NU Ends Regular Season at League-Leading Missouri

After wrapping up a solid month of April, the Nebraska softball team looks to end the regular season on a strong note as the Huskers head to Columbia, Mo., for a two-game series with the 25th-ranked Missouri Tigers this weekend.

Nebraska finished April with a 12-5 record, including a 9-5 mark in the Big 12 Conference after sweeping Oklahoma State last weekend. Four of the Huskers’ five losses came on the road to top-five teams, while NU also posted a pair of home victories over then-No. 11 Texas.

The Huskers will not only be looking to enter postseason play on a high note in their final games of the regular season, but Nebraska will also be playing the role of spoiler this weekend

NU is locked into the No. 5 seed at the Big 12 Championship after clinching at least a .500 conference finish by virtue of its sweep of Oklahoma State. Missouri, however, is tied atop the league standings with a 12-3 record. Both the Tigers and Baylor boasts identical conference records and each plays a pair of home games to close the regular season, with the Lady Bears hosting top-25 foes Texas A&M and Texas this week.

Missouri controls its own destiny this weekend as the Tigers would claim only the school’s second Big 12 Conference regular-season title in any sport with a sweep this weekend. MU will have the advantage of knowing exactly where it stands after Baylor plays its two games, although a pair of Lady Bears victories would put all of the pressure on Missouri.

The darkhorse to take home the title is third-ranked Oklahoma, who finished conference play with a 14-4 record after splitting at Kansas last weekend. The Sooners, who swept Baylor and split with Missouri, would have clinched the league title with a sweep of the Jayhawks last weekend.

Instead, a single loss by both Baylor and Missouri this week would give OU the title. The Sooners have the upper hand because both BU and MU had a game with Texas Tech cancelled due to weather, leaving Oklahoma a half-game ahead of both squads should they lose.

While Nebraska may be unable to move up - or down - in the conference standings this weekend, the Huskers still have plenty to play for.

A pair of wins would bolster Nebraska’s NCAA Tournament resume and perhaps increase the Huskers’ chances of hosting a regional at Bowlin Stadium.

Nebraska is also looking to post its first road victory over a ranked foe this season, as the Huskers are 0-8 when they face a top-25 opponent away from Lincoln, including an 0-5 mark in one-run games.

Even with the road struggles, Nebraska has won 16 of its last 21 games, a stretch which includes six games against top-15 opponents.

Scouting the Missouri Tigers
Missouri has been the surprise of the Big 12 Conference this season, as the Tigers are 36-20 overall and boast a 12-3 league record, tied with Baylor for the best mark in the conference.

MU, which was the preseason coaches’ pick to finish eighth in the Big 12, has only lost three times in league play, with each of those losses coming to top-10 foes. The Tigers also join Oklahoma as the only league teams not to have been swept so far this season.

Missouri is led by a potent offense and a resurgent pitching staff. The Tigers are hitting .287 as a team while averaging more than five runs per game. The pitching staff has compiled a 3.43 ERA, but the Tigers boast a 1.55 ERA in Big 12 action and have posted six shutouts in 15 league contests, while totaling only one shutout in 41 non-conference games.

Offensively, Micaela Minner leads the team with a .366 average and 14 doubles. Amanda Renth is the top sluggger, as she boasts 13 homers, 55 RBIs and a .616 slugging percentage. The Tigers also have plenty of speed, as Leanne Bowers has stolen 25 of Missouri’s 94 bases.

In the circle, Jen Bruck is 18-7 with a 2.82 ERA. In 158.2 innings, Bruck has struck out 121 while allowing opponents to hit .280. In Big 12 action, Bruck is 10-3 with a 1.45 ERA and four shutouts. Janaha Hainey has yet to allow an earned run in league play this season, as she is 2-0 with two shutouts in two starts and 22.0 innings. On the season, Hainey is 6-5 with a 3.24 ERA in 90.2 innings.

A Look at the Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Missouri, 47-30. The teams met three times last season, with the Huskers sweeping the regular-season series before the Tigers upset NU in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship less than a week later.

Nebraska took the first meeting, 3-1 in Lincoln, behind four Missouri errors that led to all three Husker runs. In the game, all four runs were unearned as both Jen Bruck and Ashley DeBuhr tossed four-hitters. In game two, Nebraska erased a 3-0 first inning deficit to rally for a 5-3 win on Senior Day. Jamie Waldecker led the offense with a 2-for-3 day that included a pair of RBIs, but another Missouri error led to three unearned runs. Molly Hill allowed three runs in five innings to earn the win, while Ashley DeBuhr tossed a hitless final two innings to pick up the save. Bruck was again the losing pitcher for the Tigers, allowing just two earned runs in six innings.

At the Big 12 Championship, Bruck received the defensive support that had been lacking in Lincoln and she responded by tossing a six-hit shutout. Missouri managed just four hits but scored three runs to take a 3-0 win. Bruck provided the big blow at the plate as well, as her second-inning solo home run proved to be the difference.

The Huskers are just 12-13 all-time in Columbia after splitting a pair of one-run games with the Tigers in 2005. Overall, the series has been highly competitive of late, as neither squad has managed a perfect season record against the other since NU went 3-0 against Missouri in 2001.

Offense Leads NU Past Oklahoma State
After losing a 5-3 mid-week decision to Kansas, the Huskers bounced back to sweep Oklahoma State over the weekend. While the NU pitching staff continued its excellent season by allowing just two earned runs in the two games, the Husker offense scored 14 runs on 19 hits in the two games, including a season-high nine runs and 13 hits in a 9-2 run-rule victory - NU’s first of the season - in the finale.

Nebraska was no-hit through the first 6.2 innings against Kansas but a late two-out rally that produced three hits and two runs gave the offense momentum heading into the weekend against OSU. Senior Jamie Waldecker was the hitting hero in game one as she became the first Husker to hit a grand slam in more than a year to lead NU to a 5-2 victory.

Sophomore Crystal Carwile then led a balanced offensive attack in the finale, as she went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs. Nine different Huskers had hits, while five drove in at least one run. Nebraska exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning and was poised for more with two on and only one out before the game was called due to the mercy rule.

Including the final inning against Kansas, Nebraska scored 16 runs in its final 11.2 innings last week.

Young Husker Offense Improving as Season Progresses
The Husker pitching staff continued to excel in April by compiling a 1.36 ERA with five shutouts in 17 games after entering the month with a 1.37 ERA through the first 35 games of the season.

As Head Coach Rhonda Revelle had hoped, the consistency from the pitching staff has allowed a young Nebraska lineup time to improve with more experience. The offense has continued to improve as the season has progressed and that culminated with the Huskers posting their best production of the season in the month of April.

The offense hit .255 on the month, while homering six times, posting a .337 slugging percentage and scoring an average of more than four runs per game. In contrast, Nebraska was hitting just .240 with only eight homers and a .303 slugging percentage in 35 contests in February and March.

Overall, Nebraska has recorded at least three extra-base hits in four of its last seven games after producing three or more extra-base hits only once in its previous 25 contests. NU has also hit six home runs in its last 10 games after hitting just eight home runs through its first 42 contests this season.

Husker Hurlers Leading League in Strikeouts
The Nebraska pitching staff currently leads the Big 12 Conference with 423 strikeouts, 37 more than second-place Texas. The Huskers - who have already posted the fifth-highest single-season strikeout total in school history - are bidding to become just the third NU staff to lead the league in strikeouts since the inception of the conference in 1996 and the first since 2004.

Huskers Explode for Big Innings
Nebraska scored a season-high seven runs in the sixth inning of its 9-1 run-rule victory over Oklahoma State last Sunday, despite having two runners on and only one out before the game was called. At No. 4 Oklahoma on April 21, the Huskers scored five runs in the fifth inning, giving NU two five-run innings in its last five games.

Prior to the recent surge, the Huskers’ previous high for runs in an inning had been four, four times. In fact, Nebraska’s six runs against OSU were more total runs than the Huskers had scored in 48 of their first 51 games.

NU Posts First Run-Rule Victory
When Nebraska defeated Oklahoma State with a six-inning 9-1 victory last Sunday, it marked the Huskers’ first run-rule victory of the season in 52 games. NU, which was in danger of failing to register a run-rule victory for the first time since 1993, posted 11 run-rule wins in 2006.

NU Posts Win No. 35
Nebraska’s sweep of Oklahoma State in its final regular-season home games of the year last week gave the Huskers 35 wins on the season. Nebraska has now won at least 35 games evey year since 1998 and with four more victories, the Huskers would earn win No. 40 for the second straight year and the sixth time in the last eight seasons.

Senior Class Sets School-Best Mark
The 2007 senior class swept Oklahoma State last weekend in its final regular-season home games at Bowlin Stadium. In four years, the seniors have posted a 61-17 home record, including a 38-4 mark the past two seasons.

The 61 home wins are the most in a four-year period, eclipsing the previous total of 59 from 1998 to 2001.