Huskers Head to North Carolina for ACC/Big Ten Challenge

LINCOLN – The Nebraska softball team (3-2) travels to Raleigh, N.C., this weekend for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, hosted by NC State. Wisconsin will also represent the Big Ten Conference at the site, while Pittsburgh will be the other ACC school at the site. Due to projected weather this weekend's schedule has been adjusted. Nebraska will now play twice on Friday, starting with a game against NC State at 11:30 a.m. (CT) and then a meeting with Pitt at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday the Huskers will now play once, battling NC State at 1:30 p.m. The Huskers conclude the weekend on Sunday against Pitt at 9 a.m.

At last year's challenge, Nebraska and Indiana represented the Big Ten at in Atlanta, Ga., along with Boston College and Georgia Tech. The Huskers went 3-1 that weekend, beating Georgia Tech twice (6-5, 7-3) and going 1-1 against Boston College. The Huskers won the first game of the weekend, 2-1, while Boston College defeated NU on the final day, 3-0. 

Last Time Out

NU went 3-2 at the Lone Star Classic in Houston, Texas, last weekend. The Huskers beat Lamar twice and UNO once and fell twice to Texas Tech. Senior Catcher Bri Cassidy led the Huskers at the plate over the weekend hitting .563. Bree Boruff and Rylie Unzicker also had good weekends offensively, batting .438 and .385 respectively.

 

A Look at the Other Teams

NC State enters the weekend with a 3-2 record after an impressive showing at the USF Opening Weekend Tournament. The weekend was highlighted by a 4-1 win over No. 7 Arizona. NC State also beat Illinois state and South Florida. The Wolfpack lost to No. 19 Michigan and No. 5 Florida by just one run. The Wolfpack earned the No. 23 ranking in the Softball America’s first regular-season poll moving into the top 25 for the first time since Jan. 26, 2016. NC State is also receiving votes in the NFCA and USA Today Polls. Angie Rizzi led NC State last weekend going 5-for-12 (.417) at the plate with two runs, one double, one home run and three RBIs. Randi Farricker ranks second on the team, hitting .364 with one run, one double, one triple, one homer and two RBIs.  As a team, the Wolfpack hit eight home runs last weekend, while allowing just two from its opponents.

 

In the circle, Deven Wallace paved the way going 2-0 last weekend with an ERA of 0.91. She made four appearances including three starts. She pitched one complete game and had 11 strikeouts. Sydney Nester (1-1) earned the Wolfpack’s third win over the weekend. She made two starts and pitched one complete game. She pitched a team-high 16.1 innings and recorded a team-best 15 strikeouts last weekend. Nester finished with an ERA of 2.14.

 

Pittsburgh went 1-4 last weekend at the Cougar Classic, falling to Purdue, the College of Charleston, Central Michigan and Wichita State. The Panthers beat Wichita State in the teams’ second meeting over the weekend. Despite only picking up one win in the opening weekend, the Panthers are averaging five runs per game and have five batters hitting above .300. The offense is led by starters Hunter Levesque and Olivia Gray who are hitting .357 and .333, respectively. Levesque also had two runs, one double, one triple and three RBIs, while Gray had four runs, four doubles and three RBIs. Brie Horrell also went 4-for-7 (.571) with two runs, one home run and three RBIs. Connor McGaffic went 1-for-2. Her only hit on the weekend was a three-run homer. Katlyn Pavlick is hitting .429 and had a team-best two home runs last weekend.

 

In the circle, four pitchers saw action in the opening weekend. Brittany Knight (1-1) earned the only win, pitching a team-high 14.0 innings. She had 10 earned runs and one strikeout, while finishing the weekend with an ERA of 5.00. Sarah Dawson (0-1) has a team-best ERA of 2.62. She started one game and pitched 2.2 innings, recording a team-high three strikeouts.

 

Wisconsin also opened its season at the Lone Star College Classic last weekend, however Nebraska and Wisconsin never played. Wisconsin went 4-1 over the weekend, with its lone loss coming to Texas Tech. The Badgers beat UNO and Lamar twice.

 

Follow the Huskers

A live radio broadcast will be available on Huskers.com and the official Huskers App for all of Nebraska’s games this season. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter (@HuskerSoftball).

Catching Fire

Senior catcher Bri Cassidy was impressive in the Huskers’ opening weekend at the Lone Star College Classic. Cassidy led the team going 9-for-16 (.563) with three runs, five doubles and four RBIs. She also slugged .875. In the season opener, Cassidy had three doubles alone, which tied a Nebraska single-game record. Additionally, Cassidy moved up two spots in the batting lineup over the first five games. She started the season in the eight spot and moved up to sixth by the final game of the opening weekend. In the conference rankings, Cassidy ranks first in hitting, doubles and hits. Nationally, she ranks second in doubles and 58th in hitting. 

Boruff Provides Offensive Spark Prior to the season, junior outfielder Bree Boruff had one career hit. However, during the opening weekend, Boruff recorded seven hits, with three runs and two RBIs. She moved from ninth in the order all the way up to second by the end of the weekend. She currently ranks second on the team in hitting with .438. In the season opener, she recorded her first-career double, her first-career RBIs and her first-career multi-hit game, going 3-for-3 with one run and two RBIs. Rylie Unzicker Finding Her Groove Sophomore Rylie Unzicker stepped up for the Huskers in a big way at the Lone Star College Classic. The Omaha, Neb., native ranked third on the team in hitting with .385 last weekend. In the final game against UNO, Unzicker went 2-for-2 with one run, one homer, one double, one RBI and two walks, marking her first-career multi-hit game and recording her first-career home run against UNO. She also hit her first-career triple in the season opener against Lamar. Unzicker also slugged .923 over the weekend which leads the team.

Mergele Magic

Senior right-handed pitcher Regan Mergele has just two losses since March 3, 2016, dating back to her junior college days at Butler Community College. She is 50-2 in that stretch. Additionally, in the opening weekend, Mergele earned her first-two career saves against Lamar (game two) and Omaha. She also recorded a career-best six strikeouts in Nebraska’s first game against Texas Tech at the Lone Star College Classic. Over the weekend, Mergele pitched 10.0 innings, which was the second-most among Husker pitchers. She recorded a team-high 16 strikeouts and finished the weekend with a team-low 2.10 ERA. Her 16 strikeouts rank seventh in the conference and 41st nationally.

Newbies Making an Immediate Impact

Several newcomers aren’t wasting any time making an impact on the team. Freshmen Lindsey Walljasper, Courtney Wallace, Carson Fischer, Petyon Glatter and Anni Raley all saw action in their first weekend with the Huskers. Fischer and Raley each scored two runs for Nebraska, while Glatter made one plate appearance as a pinch hitter. Walljasper and Wallace each started all five games and helped the team both on offense and on defense.

Lindsey Walljapser made an impact at the plate and in the circle for the Huskers. The Manteca, Calif., native started in the circle in the season opener, becoming just the third freshman to start a season opener since 1995. In that game, Walljasper pitched a complete five-inning game. She gave up no earned runs, seven hits and recorded eight strikeouts, while not giving up a single walk. At the plate, she went 2-for-4 with one run and four RBIs. She also recorded her first-career home run in the season opener. Overall, Walljasper went 6-for-19 at the plate with two runs, two doubles, one homer and a team-high seven RBIs over the weekend.  In the circle, she went 1-0, making three appearances including two starts. She pitched a team-high 11.0 innings and finished the weekend with an ERA of 2.55, which ranked second on the team.

Courtney Wallace provides another double threat for Nebraska. At the Lone Star College Classic, Wallace started all five games, including once in the circle. She picked up her first-career win in the final game of the weekend against UNO. Overall, she pitched 6.0 innings and made two appearances. She finished the weekend with six strikeouts. At the plate, Wallace went 6-for-16 (.375), which ranked fourth on the team. She had scored four runs and drove in two more. She also had two doubles and in the season opener, she hit two triples, which tied a Nebraska single-game record. Wallace’s two triples rank first in the conference and third in the nation.