Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
No. 8 Nebraska softball swept a BIg Ten doubleheader from Rutgers Saturday at Bowlin Stadium. After the Cornhuskers mercy-ruled the Scarlet Knights, 8-0 in five innings, NU held on to win the nightcap 5-3. Nebraska has won 18 of its last 19 games.
In game one, the Huskers (29-6, 10-1 Big Ten) dominated Rutgers (18-20, 3-11 Big Ten). Jordy Frahm (9-4) mowed down the Scarlet Knights in the circle, allowing four hits and no walks in five innings while striking out nine.
Meanwhile, the Nebraska offense wasted no time jumping on Rutgers. Frahm led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Hannah Coor followed with a single to right, moving Frahm to third. Hannah Camenzind’s single up the middle scored Frahm, putting the Huskers ahead, 1-0. With Ava Kuszak at the plate, Coor scored on a wild pitch, pushing the lead to 2-0. Then Kacie Hoffmann singled up the middle, driving in Camenzind to make it 3-0.
Then in the bottom of the second, after Lauren Camenzind walked, Frahm lined a two-run home run to center to make it 5-0. Then Coor drew a walk, moved to second on an error, then scored on back-to-back hit by pitches to Emmerson Cope and Samantha Bland to make it 6-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, all the action happened with two outs. Cope drew a walk, then Cope’s pinch runner, Katelyn Caneda, scored on Bland’s RBI triple to left. Bella Bacon drew a walk. Then, with Lauren Camenzind at the plate, Bacon stole second and Bland stole home to push the lead to 8-0. Frahm finished off the win, sending Nebraska to its eighth mercy-rule win of the season.
In game two, Alexis Jensen started strongly, retiring the first 10 batters she faced. In the bottom of the third, the Huskers took the lead, as Hannah Camenzind crushed a 279-foot home run off the “N” on the front of the Gordon Training Complex beyond the right-field fence to put NU ahead 2-0. Ava Kuszak followed with a home run to right to make it 3-0. Then in the fourth, with runners at first and third, Lauren Camenzind laid down a successful squeeze bunt to push the lead to 4-0. Coor followed with a fielder’s choice grounder to short to make it a five-run lead.
Rutgers scored its first run of the series in the sixth, then mounted a threat in the series. Back-to-back doubles by Mia Mitchell and Addie Osborne cut Nebraska’s lead to 5-2. Frahm entered the game to pitch, but an error moved Osborne to third, and Eva Garofalo singled her in to make it 5-3. With two on and none out, Frahm induced a fielder’s choice, then back-to-back strikeouts to end the game and clinch the win.
Nebraska attempts to sweep its third Big Ten series out of four Sunday at Bowlin Stadium against Rutgers. First pitch is slated for noon, with pregame at 11:45 a.m. on B-107.3.