Huskers Head West for Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

LINCOLN – The Nebraska softball team (7-2) heads west this weekend for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., at Big League Dreams. 

Nebraska will play BYU and Texas A&M on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. CT, respectively. On Friday, Nebraska takes on No. 13/15 Arizona State at noon CT, before facing San Diego State at 2:30 p.m. CT. On Sunday, Nebraska will compete with second-ranked UCLA at 5 p.m. CT.

Nebraska is competing in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic for the ninth straight season and the 10th time overall. Nebraska owns a 19-24 record at the tournament. Nebraska is 8-17 all-time vs. ranked teams at the event. Nebraska has defeated one ranked team in each of the last eight years at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Fifteen of Nebraska’s last 18 losses at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic have come to a ranked team. Last season, Nebraska went 2-3, defeating No. 6 Texas A&M and St. John’s and falling to No. 3 UCLA, No. 1 Washington and Mississippi State who finished the 2018 season ranked No. 23.

Last Time Out
Nebraska is coming off a 4-0 weekend in Raleigh, N.C., at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Nebraska beat NC State and Pittsburgh both twice over the weekend as the Big Ten won the Challenge, 23-13. The Huskers outscored their opponents 43-5, averaging more than 10 runs per game.

Scouting BYU
BYU enters the weekend 4-4 after going 3-1 at the Boyd Gaming Rebel Classic in Nevada. BYU beat Georgetown, UTEP and Fordham but fell to UC Davis. BYU junior outfielder Rylee Jensen and sophomore pitcher Autumn Moffat were named West Coast Conference Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week, following their performance in Las Vegas. Jensen recorded three homers and batted .800 between the games against UTEP and Fordham. She went 4 for 5 at the plate with six runs, six RBI and four walks. The starting outfielder went 2 for 2 against UTEP with three walks and hit two home runs against Fordham. Moffat pitched a complete game against Georgetown and came in as a relief pitcher in the game against UTEP, earning wins in both games. In the two games, she allowed no earned runs and had 14 strikeouts, including a career-high eight against UTEP. She allowed only five hits and two walks in her 11 innings in the circle. Morgan Bevell leads the Cougars batting .545 with one double, four runs and one RBI. Jensen is hitting .500 overall with eight runs, two doubles and a team-best three home runs and 10 RBIs. 

Scouting Texas A&M
Texas A&M holds an 8-3 record heading into Mary Nutter. Most recently, the Aggies went 3-2 at the Texas A&M invitational. The Aggies went 1-1 against both Liberty and McNeese, and fell to Rutgers. As a team, Texas A&M is hitting .344 with 74 runs, 15 doubles, four triples, 10 homers and 67 RBIs. The Aggies have drawn 37 walks, compared to getting struck out 15 times. Kelbi Fortenberry leads the Aggies with a batting average .483. She has a team-high 10 runs, 14 hits, and nine RBIs. Riley Sartain, Morgan Smith and Payton McBride are all also batting above .400. Sartain is hitting .481 with nine runs, four doubles, four homers and nine RBIs. She’s the only player with multiple home runs ont he season. Smith is hitting .450 with seven runs, one triple, one homer and seven RBIs, while McBride is hitting .409 with four runs, two doubles, one home run and six RBIs. In the circle, Kendall Potts has a team-low ERA of 1.31. She is 2-1 on the season through five appearances and two starts. She has seven strikeouts. Payton McBride has seen the most action, pitching 31.2 innings, including five starts and three complete games. McBride has an ERA of 1.33 and has a team-high 21 strikeouts. 

Scouting Arizona State
No. 13/15 Arizona State enters the weekend with an 8-2 record. The Sun Devils are coming off a 4-1 weekend at the Littlewood Classic where they beat Illinois State, Central Michigan, Utah State and San Diego, but fell to Florida. ASU’s high-powered offense is average more than nine runs per game. Kindra Hackbarth leads the ASU offensive efforts with a .484 batting average. She also has 15 runs, six doubles, three homers and 13 RBIs. She leads the team with a .968 slugging percentage. Other .400 hitters for Arizona State include Skylar McCarty (.467), Morgan Howe (.414) and Taylor Becerra (.400). Samantha Mejia leads the way in the circle for the Sun Devils. She’s carried most of the load so far this season, making six starts and pitching 32.2 innings. She has a 6-0 record and an ERA of 2.36. She also has 24 strikeouts. Cielo Meza has also seen some action as a pitcher for Arizona State. Meza has made three starts and has a 2-1 record. She has an ERA of 5.62 and has 18 strikeouts. 

Scouting San Diego State
San Diego State comes to Mary Nutter with a 6-3 record. The Aztecs are coming off a 3-1 weekend at the 29th Annual Campbell/Cartier Classic where they defeated Middle Tennessee, Northern Illinois and UC Santa Barbara and fell to Grand Canyon. As a team, the Aztecs are hitting .256, led by Kiera Wright, Molly Sturdivant, Kelsey Munoz and Alicia Garcia, who are all batting above .300. Wright leads the way with a .400 average. She also has seven runs, one double, one triple and three RBIs. Sturdivant is hitting .348. Munoz is hitting .333 with a team-best nine RBIs and two homers, while Garcia is hitting .316. In the circle, MJ James has a 2-0 record with a team-low ERA of 3.98. She’s made five appearances, including three starts and has six strikeouts. Marissa Moreno (3-1) has seen the most action. She’s made eight appearances and pitched 29.0 innings. She also has an ERA of 4.10 and a team-best 26 strikeouts. 

Scouting UCLA
The second-ranked UCLA Bruins come to Cathedral City without a loss on the season. The Bruins boast a 9-0 record and went 4-0 last weekend at the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament. The Bruins are averaging more than 10 runs a game and are outscoring their opponents 71-9. Kelli Godin, Zoe Shaw and Briana Perez are all hitting above .500 on the season. Godin and Shaw are both 7-for-12 (.583), while Perez is hitting 16-for-30 (.533) and has a team-high 13 runs. Four additional players are batting above .400, including Bubba Nickles (.464), who leads the team withfour homers and 14 RBIs. In the circle, the UCLA pitchers have been dominating opponents, giving up just nine runs through nine games. The group has a team ERA of 1.12 and 89 strikeouts. The NFCA, USA Softball and ESPNW National Player of the Year in 2018 Rachel Garcia leads the pitching staff. She has a 4-0 record with a team-low ERA of 0.57. She’s made five appearances, including four starts and has pitched two solo shutouts. She also has a team-best 49 strikeouts. Megan Faraimo has pitched 12.1 innings and has an ERA of 0.57. She has pitched one solo shutout and has recorded 22 strikeouts.\

Follow the Huskers
A live radio broadcast will be available on Huskers.com and the official Huskers App for all of Nebraska’s games this season. 
Fans can also follow the action on Twitter (@HuskerSoftball). Nebraska’s games will also be available on FloSoftball and BTN Plus (subscription required).

Powerful Offense

Through nine games, Nebraska has outscored its opponents 78-33 and is averaging more than eight runs a game. At the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Huskers went 4-0 and outscored their opponents 43-5, averaging more than 10 runs per game. In the final game against Pitt, Nebraska scored 16 runs, marking the first time the Husker offense scored at least 15 runs since April 2017.

Edwards Gains National Attention This week Tristen Edwards was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week and the  College Sports Madness National Field Player of the Week after her outing at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. 
Edwards joins Kaylan Jablonski as just the second Husker to be recognized as the National Player of the Week since All-American Peaches James, who was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week twice in 2004 and was honored as the Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 27, 2002. Jablonski earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week in 2017.
Edwards also was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for her performance. Edwards led the team going 7-for-12 with eight runs, one double, five home runs and 14 RBIs. In the final game against Pitt, Edwards went 4-for-4 with four hits, four runs and eight RBIs - all career bests. The eight RBIs tied a Nebraska single-game record (seven innings or less), while her four hits tied for fourth and her four runs tied for second. Walljasper - A Double Threat Freshman Lindsey Walljapser is making her mark both at the plate and in the circle for the Huskers. Most recently, the Manteca, Calif., native went 3-for-9 (.333) with four runs and eight RBIs at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. She also had one double and two home runs, slugging 1.111. In the circle, Walljasper started and earned the win in the first game against NC State. She improved to 2-0, going 6.0 innings and giving up five hits and no earned runs. She also recorded a career-best nine strikeouts against the Wolfpack. Walljasper earned Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week honors following the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, becoming Nebraska’s first since 2015. Through two weekends, Walljasper has an ERA of 1.65 which ranks second on the team and seventh in the conference. She has 22 strikeouts which ranks 10th in the Big Ten. Also, her strikeout-to-walk-ration (7.33) ranks third in the Big Ten and 26th nationally. At the plate, Walljasper ranks second in the conference in RBIs (15) and fifth in the Big Ten in home runs (3). She has five multi-RBI games this season which leads the team.