Rohr of the Crowd - Feb. 14, 2013

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 2013 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 Roars: From Saturday's win against Illinois-Chicago, Taylor Edwards closes it out with her second grand slam of the game.

On Sunday, Jordan Bettiol doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to give Nebraska a 4-3, eight-inning win over Illinois-Chicago.

Stat of the Week: Nebraska allowed its opponents to score in 10 half-innings last weekend. The Huskers responded with a run in the following half-inning in eight of them.

All the Small Things
On a weekend where Nebraska went 5-0, scored 47 runs and hit nine home runs, there's no shortage of heroes for the Husker offense. Taylor Edwards set a school record for RBI in a game and clubbed two grand slams, Kylee Muir picked up her first four extra-base hits of her college career, and four freshmen hit a combined .400 in their first weekend of college softball.

But I would suggest that the player who was second-most important (behind Taylor Edwards, the reigning conference player of the week) in the Huskers' offense last week was a player that was 2-for-11 with a double and three RBI.

Gabby Banda didn't get many hits last weekend, but she did basically everything else for the Huskers' offense. Though her average was a meager .182, she reached base at a robust .526 clip, thanks to seven walks and one hit-by-pitch. She laid down three successful sacrifice bunts and struck out just once. Her reaching base ahead of Taylor Edwards forced NU's opponents to pitch to the former All-American, to disasterous results.

Banda setting up Edwards as she did is the definition of team offense, one player setting up another, no less than a point guard bouncing a pass to a cutter five feet from the basket.

As this Husker lineup sets up this year, consider Banda the point guard for NU's offense. She will sometimes be called upon to take advantage of scoring opportunities, and sometimes called upon to enhance the scoring opportunities of others. With her combination of speed, small-ball skills, and power, Banda is uniquely qualified to be a No. 2 hitter in college softball. And if she continues to show the plate discipline she showed last weekend, teams will have to give her more pitches to hit and will have to deal more directly with Taylor Edwards.

Legendary UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden said that it takes 10 hands to score a basket. In softball, you only need one bat. But you can sure increase your chances when the nine bats are working together to improve scoring chances for each other. Banda's patience at the plate and ability to execute whatever duties put in front of her offensively were key in Nebraska's offensive success, even if she got just two hits.

The Big Stage
For the next three weeks, the Nebraska softball team has the unique opportunity of playing on three of the biggest stages in college softball. Next week, the Huskers will head to the Big League Dreams Complex in Cathedral City, Calif., where the best non-conference tournament is held year-in and year-out. After that, NU will head to Oklahoma to play at Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium, home of the Women's College World Series, as part of the Preview event.

But this weekend, Nebraska heads to Hillenbrand Stadium taking on, among others, the Arizona Wildcats. There are a handful of facilities in college sports that shine not because of their amenities or glamour, but rather because so much of a sport's history has occured there. Think of Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge or Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater with a wrestling mat in the middle or the NU Coliseum on a fall night. That's the caliber of place the Huskers will be walking into on Friday.

It's been 13 years since the Huskers were last on this big stage. In the 2000 NCAA Regionals, Nebraska run-ruled its first two opponents, only to run into an Arizona buzzsaw in the regional semifinals. After a quiet first two innings, the Wildcats gashed the Huskers in a 12-run inning that saw nine UA hits and three home runs en route to a 13-0, five-inning loss. Nebraska beat South Carolina in the loser's bracket, but was no-hit by Jennie Finch in the regional final in a 5-0 Arizona win.

No matter how the game comes out, the mixture of the likely huge crowd and the history of the venue will make Friday's 5 p.m. game one of the more notable experiences in the softball careers of each of the Huskers. Hopefully, the memories are positive, and Nebraska finds success on one of softball's biggest stages.

Pick-to-Click Update
In case you missed it from the Husker Softball Facebook page, here is the scoring system for the Pick to Click competition between Matt and me.

BATTING--
1B-+1 pt, 2B-+2 pts, 3B-+3 pts, HR-+4 pts
RS-+1 pt, RBI-+1 pt
BB-+1 pt, HBP-+1 pt
SB-+2 pts, CS-+1 pt
HDP-(-1) pt, HTP-(-2) pts
SAC Bunt-+1, Taking an extra base on a play (moving up on an out, 1B to 3B on a single, etc), +1

FIELDING-
Great Play-+1 (entirely subjective stat)
Error-(-1)

PITCHING-
Win-+3, Save-+1
Strikeouts-
0-1 K-0, 2-5 K-+1, 6-9 K-+2, 10-12 K-+3, 13+-+4
Innings pitched-
6 IP-+1, 7 IP-+2, 8 IP-+3, 9 IP-+4, etc.
Earned Runs--
0 ER-+3, 1 ER-+2, 2 ER-+1, 3 ER or more-0
Hits + Walks--
0-2-+3, 3-5-+2, 6-9-+1, 10+-0
Inherited runners stranded-+1 for each stranded

Through one weekend, Matt and I are tied at 4 points each. Each game is worth two points. The person whose pick scores the most points gets one point. If that player scores the most points of any Husker in the game, the winning picker gets a second point for that game. I started out with two two-point games, but Matt stormed back into the contest with three correct picks and one "leading scorer" bonus point.

It should be noted, however, that as Taylor Edwards set the school record for grand slams in a game and RBI in a game at Nebraska, neither Matt nor I had her selected. That was one big swing and miss on both our parts. Taylor racked up 19 points in that game.

Weekend Warmup: The Hillenbrand Invitational, Tucson, Arizona
The Huskers head to Tucson for the 2013 Hillenbrand Invitational. They'll start Friday morning with a matchup against Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds started the year with a 1-4 performance at the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah, last weekend. SUU started the year with a run-rule loss against No. 5 Tennessee. The offense sputtered out of the gates with just 13 runs in five games. Kelsey Bryant started the year with a 10-for-18 showing in Utah, and Mikkel Griffin also started well at 5-for-15. But the rest of the lineup hit just .158 with 27 strikeouts and seven extra-base hits. Danielle Axe was decent in the circle with an ERA of 3.00 in 15 innings, but Ariel Zimmerman struggled, getting shelled for 17 earned runs in 15 innings last weekend.

Next up on Friday is No. 16 Arizona. The Wildcats started the year 3-2 at the Kajikawa Classic. Last weekend ended with a thud for the Cats, as No. 14 Florida blasted Arizona, 14-3. Bradley also defeated Arizona. Ace pitcher Kenzie Fowler (the older sister of Husker first baseman Mattie Fowler) has missed the start of the year due to injury. In her place, Shelby Babcock was 2-2 with a 3.44 ERA in 18.1 innings pitched. JuCo transfer Estela Pinon picked up 15.2 innings and pitched to an ERA of 4.02. Four of the Cats' nine regulars are hitting .300 or better, led by freshman Lauren Young, with hit 6-for-15 in her first weekend at Arizona. Bridgette Del Ponte was 6-for-16 with two homers and seven RBI, but the rest of the Cats were prone to striking out. Arizona struck out 31 times against just 14 walks.

Saturday begins with Utah State, which started the season 0-5 at the Red Desert Classic. The Aggies scored just eight runs in five games. The 5-foot-0 junior Kassandra Uchida stood tall for USU, hitting 5-for-10 in the first weekend of her junior year. But after her, the rest of the Aggies hit just .112 without a single homer and just three doubles. Noelle Johnson was decent in the circle, striking out 13 in 13 innings while pitching to an ERA of 3.23. Mandy Harmon was Utah State's second pitcher, and struggled mightily, to an 0-3 record with an 8.12 ERA.

Game two Saturday is a matchup with Drake, who started with a solid 4-1 showing last weekend at the UNI Dome Tournament. The Bulldogs' only loss came to defending national champion Alabama. The Dogs pitched tremendously well under the dome, to a team ERA of 1.89. Jordan Gronewold got the bulk of the time in the circle, earning a 3-0 record with a 1.88 ERA in four starts. She struck out 23 in 22.1 innings pitched. Rebekah Schmidt was also solid with a 1.91 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched, including a pair of saves. The offense averaged under four runs per game, hitting just .257 as a team. Amy Pierce led the offense with a 7-for-18 showing, but she was the only player who had more than 10 at-bats on the weekend that hit .300. Drake Coach Rich Calvert uses a deep bench, as 16 players played at least two games last weekend.

The Huskers close their stay in the desert with a matchup against conference foe Purdue. It will not count in the Big Ten standings, those these two teams will meet in a conference series in mid-April in West Lafayette. The Boilermakers began their season with a tough tournament in LSU, going 2-3 with losses to LSU, North Carolina and Tulsa, all of whom were at least receiving votes in the preseason poll. Purdue pitched to a team ERA of 1.18 in Baton Rouge, with four different pitchers earning starts on the weekend. Lexy Moore pitched to an ERA of 0.48 despite walking nine and striking out four. While the pitching thrived for the Boilermakers, the offense struggled, hitting just .231 as a team while scoring 11 runs. Ashley Burkhardt hit 6-for-15 with three RBI and Andie Varsho was 7-for-18 with a pair of doubles, but the rest of the lineup hit just .178.

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

Go Big Red!

Nate