Wallace Tosses One-Hit Shutout in Season Opener

Courtney Wallace tossed a one-hit shutout to lead the Nebraska softball team to a season-opening 8-0 victory in five innings over Lamar Friday morning in Houston.

Wallace (1-0) was brilliant in the circle, tossing her fifth career shutout. She fanned five batters in 5.0 innings while allowing just one single and one walk. 

With Wallace in control in the circle, NU's offense saw five Huskers record a hit including two each from Billie Andrews, Caitlynn Neal and Ava Bredwell. Andrews went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run while Neal tallied an RBI and Bredwell added a run.

Karyana Mitchell (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing seven runs in 4.0 innings. The junior allowed only three earned runs as the Cardinal defense struggled, recording five errors.  

Lamar (0-2) only had two base runners the entire game, but no runner made it past first base. 

NU was held scoreless in the first inning, but added two runs in the second. Mya Felder led off with a walk and advanced to second after a sacrifice bunt from Abbie Squier. Brooke Andrews reached first on a throwing error, scoring Felder, and advancing Andrews to second. Neal followed with an RBI single to right field, scoring Andrews. The Huskers took a 2-0 lead into the third inning. 

The Big Red added two more in the bottom of the third. Billie Andrews led off with a single to the shortstop. Wallace followed with a hard hit ball to the pitcher, forcing a fielding error followed by a throwing error. Andrews scored on the throwing error while Wallace advanced to third, where another throwing error plated Wallace and put the Huskers ahead, 4-0.

Nebraska added three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-0 lead. With one out, Bredwell singled to second followed by a walk from Katelyn Caneda. Billie Andrews loaded the bases with a fielder's choice ground ball where no out was recorded. Wallace followed with an RBI single to right field, scoring Bredwell. A sacrifice fly from Sydney Gray scored Caneda while a single from Mya Felder loaded the bases. Squier was then hit by a pitch, bringing in the third run of the inning. 

Lamar recorded its first hit of the day in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Audrey Fleming hit a single to left field, but Wallace followed it up with a strikeout to end the inning. 

The Huskers tallied one more run in the bottom of the fifth to clinch the run-rule victory. Singles from Neal and Bredwell put runners on first and second. Caneda reached first on a fielder's choice while Neal was out at second. Billie Andrews then doubled to center field, driving in Bredwell for the win. 

The Huskers return to action at approximately 12:30 p.m. this afternoon to face South Dakota State. Fans can watch live on maxxsports.tv. Fans can also listen to the radio call on Huskers Radio Network.