Mar 12, 2024

Huskers set for two games Tuesday

Posted Mar 12, 2024 3:00 PM

Story by NU Athletic Communications

The Nebraska softball team begins a 10-game homestand Tuesday with a pair of games at Bowlin Stadium. The Huskers take on Northern Colorado at Noon followed by a 5 p.m. matchup with Maine.

Admission is free into both Nebraska games Tuesday, as well as a 2:30 p.m. matchup between Northern Colorado and Maine. There will be open seating throughout Bowlin Stadium on Tuesday, as season ticket holders will not be guaranteed their reserved seat since the games were just added to the schedule last week and were not part of the season ticket package.

Fans unable to make it out to Bowlin Stadium on Tuesday can listen to Nate Rohr call both games - and every game this season - for free on Huskers.com or the official Huskers app. Fans can also watch both Nebraska games with a subscription to Big Ten+, with subscriptions starting at $9.99 per month.

Nebraska is coming off a 3-1 record at the Razorback Rumble in Arkansas last weekend. In the tournament opener, Nebraska defeated Northern Iowa 13-3 in six innings, posting a run-rule victory over the two-time defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champions. Nebraska then split a pair of close games with Saint Francis. In the final game of the tournament, Sydney Gray homered twice and Kaylin Kinney tossed a complete game in a 5-1 victory over a South Alabama squad that is receiving votes in the top-25 poll and owns three wins and one tie against ranked opponents this season.

Leading Off...

  1. NU’s 10-game homestand is its longest at Bowlin Stadium and the longest since a 14-game homestand in 1995.
  2. The Huskers are on pace for 113 doubles this season, which would break both the Nebraska record (94) and the Big Ten record (110).
  3. NU leads the Big Ten with 47 doubles, ranking fourth nationally in doubles and third in double per game (2.1).
  4. The Huskers have used a different batting order in all 22 games this season.
  5. Billie Andrews’ final hit last weekend was the 200th hit of her career. She is just the 14th Husker with 200 career hits.
  6. Billie Andrews also hit her 50th career home last weekend. She is just the third Husker with 50 career home runs.
  7. Billie Andrews has hit safely in 17 straight games. That ties for the longest hitting streak by a Husker since Andrews had a 22-game hitting streak in 2022.
  8. Peyton Cody enters Tuesday with 147 career hits, three shy of 150.
  9. Sydney Gray is the only player to win multiple Big Ten Player of the Week awards this season.
  10. Emmerson Cope has two saves, one shy of the Nebraska freshman record.

A Look at Nebraska’s Team & Individual StreaksThe Nebraska team and several Huskers are riding streaks entering Tuesday’s two games.

  1. As a team, Nebraska has doubled in 14 straight games. The Huskers had a double in 15 consecutive games last season but the last time Nebraska had a double in more than 15 straight games was a 17-game streak during the 2017 season.
  2. The Huskers have had at least two doubles in nine straight games. Nebraska had multiple doubles in 10 consecutive games last season which is believed to be the longest streak in school history, based on available records.
  3. Nebraska stole 13 bases in four games last week after swiping just seven bases in its first 18 games of the season. The Huskers have stolen multiple bases in four consecutive games. The last time Nebraska had multiple stolen bases in five consecutive games was in 2003.
  4. Individually, Billie Andrews brings a 17-game hitting streak into Tuesday’s games. The last Husker to have a hitting streak of 18 games or longer was Andrews, who had a 22-game hitting streak in 2023 which marked the third-longest hitting streak in school history. There have been only four 20-game hitting streaks in program history and no player has ever had two separate 20-game hitting streaks. Andrews is batting .468 (29-for-62) during her hitting streak with eight doubles, one triple and seven home runs.
  5. Brooke Andrews has hit safely in seven straight games entering Tuesday. She is batting .458 (11-for-24) during the hitting streak with five doubles.
  6. Bella Bacon has an RBI in four consecutive games, the longest streak of her career and tied for the longest streak by a Husker this season.

Billie Andrews Becomes Second Husker In 40-40 CLUBBillie Andrews had four stolen bases last week to give her 41 career steals. Andrews also hit her 50th career home runs last week giving her 40 career home runs and 40 career steals.

  1. Andrews has joined Jennifer Lizama as the only players in program history to hit 40 career home runs and steal 40 career bases. Andrews has 50 career home runs and 41 career stolen bases, while Lizama had 47 career home runs and 91 career stolen bases.
  2. With nine more stolen bases, Andrews would become the first Husker with 50 career home runs and 50 career stolen bases.
  3. Nationally, there are only eight active Division I players with 40 career home runs and 40 career stolen bases. Of those eight, Andrews is one of only four players who has played her entire career in a power conference, and Andrews and Clemson’s McKenzie Clark are the only two players among those four who aren’t competing in her fifth or sixth season.

Billie Andrews Chasing Husker Home Run RecordBillie Andrews ranks 15th nationally in home runs per game this season with seven homers in 18 games. Andrews is on pace to break Nebraska’s career home run record this season.

  1. Andrews ranks third in school history with 50 home runs. The Husker home run record is 54 by two-time All-American Taylor Edwards, who played from 2011 to 2014.
  2. Andrews needs four home runs to tie Edwards’ Nebraska record and five to break the mark. Andrews is on pace to hit nine more homers this year which would give her 59 career homers.
  3. Andrews has already tied one home run record. She has seven games with multiple homers in her career, tying Tristen Edwards (2017-21) for the most multi-homer games in NU history.
  4. Andrews ranks 17th among all active Division I players with 50 career home runs. She has played at least 10 fewer games than each of the 16 players ranked ahead of her on the active home run chart, with the exception of Wichita State’s Addison Barnard.

Billie Andrews Among Nation’s Extra-base Hit LeadersBillie Andrews has a knack for producing extra-base hits during her Husker career and this year has been no different. Andrews ranks fifth in school history with 86 career extra-base hits, including 16 this season. Forty-three percent of her career hits have gone for extra bases.

  1. Andrews ranks 16th nationally 16 extra-base hits in only 18 games this season. Since she has played fewer games than many of her peers, Andrews’ average of 0.89 extra-base hits per game ranks second nationally among players with at least 12 games played.
  2. Andrews has at least one extra-base hit in 13 of her 18 games this season, including 10 of her last 12 games. Andrews has also had two games this season with multiple extra-base hits.
  3. In addition to ranking second in extra-base hits per game, Andrews is ninth nationally in slugging percentage (.923) and 15th in home runs per game (0.4).
  4. Andrews ranks 28th among all active Division I players with 83 career extra-base hits. She ranks ninth nationally among active players in career extra-base hits per game (0.49).

New Hitters Making a Big ImpactLed by first-year transfers Bella Bacon and Peyton Cody, Nebraska’s offensive newcomers have made a big impact at the plate this season. As a group, the newcomers to the Husker lineup have out-paced the returners in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, a notable accomplishment considering Nebraska returned the majority of its production from a 2023 offense that was among the best in school history.

  1. Bacon and Cody are batting a combined .323 (32-for-99) this season as the two transfer additions to the lineup. They have combined for six doubles, two homers and 18 RBIs.
  2. Freshmen Samantha Bland and Emmerson Cope are the other two new bats that have been regulars in the Husker lineup this season. Bland and Cope have been among the Huskers’ top sluggers, combining for seven doubles, three homers and 21 RBIs.
  3. With the quartet of productive new hitters, two of the top five batting averages on the team are owned by newcomers (Cody, 2nd and Bacon, 5th). Newcomers also account for two of the three highest home run totals (Cody and Bland tied for 3rd).
  4. Bacon, who spent her freshman season at Purdue in 2023, has started 21 of Nebraska’s 22 games at first base this season. The Omaha native is batting .302 and is third on the team in hits (19), runs (14) and RBIs (12).
  5. A sixth-year player who spent her first five seasons at St. John’s, Cody was limited during the first weekend, going 1-for-2 as a pinch hitter. She has returned as a regular in the lineup with 12 starts in the past 18 games, splitting time with Cope as the designated player. Cody is batting .361 this season, ranking second on the team in average, slugging percentage (.611) and third in on-base percentage (.425) and home runs (2).
  6. Bland has started 20 of Nebraska’s 22 games as a freshman with starts at four different positions. She ranks second on the team in RBIs (14) and is third in doubles (6) and home runs (2).
  7. Cope has found her way into the starting batting order 11 times despite also pitching for the Huskers. She is batting .250 with two doubles, one home runs and seven RBIs. 

Huskers Pitching by Committee in 2024Nebraska has used multiple pitchers in every game this season but one, utilizing a “pitching by committee” approach. The Huskers have used at least two pitchers in 21 of 22 games, including eight games where three or more pitchers were utilized.

  1. Nebraska was the last Big Ten team to throw a complete game this season. Each of the other 13 Big Ten teams had a complete game within the first two weeks of the season. Nebraska’s first complete game did not come until the fourth week of the season, when Kaylin Kinney went the distance against South Alabama in the Huskers’ 22nd game.
  2. The Huskers have had five pitchers start a game this season. That is a first for Rhonda Revelle, as Nebraska had never used more than four starting pitchers in a season since she took over the program in 1993.

Scouting Northern Colorado (10-14)Northern Colorado is 10-14 on the year after its five-game winning streak was snapped Monday by Omaha. The Bears entered Monday batting .255 as a team this season and averaging 4.1 runs per game. Defensively, UNC allows 5.1 runs per game with a 4.46 ERA and .953 fielding percentage.

  1. Ella Gonzalez was one of three Bears hitting above .300 entering Monday. Gonzalez leads the team with a .397 average, 25 hits and a .465 on-base percentage. She has added seven doubles, one homer and eight RBIs.
  2. Amailee Morales is hitting .364 with team-high totals of 17 runs, 11 doubles, five home runs, 22 RBIs and a .758 slugging percentage. She has produced 16 extra-base hits in 22 games.
  3. Sabrina Javorsky rounds out the .300 hitters as she is batting .339 this year. Javorsky leads the team with four stolen bases, and she has added four doubles, one triple and 10 RBIs.
  4. In the circle, Erin Caviness and Isabelle DiNapoli have been the Bears’ primary pitchers. Caviness is 5-5 on the season with a 2.85 ERA in 61.1 innings. She leads the team in wins, ERA, starts, innings and strikeouts. DiNapoli is 3-4 with one save and a 4.12 ERA in 54.1 innings over a team-high 12 appearances.
  5. Grace Algrim (0-2, 7.41 ERA in 11.1 IP) and Araya Ogden (0-2, 10.50 ERA in 14.0 IP) round out the Northern Colorado staff.
  6. Creighton alum Dedeann Pendleton-Helm is in her second season at Northern Colorado, where she owns a 36-37 record.

Scouting Maine (1-15)Maine brings a 1-15 record into Tuesday’s first game with Northern Colorado. The Black Bears have lost seven straight games since recording their lone win of the season at Delaware on March 1. Maine is batting .208 as a team while averaging 1.9 runs per game. Defensively, Maine owns a 10.07 ERA and is allowing 8.8 runs per game.

  1. Katie Jo Moery leads the Black Bears with a .333 average, 14 hits, four doubles and two stolen bases. Krista Francia is hitting .282 with 111 hits, one home run and six RBIs. Anna Margetis owns a .268 average with 11 hits, one home run and seven RBIs. The trio of Moery, Francia and Margetis have produced nearly 50 percent of Maine’s total hits this season (36 of 75).
  2. In the circle, Caitlyn Fallon has seen the most action. Fallon is 0-4 with a 9.04 ERA in 26.1 innings as she leads Maine in ERA, innings and appearances (10). Isabelle True is 0-4 with a 9.64 ERA in 20.1 innings, and she leads the Black Bears with five starts. Kaly Thomas owns Maine’s lone win, as she is 1-3 with a 10.68 ERA in 19.2 innings, and she leads the team with 14 strikeouts.
  3. Ava Zettlemoyer (0-0, 11.31 ERA in 8.2 IP) and Alysen Rieth (0-4, 11.50 ERA in 14.0 IP) round out the Black Bear staff.
  4. Jordan Fitzpatrick is in her third season at Maine. Fitzpatrick has a 25-91 record with the Black Bears.
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