Huskers Held to One Hit in Loss against UMass

Columbus, Ga. --- In a battle of 1998 College World Series teams, No. 10 Massachusetts one hit the No. 8 Nebraska softball team 4-0 in the Bronze Medal Tournament semifinals of the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga. The loss knocked the Huskers (6-4) out of the tournament following a 2-3 three-day showing.

True freshman Leigh Ann Walker went to the mound against 1998 second-team All-American Danielle Henderson. After setting down UMass during the first two innings, Walker surrendered singles to three of the first four batters in the top of the third to load the bases. Walker walked in the first run of the game when Debbie Tomoguchi took a 3-1 pitch high. Cherra Wheeler then sent a slow chopper between first and second to bring in the second UMass run. After bringing in first-team All-American pitcher Jenny Voss with the bases loaded, UMass scored its third run of the inning when Becky George hit a shot to the shortstop Jennifer Lizama who threw home just missing the runner from third.

Nebraska, meanwhile failed to get any offense going. The only Husker hitter to reach base prior to the fifth was Jessica Draemel who took a pitch off the helmet ear flap in the bottom of the third, but was caught stealing just two pitches later at second. Nebraska posted its largest threat in the bottom of the fifth when Jamie Fuente drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a pair of UMass errors on an Alice Brewer grounder. After a Husker strikeout, Jenifer Williams drew a walk to load up the bases with one out. But Nebraska failed to score any runs in the inning after a Heather Martin strikeout and a Jessica Draemel groundout.

In the bottom of the sixth, Ginger Taylor broke up UMass pitcher Danielle Henderson's no-hit bid by recording an infield single, but was thrown out stealing moments later. UMass added a security run in the top of the seventh when Wheeler hit a triple down the leftfield line to score a runner from second. Henderson struck out 13 Huskers batters while Voss sat down six. The loss went to Walker (2-1) and was the first of her career.

DePaul, who beat the Huskers 4-1 on Friday night, will play Southwestern Louisiana in the championship game of the gold bracket Sunday afternoon.

Nebraska will be back in action on March 11-14, in San Jose Calif., for the National Invitational Softball Tournament.

QUOTES FROM RHONDA REVELLE
"You hate to lose but this is a more quality loss. We fought tough. We faced one of the best pitchers in the nation in Danielle Henderson. We did have a lot of strikeouts, but even in our strikeouts we had better at bats. In the infield, we still haven't played a game as an entire unit."

"In all it wasn't a particularly good tournament. But sometimes not winning gives you much more to work on."