HUSKERS SOFTBALL: Big 10 Conference Play Activates Tonight Nebraska Illinois Billie Andrews Rhonda Revelle

I’d be remiss if I didn’t start by wishing Fred, Amy, Keisei, Jaz, Brice, Alex and everyone else the best of luck tonight in their games against Texas A&M.

My buddy, Trap, texted me Saturday to inform me the NCAA Selection Committee was absolutely stupid enough to think they could turn an AD changing jobs into a national storyline for the tournament and would 100% match them up.

I was like, nah.

I was wrong and he was right on both counts – 1) Yep, they did it and; 2) no one outside of Nebraska & the aTm (sorta) cares.

I’ll try to put it in perspective – I made up rankings from 1-10 of poops given by the world on Trev heading to College Station:

1) Nebraska fans – 10+ (because, if you didn’t read deeply into it, then basically..)

2) Texas A&M fans – 4 – would have been higher except they already hired their new football coach.

3) The rest of the college sports world – 1 or less.

Now the idea that the rest of the country isn’t following this like the Kennedy assassination is tough for many Husker fans to wrap their head around, so I’ll leave you with this final thought:

Name five other D1 Athletic Directors without googling. (Trev, Troy, your own school’s AD if it’s not the 1st two and family members are ineligible.)

On to softball.

With their easiest slate of teams for a softball invitational thus far, the Huskers took care of business last weekend and completed their first undefeated sweep going 4-0. It didn’t start off easily with a rematch against Northern Colorado who had taken them down the previous Tuesday. They jumped Husker pitching again Thursday, but the Huskers bats came alive in the final innings to tie which gave the Huskers a chance to work the winning run home in the bottom of the 10th.

The next night it was Sammie Bland with a 2-run walk off blast in the bottom of 7 to help the Huskers escape against North Dakota. After that, the pitching did their part in the final two games, the highlight being Caitlyn Olensky tossing the first Husker shutout by a freshman since 2019.

This weekend, the Huskers commence B1G play against Illinois who are currently ranked 60th in RPI (the Huskers are 75th). If you might be wondering why a team with a losing record outranks 16-13 Nebraska, it’s because their SOS is 14th compared to the Huskers at 58th.

The Huskers record against Q1 opponents is currently 1-8, which sounds the alarm bell to start picking up as many quality wins as they can if they don’t want to head to Iowa City in May needing to win the Big 10 tournament to qualify for a regional.

BIG RED SPRING CLASSIC RESULTS

HUSKERS 6 Northern Colorado 5 (10) Recap
HUSKERS 11 North Dakota 10 Recap
HUSKERS 9 Creighton 0 (5) Recap
HUSKERS 12 Northern Colorado 4 (6) Recap

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

We’re going to make this quick since I’m about to go stats crazy. Also, no reason to nitpick after a perfect record.

BAD – Starting pitching still got rapped around in the early innings of the first couple of games.

GOOD – The opening 2 innings were much improved Saturday, Sunday & Wednesday

GOOD – The bats exploded over the weekend and get the sticky gold star award as MVP of the first 4-0 weekend. (Hey, that one kid in School of Rock really seemed to dig them)

GOOD – A stopper (not closer) may have emerged from the rotation pack – I’m lookin’ at you, Caitlyn Olensky.

IILINOIS WEEKEND
THINGS TO LOOK FOR:

• Billie Andrews bat continues to stay hot with the exception of a rare 0-fer night against UNO on Wednesday. The home runs, the steals, the extra-base hits – we all understand those numbers. Then there’s slugging % which is basically your total bases on hits divided by your at-bats; it rewards power and if you’re over .500, you have some pop.
• Billie’s is .912.
• On base % is sort of self-explanatory; hits, walks & HBP divided by plate appearances. Over .400 is someone who finds a way to get on base.
• Billie’s is .485
• OPS sounds like a chem final question, but it’s the simplest – Slugging % + On base %. If you’re over 1.000, you make contact, have pop in your bat and find ways to get on base no matter what. When you’re getting near 1.000, you’re a lethal weapon at the plate.
• If you’ve been following along at home, you already know it’s 1.397. Let that sit.
• Caitlyn Olensky should get her Big 10 debut start this weekend and it should be tonight. She has pulled away from the rest of a struggling staff to lower her ERA to 3.37 after a few rough early performances. A strong outing against the Illini would bode well.
• The Huskers will still need strong starts from who will likely be Sarah Harness and Kaylin Kinney in the other two outings. Breaking the string of being roughed up in the first couple innings would be a huge step forward into the conference slate.
• At first glance, this looks like a matchup of strong-hitting teams, however the Huskers attack poses a greater power/speed threat with a 25-11 advantage in HR’s, 29-22 in stolen bases and 88-49 in extra base hits.
• Illinois pitching begins/end with Tori McQueen. They use three pitchers total with McQueen basically taking half of those innings and Briana Bower and Lauren Wiles splitting the rest. You can read more about McQueen below, but the Huskers’ success this weekend will directly correlate with their ability to get to McQueen.
• Thanks for indulging me on the numbers. Before I had honed my skills as a smart-ass, I spent many hours before seasons poring over the Street & Smith Baseball Guide, the magazine of stats nerds everywhere pre-Bill James.

GAME INFO

Schedule: (All times CST)

March 22 Illinois (BTN) 5 p.m.
March 23 Illinois 1 p.m.
March 24 Illinois (NPM) Noon

Location: Bowlin Stadium – Lincoln, NE

Surface: Natural grass, dirt infield.

TV/Streaming: Friday’s game will be televised in the Big 10 Network and stream on Fox Sports. Saturday’s game will stream on the B1G+ app as will Sunday’s which will also broadcast on Nebraska Public Media (w/in Nebraska only), with Larry Punteney and Mattie Fowler Burkhardt on the call.

Radio: Huskers Radio Network. You can listen for free at Husker Audio – University of Nebraska – Official Athletics Website (huskers.com – Nate Rohr is on the call.

Weather: There’s no way to sugarcoat this. Today, look for temps around 43 lowering to the mid-high 30’s as night falls. Saturday’s temps will range from high 30’s to low 40’s with a slight chance of rain. Sunday (shudders) – after possibly heavy rains all morning, there will be a 40% chance of rain throughout the game accompanied by temps in the mid-40’s.

Ladies? Between that forecast and the opening round of the NCAA basketball tourney, do not expect a boisterous home field advantage.

THE OPPONENT

ILLINOIS (12-13 0-0 BIG TEN)

Illinois brings a 12-13 record into the opening weekend of Big Ten Conference play. The Fighting Illini have won four of their last six games following a 9-2 road win at Illinois State on Tuesday. Illinois has been at its best on the road, posting a 4-2 record in true road games.

Nebraska and Illinois share four common opponents this season in UCLA, San Diego State and Missouri. Both teams went 0-4 against those three opponents.

Illinois is batting .311 as a team, an average that ranks second in the Big Ten. A total of seven starters are hitting above .340. The Illini average 5.3 runs per game. Defensively, Illinois boasts(?) a 4.12 ERA and a .964 fielding percentage while allowing 5.3 runs per game.

PLAYER TO WATCH

In the circle, Tori McQueen has been Illinois’ top pitcher, but the Illini have relied on three pitchers throughout this season. McQueen is 6-6 this spring with one save and a 2.26 ERA in 74.1 innings. She leads the Illini in ERA, wins, appearances (16), starts (12), complete games (7), shutouts (2), saves, innings pitched, strikeouts (80) and opponent average (.237).

McQueen leads the Big Ten and ranks 12th nationally with a 7.27-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, as she has struck out 80 batters and walked only 11. McQueen also ranks second in the Big Ten in shutouts and walks allowed per seven innings (1.04).

BILLIE ANDREWS NAMES BIG 10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK…

AGAIN

While the Huskers have had their struggles through the tournament portion of the season, Billie Andrews has not. Without listing all her accomplishments again, let’s just lay out the week she had while winning this award for the 2nd time.

She went 10-for-22 (.455) with one double, four home runs, 10 runs score and 14 RBIs in six homes games during the second full week of March. She averaged 1.7 hits, 1.7 runs and 2.3 RBIs per game over the six games. Andrews homered in both of Nebraska’s midweek games then went 7-for-15 with a double, two homers, eight runs and nine RBIs in four games at the Big Red Spring Classic.

She has my permission to drop more the same on the Illini this weekend.

THE PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

#6 BILLIE ANDREWS • SS

#27 BROOKE ANDREWS • CF

#24 AVA BREDWELL • C

#29 SAMANTHA BLAND • LF

#7 SYDNEY GRAY • 3B

#3 BELLA BACON • 1B

#18 PEYTON CODY • DP

#19 – CAITLYNN NEAL – RF

#66 KATELYN CANEDA • 2B

#2 SARAH HARNESS • P

(Roster note: Emmerson Cope has missed the last 7 games due to a non-specified back injury.)

HUSKER HEAT – Every Tuesday 8pm – YouTube Live

Please join us for Husker Heat, your only dedicated Huskers softball podcast as we review & preview goings on as the season progresses. As we like to say, Jordy Bahl may be out for the season, but we’re just getting started.

We try keep everyone abreast of current goings on and have a good time doing it. Join Andy Ketterson (me), Jaden Miller (even if she’s under the weather) and Mylie Ketterson (my goofy but lovable daughter, nepotism rocks! Just kidding, I have no authority here.)

We promise to make up for any blatant inaccuracies or general silliness with an unbridled hatred of all things Hawkeyes. You can find previous episodes on YouTube on the Corn Nation page.

Nebraska Cornhuskers