Huskers Set to Open 2010 Season in New Mexico

The Nebraska softball team kicks off the 2010 season this week at the Hotel Encanto Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. The Huskers will play six games in four days at the tournament, opening with a doubleheader against host New Mexico State on Thursday at 5 p.m. (Central).

Every game this week and every game of the 2010 season can be heard live for free on Huskers.com, courtesy of the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network. Nate Rohr will call all of the action in his seventh year as the play-by-play voice for Husker softball.

A young Husker roster faces a challenging opening schedule against a slew of veteran squads with postseason aspirations. Nebraska’s five opponents lost only 15 combined starters from last year, while four of the five opponents also return their ace from last season. In contrast, Nebraska must replace seven lost starters from 2009, including ace Molly Hill, who threw more than 71 percent of the Huskers’ innings last season.

Even with the loss of Hill, Head Coach Rhonda Revelle still expects the Huskers to boast a strong pitching staff. The group is bolstered by the return of junior right-hander Robin Mackin, who pitched in only one game last season before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. Mackin was a 2007 NFCA All-American at Fresno State and a 2008 Canadian Olympian, although she has not started a Division I game since May of 2007.

Sophomore right-hander Ashley Hagemann also returns in the circle after showing great potential as a freshman last season. Although she was just 6-4 with a 3.07 ERA in 2009, Hagemann limited opposing hitters to a .189 average while averaging 9.61 strikeouts per seven innings, as both totals ranked second among all pitchers in the Big 12 Conference.

Hagemann and the rest of the pitching staff will face some stiff tests this weekend, especially in the first four games of the tournament. New Mexico State led the nation with a .341 batting average last season and loses only two hitters from the lineup. The Aggies also return their top six home run hitters and RBI producers from last year’s team, which ranked 11th nationally with 68 home runs and seventh by scoring an average of 6.1 runs per game.

On day two, the staff will face a Texas-San Antonio squad that has averaged 77 home runs per season over the last seven years. UTEP then provides another test, as the Miners ranked 14th nationally with 63 home runs last season. Hagemann in particular will get the chance to step up and prove herself as Nebraska opens the season with four games against three of the top home-run hitting clubs in the nation. Hagemann surrendered 12 home runs in 2009, which led directly to 21 of the 30 runs she allowed on the season.

Offensively for NU, the Huskers slugged 31 home runs in 2009, surpassing their total from the previous two seasons combined. Juniors Julie Brechtel and Heidi Foland return after tying for team-high honors with six home runs in 2009, while Mackin is the Huskers’ career home run leader with eight homers in her two seasons at Fresno State.

Brechtel and Mackin are the only two players on the Nebraska roster who have ever hit .300 in a season, as Brechtel batted .313 last season, while Mackin hit .323 as a freshman in 2006.

Scouting the New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State finished 33-21 in 2009 and the Aggies have reason to believe 2010 will be a banner year. NMSU must replace only two starters from last year’s squad that finished third in the Western Athletic Conference, while boasting one of the nation’s best offenses.

New Mexico State led the nation with a .341 team batting average in 2009, while ranking sixth in slugging percentage (.542), seventh in scoring (6.09) and 11th in home runs (68). The Aggies lost the production of Kylie Randall (49 starts, .371, 1 HR, 14 RBIs) and Stacey Lien (45 starts, .313, 2 HRs, 20 RBIs) but return their top four averages and top six home run hitters and RBI producers from 2009.

Hoku Nohara batted .429 last season with 14 home runs and 25 RBIs, while Tiare Jennings hit .407 and led the team with 13 doubles, 17 home runs and 61 RBIs. Kandis Jones (.378, 2 HRs, 24 RBIs) and Angie Ortega (.374, 14 HRs, 43 RBIs) also return.

NMSU lost its top two pitchers from 2009 and returns only five percent of its innings pitched (Kelsey Schueler, 1-0, 4.38 ERA in 8.0 IP and Sydney Williard, 8.13 ERA in 10.1 IP). But the staff could be bolstered by a pair of Big 12 transfers, whom the Huskers have never faced. Torrey Schroeder was 9-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 83.2 innings at Texas last season, while Alex Villalobos was 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 31.1 innings at Oklahoma State in 2009.

Nebraska leads the all-time series with New Mexico State, 5-2, including a 4-2 mark in Las Cruces. NU has won two in a row in the series, including a 4-2 win at New Mexico State in the most recent meeting in 2005.

Scouting the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners
Texas-San Antonio finished 29-29 last season. The Roadrunners feature a veteran squad in 2010, one that includes six seniors. UTSA also returns its entire pitching staff from last season along with nine players who started at least 27 games in 2009.

The Roadrunners lose two of their top hitters from last season (Amber Anderson, 55 starts, .305, 6 HRs, 37 RBIs and Leanne Risberg, 52 starts, .299, 6 HRs, 24 RBIs) but the rest of the lineup nearly returns intact. Rudi Cantu batted .303 with 18 stolen bases last season, while Kelly Cato hit .287 with six homers. The Roadrunners hit 42 home runs in 2009, but over the last seven years, UTSA has averaged 77 home runs per season, leading Division I every year from 2003 to 2006.

In the circle, the entire staff returns after posting a 3.08 ERA in 2009. Danye Holmes led the way with a 13-10 record, a team-low 2.44 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 146.1 innings pitched. Emily Humpal, who transferred from Creighton, was 12-12 with a 3.09 ERA and a team-high 126 strikeouts in a team-high 174.2 innings in 2009.

Nebraska is 4-0 all-time against UTSA, including a pair of wins in 2005 in the most recent meetings between the teams. In the first meeting that year, Husker volunteer coach Sheena Lawrick went 1-for-1 with a grand slam and a school-record four walks, while Jessica Yoachim had a school-record five hits in a 14-6 six-inning win in Las Cruces at a New Mexico State tournament. The second meeting that year was a much closer 4-3 NU win in Houston.

Scouting the UTEP Miners
Texas-El Paso went 27-29-1 last season, as the Miners once again boasted one of the top power-hitting lineups in the nation. UTEP hit 63 home runs in 2009 to rank 14th nationally, while homering at least 45 times for the fourth straight season. Although the Miners lose four starters from last season, they bring back their top hitters and their entire pitching staff.

Offensively, UTEP is led by an impressive trio who all earned NFCA All-Midwest region honors last season. Camilla Carrera was the 2009 Conference USA Player of the Year after setting UTEP records with a .412 average, 73 hits, 19 doubles, 13 home runs, 44 RBIs and a .751 slugging percentage. Chelsea Troupe also returns after batting .406 with 17 doubles, 10 home runs and 36 RBIs last season. Completing the trifecta is Stacie Townsend, who hit .283 with 10 homers eight doubles and 32 RBIs in 2009.

Townsend was also the Miners’ ace in the circle, compiling an 18-18 record with a 3.10 ERA. She held opposing hitters to a .260 batting average and struck out 246 in 252.2 innings, logging more than 65 percent of UTEP’s total innings in 2009. Kelly Curan (8-9, 5.64 ERA in 108.0 IP) and Chelsea Mayer (1-2, 4.89 ERA in 24.1 IP) also return for a UTEP staff that posted a 3.93 ERA and 332 strikeouts last season.

Nebraska and UTEP will be meeting for the first time on Saturday.

Scouting the Colorado State Rams
Colorado State finished 26-25 last season and the Rams and Huskers have two interesting connections. CSU is coached by 10th-year head coach Mary Yori, the older sister of Husker women’s basketball coach Connie Yori. Nebraska’s second-year hitting coach Diane Miller also has ties with the Rams, as she spent eight seasons on Yori’s staff at Colorado State.

CSU posted a .281 average and scored 4.5 runs per game in 2009. The Rams are poised to be an offensive threat again in 2010, as their lineup loses only one player who had more than 31 at bats last season. Caitlan Stem is one of four returning starters who hit .338 or better in 2009. Stem batted .372 with six homers and 26 RBIs, while Christine Thomsen hit .368 and drove in a team-high 32 runs. Allison Majam was a .341 hitter with 12 doubles and 25 RBIs, while Jenna Krogh hit .338, scored 29 runs and stole a team-high nine bases.

In the circle, the Rams return three of their four pitchers from last season. Kelli Eubanks appears to be the ace of the staff after posting solid numbers in 2009. As a freshman last year, Eubanks was 10-11 with a 3.09 ERA in a team-high 167.2 innings. Also returning for Colorado State is Danielle Chaplin (7-6, 4.41 ERA in 79.1 innings) and Rebecca Penland (1-6, 6.40 ERA in 27.1 innings), while the Rams must replace the lost production of Kim Klabough, who went 8-2 with a team-low 2.85 ERA in 61.1 innings last season.

Nebraska leads the all-time series with Colorado State, 14-4. The teams last met in 2007 with the Huskers narrowly sweeping a doubleheader by the scores of 1-0 and 3-2. The last neutral site meeting came in 2005, when Nebraska won another one-run matchup, 2-1, at a New Mexico State tournament.

Scouting the Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State lost twice to Nebraska en route to a 19-27 record last season. The Nittany Lions return five starters and half of their pitching staff this season, after finishing seventh in the Big Ten in 2009.

Offensively, Ashley Griffith returns after leading Penn State with a .311 average last season. The only Nittany Lion to hit above .300 in 2009, Griffith had two doubles and only one RBI on the season, while producing 13 stolen bases and 18 sacrifices. Lisa Akamine also returns after a solid freshman season at the plate when she hit .286 with six doubles, a homer and 17 RBIs. Desi Giordano is back as well after slugging a team-high seven home runs last season, including two against Nebraska.

In the circle, Jackie Hill returns after posting a 13-11 record and a 1.27 ERA in a team-high 159.1 innings last season. Akamine is also back after going 6-13 with a 4.24 ERA in 130.1 innings as a freshman.

Nebraska is 4-2 all-time against Penn State. The series was tied at 2-2 before the Huskers posted a 5-2 victory over PSU last February and a 10-1 five-inning victory last March. Julie Brechtel went 2-for-2 with a walk, a grand slam, two runs scored and four RBIs against PSU in 2009, while Heidi Foland was 2-for-3 with a homer, two walks, two runs and four RBIs. Robin Mackin also made her only 2009 appearance in the circle against the Nittany Lions, working around five walks to toss 2.0 hitless innings of scoreless relief.

Quick Hitters
The information below provides a quick glimpse of a few statistics and brief notes of interest as the Huskers open their 2010 season this weekend at the Hotel Encanto Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M.

• Nebraska won its season opener last season, but the Huskers have lost four of their last six season openers.
• NU is 20-12 all-time in season openers, including a 10-7 mark under Head Coach Rhonda Revelle.
• The Huskers are 119-68 (.636) all-time in the month of February, including a 7-4 record last season.
• NU has posted a winning month of February in seven of the last eight seasons (3-6 in 2008).
• Under Revelle, Nebraska is 110-65 (.629) in February. She has posted a winning month of February 12 times in 16 seasons (the Huskers did not play a game in February of 1993, Revelle’s first season).
• The Huskers open the season with a pair of road games at New Mexico State. Nebraska posted a 9-7 road record last season, snapping a two-year streak of losing road records. Prior to that, the Huskers posted a winning road record every year from 1995 to 2006.
• Regardless of the result of the season opener, Nebraska’s pitcher of record will be someone other than Molly Hill for the first time since March 29, 2009. Hill was the Huskers’ pitcher of record in each of the final 22 games last season, after having a similar 14-game streak to end the 2008 campaign.
• Junior Robin Mackin enters play this weekend with 95 career hits, all at Fresno State during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. She could reach the 100-hit milestone this weekend, and she is the only Husker with more than 70 career hits entering this season.
• Junior Heidi Foland has started 94 games in her career. She is expected to earn the start at first base every game this weekend, which would make the Penn State game on Sunday the 100th start of her career.
• On the opening day of the 2009 season, the Husker roster had combined for 1,069 starts in a Nebraska uniform. One year later, the 2010 opening-day roster has combined for only 532 starts.
• Overall, Nebraska lost a combined 1,036 games of starting experience from last year’s roster.

What Returns in 2010?
Nebraska lost seven starters from the 2009 season, including the entire outfield. The Huskers’ expected opening-game lineup combined to start only 152 games last season. In comparison, Nebraska’s 2009 opening-game lineup combined to start 428 games the previous season.

Offensively, Nebraska loses their top three batting averages from 2009 and seven of their top eight overall. In the hits department, NU’s lost production is less dramatic, as the Huskers lose their top four hit leaders from 2008, but then return a pair of juniors in Julie Brechtel (42) and Heidi Foland (27). Brechtel and Foland also tied for the team lead with six home runs last season, as Nebraska returns nearly half of its home run production from 2008. In the RBI department, Brechtel ranked third on the team with 28 RBIs last season, while Foland was fourth with 20 driven in.

In the circle, the Huskers must replace Molly Hill, who threw more than 70 percent of the team’s innings last season, while posting 25 wins. The return of junior right-hander Robin Mackin, who pitched in only one game last season, will boost the staff. In two years at Fresno State, the All-American hurler posted a 64-25 career record with a 1.44 ERA, 27 shutouts and 772 strikeouts in 586.2 innings. Sophomore Ashley Hagemann also returns as Nebraska’s No. 2 pitcher, after ranking second in the Big 12 in strikeouts per seven innings (9.61) and opponent batting average (.189) in her rookie season.

Mackin and Guile Set for Return to the Diamond
Two players who missed all or nearly all of last season are set to return this weekend. Junior right-hander Robin Mackin is ready to go after appearing in only two games last season - including just one appearance in the circle. Sophomore Ashley Guile is also ready to contribute this weekend after redshirting last season while rehabbing an elbow injury.

The return of Mackin and Guile should help bolster a relatively inexperienced Husker lineup this weekend. Mackin has thrown the most career innings of any pitcher in the Big 12 Conference and more than double the total of the rest of the Husker staff combined. Guile started 50 games as a freshman in 2008, batting .250 and posting the highest walk total by a Husker freshman (25) in more than 10 years.

Junior Crystal Gonzalez is also set to return to the lineup this season, although a hamstring injury is expected to keep her out of action this weekend. Gonzalez has appeared in only three games over the past two seasons.

Mackin Ranks Among Nation’s Best
According to statistics provided by the NCAA, junior right-hander Robin Mackin ranks in the top 10 nationally among all active Division I pitchers in career strikeouts and victories. Mackin ranks seventh nationally with 772 career strikeouts and in a tie for 10th with 64 career wins. Among non-seniors, Mackin ranks second nationally in strikeouts and victories. Mackin is also one of only two active Division I pitchers with Olympic experience and one of 13 returning All-America pitchers.

Creighton senior right-hander Tara Oltman is also in the top 10 among active pitchers in both wins and victories, as Nebraska is the only state in the country that features two pitchers ranked in the top 10 in both categories.

Lawrick Returns to Lincoln
Former Husker Sheena Lawrick has returned to Nebraska as a volunteer coach this season. Lawrick was a first baseman for the Big Red from 2002 to 2005, then served as the Huskers’ fifth-year undergraduate coach in 2006. Lawrick replaced Amanda Buchholz, who served as the Huskers’ volunteer coach before taking an assistant coaching position with Miami (Ohio) last summer.

A native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Lawrick will work with the Husker infielders. Lawrick was a co-captain for Nebraska in both 2004 and 2005. During her career, Nebraska made four NCAA Tournament appearances, advanced to the 2002 Women’s College World Series and swept the 2004 Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, in addition to being ranked in the top 25 four times, including three seasons in the top 15.

Lawrick was honored as a 2003 Big 12 all-tournament team selection, as well as a 2005 NFCA All-Midwest Region first-team selection. During that season, Lawrick posted the eighth-highest double total (13) in Husker history, while finishing with the seventh-most RBIs (48) and seventh-most walks (33). For her career, Lawrick was a .299 hitter with 23 doubles, 14 home runs, 90 RBIs, 80 walks, a .420 on-base percentage and a .470 on-base percentage. She ranks 10th in Husker history in career slugging percentage and fifth in career walks.

Lawrick has also been active on the international scene as a first baseman for Team Canada, as she is the only two-time Olympian in Nebraska history. In 2004, Lawrick came back from a knee injury that forced her to miss most of her junior season at NU, to earn a spot on the Team Canada roster for the Athens Olympics, earning two starts. She then started every game of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as Canada placed fourth, marking its best finish ever.

Husker Offense Hopes to Build on Strong 2009 Season
The Nebraska offense posted impressive totals in 2009 in its first year under the direction of hitting coach Diane Miller. The Huskers set school records for most sacrifice flies and most hit batters in a season, while posting the highest walk-per-game average in the 34-year history of the program. NU also posted the third-highest on-base percentage in Husker history in 2009, while averaging the fifth-most runs per game.

In the power department, 10 Huskers homered in 2009, an all-time high for the program. NU also ranked fifth in school history in runs per game and RBIs per game.