Rohr of the Crowd - Feb. 29, 2012

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 2012 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: With her home run Sunday against Washington, Gabby Banda has set a new career high with 17 RBI in a season, despite the fact that she's played in just 16 games this year. Her previous high was 16 in her freshman year of 2010, in which she played in 56 games.

The Loudest Roars: From the win over Missouri, Taylor Edwards' RBI double in the first, the rare double to the wall that never leaves the ground. And Ashley Hagemann closes the game with a strikeout of Kayla Kingsley.

Silver Linings
I never want to spend too much time celebrating moral victories. After all, I expect Nebraska softball to compete for the biggest prizes, to stand tall on the national stage. Still, even in the wake of the Huskers' 1-4 showing at the Cathedral City Classic, there are some reasons to believe that Nebraska is on the right track this season, even if the 9-7 record wasn't what everyone hoped it would be.

1. Ashley Hagemann's pitching
Hagemann's struggles in the circle were the surprise of the season. Through the first two weekends, Hagemann had only once started and gone more than three innings while giving up fewer than four earned runs. Making four starts against nationally-ranked competition, Hagemann threw four complete games, held Texas' powerful lineup to just two earned runs, while holding tough lineups from Missouri and Oregon to just four each.

Perhaps the most impressive start, for me, was Hagemann's final appearance, against Washington on Sunday. The numbers alone don't jump off the page (five earned runs, five hits, eight walks), but I was amazed at how hard she competed in the circumstances. In the first against the Huskies, within the first four batters, the bases were loaded. A run scored on a wild pitch, then Taylor Smith singled home two more. Trailing 3-0 and making her third start in 21 hours, it would be easy for Hagemann to pack it in and surrender. Instead, Hagemann buckled down, allowing just two hits and one run over the next five innings to keep Nebraska in the game, as the Huskers cut Washington's lead to 4-3 through six innings. Hagemann ran out of steam in the seventh, but it was clear that the Hagemann that took the ball for the Huskers at Cathedral City was much closer to the Hagemann that pitched for Nebraska last year. Her stuff was sharper throughout last weekend. At times, she was more dominant. Take out two innings (the first against Oregon and the sixth against Texas), and you're possibly talking about two complete game shutouts of two nationally-ranked teams. In short, Hagemann looks primed for a strong month of March and beyond. I'm encouraged by what I saw from her in Cathedral City.
 
2. The infield is starting to stabilize
The loss of Julie Brechtel and Heidi Foland left the infield full of questions. A freshman, Mattie Fowler, was called on to take over one of the spots on the left side, while Nikki Haget was moved into second base after playing center field her first three years at Nebraska. The inexperience on the infield was evident by the number of errors and by the bases left uncovered in the first couple weekends.

In Cathedral City, the Husker defense was tight, for the most part. Communication errors were reduced, and the errors in the scorebook dipped. Fowler drew three errors in the last two games, but at least two of them were unconventional plays, which means her error count should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Husker infield will be locked in even more as second baseman Courtney Breault recovers from shoulder surgery and is able to play second base consistently. She started for two years at second for Arkansas in the SEC, so she knows her way around the middle infield in big-time college softball. Though Haget worked hard to get up to speed at second, she wasn't as comfortable or fluid as Breault looked in her work at second base this past weekend in Cathedral City. Breault's experience in the middle infield takes some weight off Fowler's shoulders, allowing her to focus on settling in at shortstop.

3. The Huskers weren't outplayed by that much
That feels preposterous to type, considering the Huskers lost four of five games. But a closer look inside those games reveals that Nebraska was closer to a great weekend than you'd think. First off, the Huskers were out-hit only 31 to 30 in the five games. Their opponents drew 18 more walks, combined, and limiting self-inflicted damage by the pitching staff remains an issue for this team moving forward, but the fact that the Huskers were only outhit by one suggests that, if those walks are cut down, the Huskers have enough offense to win, even against high-level competition.

Then look at how the losses happened. Typically, a team took advantage of Nebraska's self-inflicted damage or bad breaks. Two of the three runners on for Kailee Cuico's grand slam for Oregon reached via walk. Against Cal Poly, the bases were loaded by an infield single, walk and hit-by-pitch before Ashley Romano punched a single through to give the Mustangs the lead, followed by another hit batter to make it 2-0, followed by a two-run single by Mariah Cochiolo to make it 4-0, Cal Poly. In the second, the bases were loaded by two walks plus a hit-by-pitch to set the stage for Nicole Lund's three-run double. In the third, Emily Ceccacci drew a walk to put two on ahead of Madi Vogelsang's three-run homer to make it 10-1 Cal Poly. Texas' first run scored on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. They earned the second, but then the third was set up by a throw from the outfield on the sacrifice fly to score the second run bouncing into a runner trying to score, allowing runners to move to second and third. That error was the reason that Texas scored after Nadia Taylor reached first after a strike three in the dirt, which Taylor Edwards thought she'd caught cleanly and therefore rolled the ball back to the mound, allowing that runner to score. Washington cashed in two walks, plus an error, plus a wild pitch to take a 1-0 lead that became 3-0 on a two-run single during the same at-bat as the wild pitch.

A play here, a play there, and fewer walks, and the hit or the errant throw becomes far less costly, and Nebraska's chances to win are greatly increased.

Those are the positives I'm taking from a weekend that saw the Huskers drop four of five. At the very least, Nebraska got a book full of lessons of how to win against the best teams in the country. Those lessons may be painful now, but as the Huskers gear up for their first run in the Big Ten, they will be valuable.

The Dust Bowl
In general, I like the Big League Dreams Sports Complex in Cathedral City, Calif., and the Cathedral City Classic. The competition is always high-level, as most of the best teams in the country are competing in the tournament. The facility itself, with chairback seats, permanent stands and shaded areas to stand and watch games, is perhaps the best facility of its kind in the country. The climate, desert-dry and always warm, makes for a pleasant viewing environment. The backdrops depicting major-league parks, though a bit gimmicky, lend an air of added importance that most multi-field facilities lack. The scenery, with the mountains surrounding the ballpark, make it one of the more beautiful places we get the privilege of visiting. And, most importantly to me, the phone lines typically work, which allows us to bring you a much better-sounding broadcast.

I do have one huge gripe with the ballpark, though, and it's an easy fix. For whatever reason, it seemed as if the grounds crew was committed to using as little water as possible to dampen the infield between games. As a result, it took no time at all for the infield to dry out. And, for those of us who sat right next to the playing field all weekend, that meant ourselves and (more importantly) our belongings, including our electronic equipment that allows us to cover the games, was covered in dirt. I remember after one play at home in the Missouri game, there was a massive cloud of dirt. Along with the sun setting beyond the rightfield fence, our visibility was really cut down, for a while. All they have to do is soak the field a little more, and the problem is solved. Do that, and I would sign up for a return trip to Cathedral City in a heartbeat. It's a phenomenal event at a great facility.

Weekend Warmup: Texas A&M Invitational
The Huskers head to the hometown of freshman outfielder Jordan Bettiol, and a familiar stop from their Big 12 days, College Station, Texas, for the Texas A&M Invitational, starting Friday with a game against Houston. The Cougars started the year ranked 20th, but have dropped five of their last seven to fall out of the national polls. Still, Houston outscores its foes by nearly three runs a game, thanks to a potent offense in which six of nine starters are hitting .360 or better. Reina Gaber sets the table by hitting .535, while Holly Anderson (.378, 3 hr, 15 rbi) and Hailey Outon (.361, 4 hr, 10 rbi, .806 slg) produce the runs. Diedre Outon has been solid as the Cougars' ace, pitching to a 3-1 record with a 1.84 ERA in six starts. Outon has been successful despite striking out only 19 in 38 innings pitched.

Nebraska faces No. 21 Texas A&M twice on the weekend. Like the Huskers, the Aggies are trying to recover from a 1-4 stay in Cathedral City. Their lone win of the tournament came in a wild 14-8, eight-inning win over BYU. In the fifth inning, a grand slam by Mel Dumezich gave Texas A&M a 7-4 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, a grand slam by BYU's Stacey Toney tied the game at eight. But in the eighth, with two runs already in, Dumezich sealed the game with a grand slam to make it 14-8. The Aggies lost to Florida, New Mexico, Washington and Pacific in Cathedral City. A&M is 9-6 entering a Wednesday game at Sam Houston State. Sophomore Emily Albus (.480) and junior Sydney Shannon (.333) are the only Aggie regulars hitting over .300. All-American catcher Meagan May has gotten off to an uneven start to the season, hitting just .219, but of her seven hits, four are home runs. Likewise, Dumezich is hitting only .231, but four of her nine hits are homers and she's driven in 17 runs. In the circle, Dumezich has been similar to Hagemann, pitching to a 4-4 record with a higher-than-expected ERA of 3.36. Dumezich has given up seven homers in 58.1 innings.

The Huskers also face Texas State twice. One of the most perennially pesky mid-major teams in the country, the 8-7 Bobcats head to No. 6 Texas for a doubleheader Wednesday. Texas State collected wins over Big 12 foes Baylor and Texas Tech last weekend in Waco. Anne Marie Taylor outdueled All-American Whitney Canion (who later that tournament suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury), beating Canion and Baylor 1-0 by throwing a two-hitter while striking out five and walking one. Taylor has started the year well in the circle, pitching to a 5-3 record with a 1.99 ERA, striking out 50 in 49.1 innings. She's emerged as the ace for the Bobcats for the time being ahead of three-time all-region pick Chandler Hall, who is 2-4 with a 3.96 ERA. Texas State has started fairly well despite a sputtering offense. The Bobcats have only one home run in 14 games thus far, and are hitting just .240 as a team while averaging under three runs a game. Sophomore shortstop Jordan Masek is the only TSU regular hitting over .300 (.303), while only two others with more than 30 at-bats are hitting better than .200.
That's all for now...we'll talk to you Friday from College Station...

Go Big Red!
Nate