time when Nebraska can do something about it. We're not even midway through conference play yet, which leaves 10 Big 12 games for this team to improve. Here are some reasons to believe that this team will pick it back up and finish the year strong.

1. Ashley Guile is heating up at the plate. Guile started the 2011 season slowly, hitting just .286 with only one extra-base hit in the first 19 games of the year. It's been a different story the last 19 games: Guile is hitting .373 with 14 RBI, three doubles, a triple and a home run. Remember in last year's all-conference performance from Guile: Her power came only later in the year, with two of her four homers coming against Missouri (in the last weekend of the regular season) and North Dakota State (at the NCAA Regionals), so the hope is that Guile can continue to turn on the power while also hitting for a high average in the coming games. It goes without saying that the Huskers need the other power bats around Taylor Edwards to heat up. Edwards is being pitched around routinely, drawing 14 walks in the last 13 games. By her past performance, Guile is the Husker bat best equipped to make teams pay for putting Edwards on. It looks as Guile is moving into a place to where she can do that.

2. Speaking of heating up, Gabby Banda is providing better-than-expected hitting. Banda enters the Mizzou series in the midst of a career-long seven-game hitting streak, during which she's hit .368. The numbers are even better in her last 16 games, as she's hit .381. That's far better than the numbers Banda put up last season. But even last year, when Banda's numbers weren't particularly strong, Banda routinely turned in some of the toughest at-bats on the team. The results didn't often go her way, but Banda built a strong base from which to compete this year by competing hard at the plate last year. And of course, she continues to show tremendous range at shortstop and she hasn't committed an error in nine games.

3. Tatum Edwards is settling in as Nebraska's No. 2 pitcher. It was the question of the early going of the season: After Ashley Hagemann, who would get the ball for NU? Tatum Edwards has made her case, especially of late. Tatum pitched well at College Station, allowing just one run and three hits in 2.2 innings pitched on Sunday. Since a very rocky start to her career (four earned runs allowed in her first two games and three innings pitched), she's pitched to a solid 1.16 ERA in 36.1 innings pitched. At the very least, Edwards' emergence gives the Huskers another option in the circle for Ashley Hagemann, whether it's relieving Hagemann midway through the Sunday game of a Big 12 series, or starting in Hagemann's place.

4. The schedule becomes easier. Nebraska's foe this weekend, Missouri, is ranked 13th in the country and is coming off a huge sweep of Oklahoma. In other words, the series would be tough, no matter where it was being played. But the Huskers get the Tigers at home, and in fact, Nebraska will play seven of its last 10 Big 12 games at home. After this weekend's series, Nebraska will have played the top three teams in the Big 12. Having two of the last three Big 12 series at home should make it easier for the Huskers to finish the season strong. The competition will be tough, as the Big 12 is as talented as it has been in recent memory. But at least most of the rest of the Big 12 slate will be in Lincoln, and while tough foes remain, the top three teams in the Big 12 will have already been played after Saturday.

Don't misunderstand me: There are things this team needs to improve heading into Missouri if they are to be successful, in particular, Nebraska's execution offensively with runners on base. But, as the old cliche goes, "You're never as good as you look when you're winning and you're never as bad as you look when you're losing".

If nothing else, remember the last time the Tigers played NU at Bowlin Stadium, last May. The Huskers were reeling after a similarly gut-wrenching weekend in Stillwater, made all the worse by the news that Robin Mackin's injuries would force her to retire from softball, leaving Nebraska with just one pitcher heading into a regular-season-ending weekend with a fearsome Mizzou lineup. With their chances for victory looking far slimmer coming into the matchup that year than this year, the Huskers jumped on the Tigers early and won the first game of the conference series. That win, as it turned out, essentially locked up Nebraska's bid to regionals, as NU was narrowly selected for the 64-team field.

With loftier goals in sight this year, and with just few tweaks after these tough last two weekends, the Huskers can still acheive a lot in 2011.

Bracketology: 2011
One of those lofty goals that remains in reach is the potential of hosting a regional. Seasoned followers of Nebraska softball know that the Huskers' opportunity to host regionals is affected in no small way by the outcomes of the teams in the area. The NCAA generally prefers to set-up regionals that are truly regionals, in other words, regionals in which one of the other teams busses in to the regional site rather than flies to the site. Because of that fact, the Missouri Valley Conference and Summit League races become important to Husker fans, to name two other leagues of interest.

Usually, in the Missouri Valley, Creighton is Nebraska's best bet to push forward the case for Bowlin Stadium to host a regional. But with a young Jays team, Creighton is currently in the middle of the pack of the league. However, Drake currently leads the Missouri Valley with a 15-1 league record, one game better than preseason favorite Illinois State's 14-2 conference mark. The Bulldogs and Cardinals square off in a three-game series starting Saturday in Des Moines. If Drake wins the series, it would have the inside track on a conference championship, which would also increase its odds of coming through the Valley tournament. If that's the case, Drake would be a team that could potentially bus in to Lincoln, making Nebraska's bid to host regionals stronger. After all, the trip from Lincoln to Des Moines is 192 miles and 3 hours and 15 minutes, some 50 miles and 75 minutes shorter than the trip to Columbia, Mo., the destination of the Valley champ the last two years. It should be noted that the odds are decent that the Valley is a one-bid league based on recent history, so the regular-season championship may not be the end-all, be-all of this battle, but at the very least, if Drake can get the inside track on the MVC title, it can also get a good seed for itself and be in a better position to win the tournament.

Another team to keep an eye on is UMKC. The Kangaroos are currently tied for second in the Summit League with a 10-5 league record, 1.5 games behind IPFW at 13-5. The bad news is the Mastadons swept UMKC in mid-March in a three-game series. The good news is that the Kangaroos have two series against teams in the bottom-half of the nine-team Summit League each of the next two weekends, before closing with Southern Utah, another team in the Summit with a 10-5 conference record (North Dakota State is the third team in the three-way tie for second). So, the Roos can polish their league record a bit and hopefully build momentum entering the final conference series with Southern Utah and carry that momentum into the all-important Summit League tournament.

In the most recent version of the RPI, which factored in games through Sunday, Nebraska is No. 19 in the nation, but sixth in the Big 12. In the national RPI rankings, Texas is third, Missouri is fifth and Oklahoma is seventh, with Baylor (12th) and Oklahoma State (17th) also ahead of NU. Texas A&M is No. 22, while Texas Tech is just out of the top 25 at No. 29. To put that in perspective, the Pac-10 also has seven teams in the RPI top 25, while the SEC has just six. The depth of the Big 12 Conference will be a strong point on Nebraska's NCAA tournament resume, regardless of whether it's being considered to host a regional or be a No. 1 seed, both strong possibilities right now. We'll keep you posted.

Weekend Warmup: No. 13 Missouri
The No. 14 Huskers face No. 13 Missouri in a two-game series Friday and Saturday at Bowlin Stadium. Missouri swept a doubleheader from Saint Louis by a combined 12-5 Wednesday, to win its ninth and 10th straight games, pushing the Tigers to 37-5 on the year. Mizzou averages around six runs a game and came into the week second in the conference with a 1.28 team ERA. Chelsea Thomas entered the week leading the league with a 0.65 ERA, while earning a 20-3 record with 241 strikeouts in 150 innings pitched. Thomas has been almost as effective in conference, pitching to an 0.82 ERA while pitching all but 5.2 innings of the Tigers' 10 Big 12 games. Mizzou's team ERA in conference play of 0.94 is best in the league. Meanwhile, Ashley Fleming paces the Tigers' offense, hitting .386 with nine homers and 12 doubles with 39 RBI. Rhea Taylor is having another solid season. The All-American senior outfielder is hitting .367 with 24 stolen bases.

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

Husker Power!

Nate