NU Prepares for Home and Home with ISU

The Nebraska softball team, fresh off a sweep of 11th-ranked Texas that pushed its win streak to five games and left it with a winning Big 12 Conference record for the first time this season, looks to continue its good play this week against Iowa State.

The Huskers will host the Cyclones on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Bowlin Stadium before traveling to Ames on Thursday for a 3:30 p.m. contest. Fans attending the 6:35 p.m. baseball game with in-state rival Creighton will receive free admission into the softball game by presenting their baseball ticket.

Nebraska will then travel to Norman, Okla., for a two-game series at No. 3 Oklahoma that wraps up a treacherous stretch of the Husker schedule.

NU is coming off perhaps its best week of the season, winning all five games last week, including a weekend sweep of No. 11 Texas. The Nebraska pitching staff continued its excellent season, allowing just five earned runs in 39 innings.

After earning a doubleheader sweep of South Dakota State to open the week, the Huskers put together three of their best performances of the year against a pair of quality foes.

NU traveled to Creighton last Thursday looking to avenge an earlier 4-1 loss to the Bluejays. Facing the same pitcher that held the Huskers without an earned run on just two hits in the teams’ first meeting, NU erupted for a season-high-tying seven runs on eight hits to post a 7-2 win.

Senior Jamie Waldecker provided the big hits against the Bluejays, finishing 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs, the highest single-game total by a Husker this season.

Waldecker, who looked more comfortable at the plate in her second full week back following a broken hand, added another key hit when the Huskers’ opened their series against Texas with a 5-4, 11-inning victory.

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 11th with runners on first and third, Waldecker capped her second consecutive multi-hit game when she jumped on the first pitch and laced a line-drive single to left that brought home the game-tying run and the game-winning run after the ball got past the left fielder.

The 11-inning victory marked NU’s longest game since falling to Oklahoma State, 3-2, in 12 innings at Bowlin Stadium on April 20, 2003. The win also marked Nebraska’s first victory in a game lasting more than 10 innings since the Huskers won at Missouri, 4-1 in 11 innings on March 24, 2001.

With the offense producing its highest run total in back-to-back games this season (12), the pitching stepped up by blanking the Longhorn offense in the series finale, which Nebraska won by a score of 2-0.

The Huskers have now won five consecutive games and 12 of their last 14 contests. NU has been even better at home, tallying 10 consecutive victories, including 10 in a row against league foes. Overall, the Huskers are 15-2 at Bowlin Stadium.

NU was just 8-7 after losing two games on March 3, but the Huskers have posted 22 wins in their last 28 games.

Scouting the Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State enters this week’s home-and-home series with a 22-31 record after splitting a pair of home games against Texas Tech last weekend. The Cyclones have a 1-7 league record, but have won two of their last three games since losing a tough 3-2 contest at third-ranked Oklahoma in 10 innings.

Nebraska and Iowa State share 10 common opponents this season. The Huskers posted a 16-4 record in games against those opponents while Iowa State posted a 7-9 mark.

ISU is hitting just .229 as a team - the lowest average in the Big 12 Conference - but the Cyclones are averaging better than three runs per game. Alex Johnson is the lone player hitting above .300, as she leads the team with a .321 average. Johnson is also one of four players who share the team lead with five home runs.

In the circle, Alyssa Ransom is Iowa State’s top pitcher. In a team-high 137.1 innings, Ransom has compiled a 10-12 record with a team-low 2.55 ERA. Chariss Carlis (9-8, 103.2 innings, 2.97 ERA) and Amie Ford (3-6, 81.2 innings, 4.03 ERA) are the only other Cyclones who have seen extensive action this season.

Iowa State’s defense also ranks at the bottom of the conference with a .949 fielding percentage.

A Look at the Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Iowa State, 60-15, although the Cyclones and Huskers split the season series in 2006, with each team winning at home. Iowa State’s 6-5 win in Ames last season snapped a 14-game losing streak to Nebraska. Overall, the Huskers have won 24 of the 26 meetings since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

Despite those numbers, ISU Head Coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler is the only coach in the Big 12 Conference that NU Head Coach Rhonda Revelle does not own a winning record against (counting only games at each coach’s current school). Gemeinhardt-Cesler was the Cylones’ first-year head coach last season, posting a 1-1 record against Revelle and the Huskers.

In the first meeting in Ames last season, Iowa State scored all six of its runs with two-outs, including a game-winning two-run home run from Jennifer Bixby in the bottom of the sixth inning. Nebraska lost leads of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 in the loss. Molly Hill took the loss in relief for Nebraska, as Hill and starter Ashley DeBuhr combined to allow four earned runs on seven hits.

Game two was a different story, as DeBuhr recovered from a rough outing two days earlier to toss a one-hit shutout in the Huskers’ 8-0, six-inning victory. The Husker offense scored seven runs through the first three innings before wrapping up the run-rule win with a single run in the bottom of the sixth.

Of the current Huskers, senior Devin Porter and Carmen Kier enjoyed the best performances against the Cyclones last season. Porter went 2-for-6 and scored two runs in the two games, while Kier went 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs. Her home run in the first game on April 18 also marks the last homer Kier has hit, as she will have gone almost an entire year without a long ball when the teams meet on Tuesday at Bowlin Stadium.

Coincidentally, after the first meeting with Iowa State last season, the Huskers’ Big 12 record stood at 6-4 while NU had 32 overall victories after losing the opener. With a win in this year’s opener, Nebraska would against be 6-4 in the league and have 33 wins on the season.

NU Boasts Nation’s No. 4 ERA
In the first NCAA statistical rankings released last Tuesday, the Husker pitching staff ranked fourth in the nation with a 1.25 team ERA. Sophomore right-hander Molly Hill ranked 14th individually with her 1.03 ERA, while senior right-hander Ashley DeBuhr ranked 40th with a 1.37 ERA. Both Hill (0.99) and DeBuhr (1.32) lowered their numbers last week, and in the process lowered the team’s ERA to a 1.21.

DeBuhr also came in at No. 22 on the strikeouts-per-seven-innings chart with an average of 9.4.

The Nebraska defense also ranked in the top 50 in fielding percentage (50th) and double plays per game (42nd), while sophomore Meghan Mullin currently ranks 23rd in the nation with an average of 0.33 sacrifice hits per game.

Playing Small Ball
Nebraska relied on small ball to pick up its five victories last week, especially in a two-game weekend sweep of No. 11 Texas. On the week, the Huskers hit .263 but only three of their 35 hits went for extra bases. Against the Longhorns, each of NU’s 14 hits was a single. Of the seven runs Nebraska scored against Texas, two came on squeeze bunts, one came on a sacrifice fly and one came on a bases-loaded walk.

Hitting Stride
Nebraska hit .263 as a team in five games last week, recording at least six hits in each contest. Prior to that stretch, NU had gone four straight games with five or fewer hits. The Huskers averaged seven hits in each of their five wins last week. In its previous five contests, Nebraska averaged less than six hits despite an 11-hit outburst against Texas Tech.

Consistency in the Circle
Pitching has undoubtedly been Nebraska’s strength this season, as the Huskers lead the Big 12 Conference and rank fourth in the nation with a 1.21 team ERA. The staff has shown remarkable consistency in the circle this season, allowing one earned run or less in 31 of the Huskers’ 45 games (69 percent).

In fact, Nebraska was on the verge of allowing more than one earned run in three straight games for the first time all season last week. After allowing one earned run or less in 10 straight contests, Creighton and No. 11 Texas managed two earned runs each in back-to-back games to tie the staff’s longest streak this season of allowing more than one earned run. NU responded by shutting out Texas on Sunday, however.

Breaking Out?
A pair of key veteran bats in seniors Jamie Waldecker and Devin Porter enjoyed breakout performances last week, which ignited what has been a struggling offense. Waldecker, who is beginning to look more comfortable at the plate after missing 21 games with a broken hand, went 7-for-16 with seven RBIs in five games last week, while Porter was 6-for-15 with five driven in.

In five games last week, Waldecker hit .438 and drove in seven of the Huskers’ 16 runs. She helped Nebraska avenge an earlier 4-1 loss to Creighton by going 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs in the Huskers’ 7-2 victory. Her five RBIs were not only a season high but were the most by a Husker this season. She then went 2-for-4 and provided what turned into a walk-off single in the 11th inning of Nebraska’s 5-4 upset victory over 11th-ranked Texas on Saturday.

On the week, Waldecker totaled seven hits, one home run and seven RBIs in five games. Prior to last week, Waldecker had just nine hits, one home run and four RBIs in her first 20 games of the season. Waldecker also hit safely in all five games last week, stretching her hitting streak to just one game shy of her career high.

Porter was also solid, finishing with six hits and five RBIs in the five games. Prior to last week, Porter had only six hits in her last 15 games and a total of five RBIs over her last 24 games.

Porter and Waldecker entered the season as the Huskers’ most experienced hitters and they also ranked 1-2 among this year’s roster for highest career batting averages in Big 12 play.

Both returning All-Big 12 performers, Porter and Waldecker were a combined 2-for-31 with no RBIs through the first seven conference games of the season. With solid performances in mid-week non-conference action, both enjoyed their best Big 12 series of the season against No. 11 Texas.

Porter and Waldecker went 2-for-4 in the series opener and both finished the series 3-for-7 with an RBI.

Home Cooking
Nebraska has been a tough team to beat at Bowlin Stadium this season. The Huskers are 15-2 at home this season after posting a 20-1 mark in 2006, giving NU 35 wins in its last 38 home games.

Playing in front of the home crowd in familiar surroundings have helped the Huskers post solid numbers in every category. As a team, Nebraska is hitting .031 better at home than on the road, while averaging nearly one more run per game.

The pitching staff has also posted an ERA under 1.00 in 17 home games, while compiling an ERA above 2.00 in nine true road games.

A Look at the Expected Lineup
1. Whitney Barrett, 2B (27 starts, .197, 0 HR, 5 RBIs)
Barrett earned 13 starts at second base through the first 22 games of the season, before being limited by a hand injury. Barrett has returned to start the last 12 games at second and had eight hits in six-game stretch immediately following her return from the injury after entering that stretch with only three career hits.

2. Meghan Mullin, CF (45 starts, .338, 0 HR, 9 RBIs)
Mullin saw limited action as a freshman in 2006, but showed good patience and bat control in the box. As a regular starter this season, Mullin has already surpassed her freshman totals in nearly every category and she leads the team with 47 hits, a .338 average and 12 stolen bases, while recording her first career extra-base hit.

3. Crystal Carwile, 1B (45 starts, .275, 1 HR, 19 RBIs)
Carwile burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2006, homering three times in her first weekend en route to finishing with 12 homers, one shy of the NU freshman record. Carwile began the 2007 season slowly after missing the offseason with shoulder surgery, but leads the team with 10 doubles and 19 RBIs.

4. Jamie Waldecker, C (22 starts, .246, 2 HRs, 11 RBIs)
A clutch hitter with power, Waldecker is also one of the best defensive catchers in the Big 12 Conference. A broken hand forced her to miss 18 games overall and 25 at catcher. Has started 10 of the last 11 games at catcher and is finding her groove as she has seven hits and seven RBIs in her last five games.

5. Devin Porter, SS (45 starts, .265, 2 HRs, 15 RBIs)
Porter has made great progress as a player through her first three seasons in the Husker program. She has been named the Huskers’ Most Improved Player in each of the last two years and enjoyed her best season in 2006, when she earned second-team All-Big 12 honors after leading the Huskers with a .360 average in league play.

6. Brittany Pascale, DP (42 starts, .245, 1 HR, 9 RBIs)
Pascale showed continued improvement throughout 2006 and emerged as one of NU’s most clutch hitters. Pascale had three seventh-inning, pinch-hit at bats that resulted in the game-tying run. In 2007, she has drawn a team-high 23 walks to become the first Huskers since 2005 to draw 20 walks in a season.

7. Haley Long, RF (37 starts, .275, 0 HR, 11 RBIs)
Long was a late find for the Huskers as she was brought in this past summer to add depth to the outfield. Long has appeared in 38 of NU’s 45 games and ranks second among all starters with a .275 average. She has also recorded five doubles and 11 RBIs, while drawing six walks and being hit by three pitches.

8. Carmen Kier, 3B (45 starts, .190, 0 HR, 10 RBIs)
Kier is in her second season as the everyday starter at third after belting a career-high five homers and driving in a career-high 19 in 2006. Known to work the count, Kier has drawn 48 career walks, including 10 this season to rank second on the team. She also boasts power as nearly 30 percent of her career hits have gone for extra bases.

9. Alex Hupp, LF (29 starts, .110, 1 HR, 4 RBIs; 4 starts, 2-0, 1.98 ERA, 12 Ks, 17.2 IP)
A two-time NFCA High School All-American, Hupp is a solid pitcher who can also hit. She tossed a one-hit shutout in her first career start and boasts an ERA under 2.00. Hupp has moved to the outfield so her bat can be in the lineup. She is hitting just .110 this year but has three doubles, a homer and four RBIs.

10. Ashley DeBuhr, RHP (20 starts, 16-6, 1.32 ERA, 216 Ks, 159.2 IP; 10 starts, .200, 1 HR, 4 RBIs)
DeBuhr continued to be more dominant in the circle, following her second-team All-Big 12 and All-Midwest honors from 2005 with first-team selections in 2006. One of 50 players named to the 2007 USA Softball Preseason Player of the Year Watch List, she has four shutouts and has seven starts against ranked teams (4-3 record).

Jaime Borg, OF (5 starts, .273, 0 HR, 0 RBIs)
Borg moved back to the outfield after being the Huskers’ No. 3 pitcher in each of the past two seasons. She has three hits this season after having only one career hit entering her senior season.

Kimberly Fuller, INF (19 starts, .130, 1 HR, 7 RBIs)
In limited action in 2006, Fuller went 2-for-11, but drew three walks to post a .357 on-base percentage. She has split time at second with Whitney Barrett this season, earning 19 starts and posting six hits and seven RBIs.

Darcy Rutherford, OF (22 starts, .259, 0 HR, 2 RBIs)
Rutherford is arguably the Huskers’ most improved player. Primarily a pinch runner in 2006 when she appeared in 25 games and scored four runs, Rutherford went 2-for-4 in the first weekend to post her first career hits.

Molly Hill, RHP (20 starts, 14-7, 0.99 ERA, 153 Ks, 141.1 IP)
Hill is the Huskers’ No. 2 pitcher, but has the credentials to be the ace of nearly any staff. As a freshman, Hill went 18-2 to establish a school-record .900 winning percentage. She is 13-7 this year with a 1.03 ERA.

Crystal Gonzalez, OF (23 starts, .214, 0 HR, 0 RBIs)
Gonzalez was the Huskers’ top defensive outfielder and was also possibly the fastest player on the team. She tore her ACL prior to an April 1 doubleheader with Texas Tech and is out for the season.

April Is Good For Pitchers
Nebraska boasts one of the top pitching staffs in the nation and currently leads the Big 12 Conference with a collective 1.21 ERA. While the right-handed duo of senior Ashley DeBuhr and sophomore Molly Hill have been consistently solid all year, they have stepped up their play in the month of April.

In 10 April games - including seven against Big 12 opponents, four on the road and four versus top-15 foes - DeBuhr and Hill have been incredibly tough, posting an 8-2 record.

The staff has been even better against league foes this month, posting a 5-2 record including a 2-2 mark against No. 11 Texas and at No. 4 Texas A&M. In seven league games, the staff has allowed only four earned runs in 51.1 innings for a miniscule ERA of 0.55, while allowing just 26 hits and holding opposing hitters to a paltry .147 average. DeBuhr (two) and Hill (one) have combined for four shutouts during that stretch, while Hill was scoreless for 7.1 innings of a fourth contest.

Even with the stellar start to April against Big 12 competition, the Huskers’ success against league foes hasn’t been limited to this month. Hill currently leads the Big 12 with a 0.99 ERA and in addition to the Huskers’ league-leading 1.21 team ERA, NU also leads the league with 381 strikeouts and a .190 opponent batting average. In conference-only action, Nebraska ranks second in the Big 12 with a 0.87 ERA and four shutouts, while leading the league with an 8.16 strikeouts-per-seven-innings average.

Defense Stepping Up
Pitching is not the only facet of the game the Huskers have improved on lately. Defensively, NU has committed just four errors in its last 13 games. Nebraska has posted nine errorless games over that stretch and had a season-high errorless streak snapped at 100 chances in game one of an April 6 doubleheader at No. 4 Texas A&M.

Before the current streak, the Huskers had gone an entire game without an error only nine times through the first 32 contests. NU has also turned four double plays in the last 13 games and thrown out 7-of-17 would-be base stealers after allowing opponents to successfully steal nine bases in their previous 10 attempts.

Nebraska vs. Ranked Teams
Nebraska has played a challenging schedule in 2007 and the Huskers have been respectable against the best competition, posting a 6-5 record against ranked teams, while going 26-8 against foes outside of the top 25. Seven of the 11 games - and four of the six wins - have been decided by one run, with seven games coming down to the winning teams’ last at bat.

Half of the 11 contests have gone extra-innings, including a 5-4 win over No. 11 Texas last Saturday. NU, which had won four of its first five games against ranked foes this season, led in each of its first five games, but has lost four of its last six, with each contest coming against a top-20 team.

In their six wins, the Huskers have produced the game-winning run in the seventh inning once, in the eighth inning twice and in the 11th inning once.