NU Travels to Stillwater for Final Road Trip

The Nebraska softball team hits the road for the final time in the regular season this weekend, as the Huskers travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a two-game series with the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Saturday and Sunday.

Following the trip south, Nebraska will end the regular season with a nine-game homestand that includes a rescheduled game with Iowa State on Tuesday, April 29 at 4 p.m. The final seven games of the homestand all come against Big 12 Conference opponents, including six against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll.

Fans can listen to the remainder of the season on Huskers.com, courtesy of the Husker Sports Network, as play-by-play veteran Nate Rohr will call all of the action this weekend. Every game will be available for free on Huskers.com, while live streaming video will be available for eight of the nine remaining Big 12 games - including both games this weekend - on HuskersNSide.

Before the Huskers can look forward to their extended homestand, Nebraska first faces a stiff road challenge against Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls are currently fifth in the Big 12 standings with a 5-5 record after splitting a doubleheader with fourth-ranked Texas A&M on Wednesday. OSU handed the Aggies their first conference loss of the season in game one, while scoring six runs en route to handing All-American Megan Gibson (25-1) her first loss of the year. Oklahoma State had a chance to earn the sweep, but left the tying and go-ahead runners stranded in the seventh inning of a one-run loss in game two.

Although the Huskers are below the Cowgirls in the league standings, Nebraska enters the weekend following glimpses of solid play. NU picked up its first conference victory of the season after shutting out Baylor, 5-0, on Sunday. The Huskers were in a strong position to make it two Big 12 wins in a row against Iowa State on Tuesday, as they took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. NU struggled from there, as Iowa State sent 11 batters to the plate and all 11 scored, as the Cyclones rallied to post the win.

Before its sixth-inning struggles, Nebraska had put together its best 12 innings of the Big 12 season. The Huskers had a complete effort in a win over Baylor on Sunday, producing conference-high totals of five runs and seven hits against the Lady Bears, while posting their first shutout in conference action and playing error-free ball.

Heading into the bottom of the sixth on Tuesday, the Husker offense had again produced, totaling four runs on seven hits. NU’s pitching staff had allowed only a two-run homer while the defense had been error-free, before the Cyclones’ scoring outburst.

Scouting the Oklahoma State Cowgirls
Oklahoma State is 22-20 on the season entering a Thursday matchup with Tulsa. The Cowgirls, who are in the middle of a 10-game homestand, are 5-5 in Big 12 play after splitting a pair of one-run games in a Wednesday doubleheader with fourth-ranked Texas A&M. OSU and NU have faced two common league opponents this season, as the Cowgirls swept Baylor and split with Iowa State, while the Huskers split with Baylor and dropped the first meeting to Iowa State.

Oklahoma State enjoys a statistical edge over Nebraska in nearly every category. The Cowgirls boast a better average, more power, a lower ERA and a higher fielding percentage, but the Huskers have more speed and their pitchers have tossed more shutouts. OSU boasts one of the top offenses in the conference, as its .296 average ranks fourth in the league.

Five Cowgirls are hitting better than .300 this season, while three more are hitting better than .280. Alysia Hamilton paces the squad with a .371 average and a .441 on-base percentage. Mariah Gearhart ranks second with a .346 average, but she has been the top speed threat, stealing a team-high 23 bases while tying Hamilton for top honors with 28 runs scored. Kim Kaye has been the top power threat, belting team-high totals of 11 home runs and 32 RBIs to go along with a .290 average and a .603 slugging percentage. In Big 12 play, OSU’s team average has dipped to .275, but the Cowgirls are still averaging more than four runs per game.

In the circle, Oklahoma State has utilized a three-pitcher staff to post a 2.75 collective ERA. All three hurlers have seen extensive action, but Anna Whiddon leads the team with 107.1 innings of work. Whiddon is 8-6 on the season with a team-low 1.76 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .222 against her. Sarah Odom has compiled a 3.02 ERA in 83.1 innings while posting a 7-4 record. Amanda Crabtree is just 7-10 on the season and boasts a staff-high 3.71 ERA, but opponents are hitting just .241 against her and she has struck out a team-high 96 batters in only 92.1 innings. In Big 12 play, the staff’s ERA is 3.81, as the Cowgirls have allowed their opponents to hit at a .295 clip while surrendering an average of more than four runs per game.

A Look at the Series History
Nebraska swept the two-game series against OSU at Bowlin Stadium last season, winning the first game by a 5-2 score before posting a 9-1 run-rule victory in game two. The run-rule victory marked the Huskers’ lone run-rule victory of the season.

Molly Hill earned the win in the first game, allowing one earned run in 5.1 innings. Jamie Waldecker provided the big blow at the plate, drilling a grand slam to erase a two-run deficit. In game two, Nebraska scored seven runs in the sixth inning to break open a one-run game. Ashley DeBuhr tossed a one-hitter to earn the win, while Crystal Carwile hit a three-run homer.

With the two victories last season, Nebraska evened the all-time series at 41-41, marking the first time the Huskers haven’t trailed in the all-time series since 1993, which was also Head Coach Rhonda Revelle’s first season. Revelle is 2-0 against current OSU coach Rich Wieligman, but she is just 21-24 in her career against Oklahoma State. OSU and OU are the only Big 12 programs Coach Revelle does not own a career winning record against. Revelle and the Huskers have enjoyed recent success in the series, as they have won five straight and eight of the last nine including three-run rule victories. Nebraska is 8-14 all-time in Stillwater, but the Huskers have won seven straight games on the Cowgirls’ home field dating back to 2000.

Quick Hitters
The information below provides a quick glimpse of a few statistics and brief notes of interest to keep in mind as Nebraska hits the road for the final time this season when it travels to Oklahoma State this weekend:

• Nebraska has scored in the first inning in 12 of its 17 wins this season. Scoring in the first inning has proven to be a precursor to success for NU, as it is 12-2 this season when doing so and 88-14 over the last five years.
• NU is 17-2 when out-hitting its opponent this season, but is 0-19 when being out-hit or when the hits are even.
• The Huskers have been successful on 53-of-62 stolen base attempts (85 percent) through the first 38 games of this season. Nebraska has exceeded last year’s total, when NU swiped 51 bases in 71 tries (72 percent).
• Not only has NU played just four one-run games this year, the Huskers have played 25 games decided by four runs or more. Last season, a total of 11 of Nebraska’s 57 games were decided by four or more runs.
• Nebraska is 270-4 since 2000 when leading after six innings of play. The Huskers had won 106 consecutive games when taking a lead into the seventh inning before losing a 9-6 lead at No. 4 Oklahoma last April.
• The Huskers are 0-15 this season when trailing after three innings of play and only once this season has Nebraska come back to win a game it had trailed at the end of a complete inning (second game of a doubleheader with South Dakota State on April 2).
• NU boasts an all-time record of 448-212 (.679) in the month of April. It has historically been Nebraska’s most successful month, as the Huskers’ win total and winning percentage are higher in April than any other month.
• Despite five home losses this season, Nebraska has still won 46 of its last 53 regular-season home games dating back to 2005.
• Nebraska allowed more runs in the first 33 games of this season (122) than it did in 57 games a season ago (120). In conference play, the Huskers surrendered more runs through the first seven games of Big 12 Conference play (42) than they did in 18 league games a season ago (41). So far this season, Nebraska has allowed 135 runs, its most since 2005.
• Nebraska earned its first Big 12 victory with a 5-0 shutout over Baylor on Sunday. The Huskers’ five runs were two more than they had scored in their first seven conference games combined, while NU led for six of the seven innings after having only led for one out of a total of 52 innings in conference play entering the game. Nebraska added four more runs against Iowa State on Tuesday.

Husker Offense Looks for Continued Success Against Cowgirl Pitching
Nebraska’s offense has fared well against Oklahoma State pitching recently, as the Huskers have 30 runs in their current five-game win streak over the Cowgirls. In its last two series in Stillwater, NU scored 10 runs in the first game and five runs in the second game, as Nebraska is averaging 7.5 runs per game in its last two trips to Cowgirl Stadium.

While a complete team effort has led to the offensive success, Nebraska’s returning players have fared well against Oklahoma State pitching. In only five career games against the Cowgirls, the Huskers’ seven returning hitters have combined to score 11 runs, while producing 10 RBIs and a collective .314 average and .510 slugging percentage.

One player in particular who has shined against Oklahoma State is junior Crystal Carwile. In five career games against Oklahoma State, Carwile has homered three times while driving in six and hitting a .353 clip. She hit a three-run homer in the last meeting, and she hit two home runs to go along with one double in the team’s last meeting in Stillwater. Her two home runs in that 2006 contest mark the last time any Husker has recorded a multi-home run game. Two of Carwile’s three home runs against OSU have produced the game-winning RBI.

Husker Hitters Hope to Continue Home Run Streak vs. Cowgirls
For a team not known for its home run-hitting power, Nebraska hitters have had a knack for hitting the ball out of the park against Oklahoma State. NU has homered at least once in each of the past four regular-season meetings. In those four games, the Huskers have homered six times, including two home run games from Devin Porter and Crystal Carwile in the last two meetings in Stillwater. In Stillwater, three different Huskers have produced multi-homer games in the last four meetings dating back to 2004. Since the start of 2004, three of Nebraska’s five individual multi-homer games have come at Oklahoma State (Peaches James homered twice in 2004).