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As part of its softball season preview, Graham Hays of ESPN.com featured Head Coach Rhonda Revelle and the 2008 Nebraska Cornhuskers as a candidate to make it to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
Hays cited Revelle's proven coaching success, as well as promising hitters Crystal Carwile and Amanda Duran and returning Big 12 ERA Champion Molly Hill as reasons why the Huskers may end the season at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. Revelle is seeing her team gain some favorable preseason expectations, despite the fact that Nebraska features one of the youngest squads in school history this season. The Huskers will rely heavily on eight newcomers to produce this season, while the roster does not include a single senior for the first time in the 33-year history of the program.
Below is an excerpt from Hays' column, entitled Cinderellas-in-waiting, pitchers on the rise and other preseason questions:
The University of Nebraska brought back one legend in an attempt to recapture the glory of bygone years on the gridiron when the school tabbed Tom Osborne to take over as athletic director. Luckily for softball fans in Lincoln, that program's championship aspirations have more to do with the present than the past in large part because coach Rhonda Revelle never left.
A player on the Nebraska team that went to the first Women's College World Series in 1982 -- one of seven all-time appearances for the Cornhuskers -- Revelle has run the show from the bench for the last 15 seasons. She took her team to Oklahoma City as recently as 2002 and while they aren't likely to open the season with the same fanfare as Big 12 rivals like Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Baylor, the Cornhuskers may have what it takes to outlast almost anyone.
For more of Hays' complete feature and season preview, visit ESPN.com by clicking here.
Nebraska, which is receiving votes in the preseason USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll, opens its season one week from Friday with a pair of games at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz.