Nebraska softball’s Jordyn Frahm and Ava Kuszak were both named to the Top 50 Watchlist for the 2026 USA Softball Player of the Year.
NU is one of four Big Ten schools to have at least one player on the watchlist and one of three Big Ten schools to have more than one player.
Frahm was on the Top 53 Watchlist last season and advanced to the top 25, top 10 and top three ballots. She was the 2025 NFCA Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American and was a finalist for the Honda Award for Softball. Kuszak was an All-Big Ten and NFCA All-Mountain region first-team honoree last year.
Frahm and Kuszak return the two highest batting averages on the team at .462 and .412, respectively, which rank first and seventh in Nebraska softball history. The two are both in the top 10 in school history in batting average, runs, home runs, extra-base hits, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage.
Nebraska will open its season on Friday, Feb. 6 against Washington at the UTSA Invitational in San Antonio, Texas. The game is set to start at 1:05 p.m. (CT).