Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
Nebraska softball coach Rhonda Revelle earned her 1,200th win at NU with an 11-5 victory over Rutgers Sunday at Bowlin Stadium. The win finished off a three-game sweep for the Cornhuskers and was Nebraska’s 19th triumph in its last 20 games.
Revelle became the fourth active D1 coach to win at 1,200 games at their current institution. Oklahoma’s Patti Gasso and Alabama’s Patrick Murphy had already won 1,200 games at their respective schools entering the weekend, and USF head coach Ken Eriksen won his 1,200th with the Bulls earlier this weekend against UTSA.
This victory was a wild series finale, with the Huskers committing three errors in the first two innings, while also scoring a season-high seven runs in the first inning. Neither starting pitcher made it past the second inning.
The Scarlet Knights took their first lead of the weekend as Riley Hwang homered to left two batters into the game. A bases-loaded walk brought in a second run in the half-inning. But the Huskers responded immediately. In the bottom of the first, Ava Kuszak singled to left, driving in a run to get Nebraska on the board. A fielder’s choice grounder to second by Kacie Hoffmann drove in a run and tied the game at two. Alexis Jensen followed with an RBI single to right, giving NU a 3-2 lead. Jesse Farrell drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder to make it 4-2, Huskers. Lauren Camenzind provided the exclamation point of the inning with a three-run home run to left, pushing the lead to 7-2. The seven runs matched Nebraska’s most in an inning.
But Rutgers wouldn’t go away, scoring a run in the second and the third to cut the Huskers’ lead to 7-4. A Kuszak RBI double in the bottom of the third boosted Nebraska’s lead to 8-4. A run in the top of the fourth for the Knights shrunk the Huskers’ lead to 8-5. Nebraska rebuilt its lead with a three-run bottom of the fifth, and Jordy Frahm made it stand up, earning the win out of the bullpen after throwing three shutout innings, striking out six.
Kuszak paced the Huskers’ offense, hitting 3-for-4 with two RBI. Frahm also pitched in three hits at the plate.
Nebraska now heads to Wisconsin for a three-game series, beginning Friday at 7 p.m. Pregame coverage from Madison, Wisc., begins at 6:45 p.m. Friday on B-107.3.