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One of the most anticipated softball series in the country is going down starting Friday night. For details and stories on the matchup, check out this week’s TWIS Notes. For your times, TV, radio, weather, and other info, scroll on down.
Did You Know We Have a HUSKERS SOFTBALL Podcast?
That’s right – every Tuesday night at 8PM.
It’s called Husker Heat and we started our 3rd season two weeks ago. With my lovely daughter Mylie as my co-host (of course I’m biased – daughter), we cover the previous weekend, preview the coming games, talk about current storylines and likely find a couple of non-softball topics to chatter about as well. We try to keep it around 45 minutes while still making sure you’re the best-informed fans in Nebraska.
There’s a section for comments, so please fire away with any thoughts or questions and if we don’t have answers on hand, we’ll try to have them for you by next week’s show. It broadcasts on Facebook Live, Twitter and YouTube Live.
Husker Heat – click the link above to check out this week’s show and join us next Tuesday!
MICHIGAN STATE WEEKEND – THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
- This series could well be for the Big 10 regular season title, but more importantly, it will be the Huskers’ last chance until the Big 10 Tournament to make a statement for their RPI where they currently rank #3. UCLA is the last ranked, or even close to ranked, team on the schedule.
- A sweep would be LOVELY For Nebraska, however going 2-1 against a team next to them in the rankings would reflect well. 1-2 wouldn’t be deadly, but being swept at home? That could very possibly close the door on controlling their own destiny for super-regional hosting goals.
- UCLA hitting stats are other-worldly, but they have been cooled by quality pitching – and UCLA’s loss of two quality starters to the portal was not replaced. Suddenly, the script flipped with the Huskers staff as the one going 3-deep and the Bruins down to one quality arm (see this week’s TWIS Notes for details).
- Bats-wise, UCLA has the numbers, but the Huskers are no slouches hitting .326 against much tougher competition overall.
- Health-wise, the Huskers have had multiple players dinged up in the first half, but are pretty close to full-strength. If Carlie Muhlbach is a full-go, they are basically back at opening-day strength.
- I believe Nebraska’s pitching advantage is greater than UCLA’s and the winds blowing out Saturday and Sunday could be an equalizer in the power department – UCLA has the advantage there already and it’s not like hitting home runs farther counts for more. I calling it Huskers win 2-of-3.
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HUSKER GAME INFO
Schedule: (All times CST)
March 27 – #7 UCLA 8 p.m.
March 28 – #7 UCLA 2 p.m.
March 29 – #7 UCLA 12 p.m.
Location: Bowlin Stadium, Lincoln, NE
Surface: Traditional Dirt “Skinned” Infield, Kentucky Bluegrass outfield
TV/Streaming: Friday’s game will be broadcast on FS1 (and is probably the reason for the late start). Saturday’s will stream on B1G+. Sunday’s is scheduled to broadcast on Nebraska Public Media (Channels 12/26 even on DirectTV (12))
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 for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Weather: Friday night’s game will be cold and mostly clear with temps beginning around 45 and dropping to the mid-30’s by game’s end; winds from earlier in the day will die off with a north breeze at 3-7mph. Saturday will be warmer and partly cloudy but very windy with temps around 60 and south winds of 20-30mph gusting to over 40. Sunday will clear, sunny and warmer with temps of 65-70; it will again be windy but much lighter than Saturday blowing from the south at 10-20mph.
THE OPPONENT
#7 UCLA (28-3, 9-0 Big Ten)
UCLA is tabbed No. 7 in this week’s NFCA Coaches Poll after a series sweep of Rutgers last weekend. The Bruins are 28-3 on the season and undefeated in Big Ten play. NU and UCLA share common opponents in Oklahoma State, Tennessee, LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Seattle and Michigan State. The Bruins are 7-2 against those teams, while the Huskers are 8-2. Last season, UCLA went to the Women’s College World Series.
As a team, UCLA boasts one of the most prolific offenses in the country. The Bruins rank in the top five in batting average (2nd), hits (4th), home runs (2nd), on-base percentage (2nd), RBIs (2nd), scoring (2nd), slugging percentage (2nd) and runs (2nd).
Head Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez is in her 20th season both in her career and with the Bruins. She is 901-225-1 and is the all-time winningest coach in UCLA softball history.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery each bat above .500 for UCLA. Grant has 39 hits and 54 RBIs on a nation-leading 23 home runs. She owns an OPS of 2.320. Woolery is 49-of-93 with 19 homers and 10 doubles and a team-high 68 RBIs. Kaniya Bragg hits .455 with 10 homers and five doubles, along with 36 RBIs.
Taylor Tinsley has taken on a majority of the pitching innings for UCLA, as she has tossed 87.0 innings and has a 15-2 record with an ERA of 2.82. She has struck out 79, walked 36 and allowed 35 earned runs.
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HUSKERS LINEUPS (Best Guess)
P/1B #98 JORDY FRAHM
3B #29 SAMANTHA BLAND
LF #9 HANNAH CAMENZIND
C #25 JESSE FARRELL
P/DP #99 ALEXIS JENSEN
SS #7 AVA KUSZAK
CF #23 HANNAH COOR
RF #14 KACIE HOFFMANN
1B #3 BELLA BACON (When Jordy pitches)
2B #2 LAURA CAMENZIND
STARTERS:
G1: JORDY FRAHM
G2: ALEXIS JENSEN
G3: JORDY FRAHM
Don’t look for too many changes to the batting order after the Huskers racked up close to 40 hits in East Lansing. Alexis Jensen, now leading the team in batting average, will be DP’ing when not in the circle. Jesse Farrell hit .455 for the weekend with a couple homers – safe to say there are no lingering effects from her concussion. She, Coor and Hoffman were a combined 18-for-31.
Pitching-wise, Revelle has been excellent at not overworking Frahm or Jensen, but this weekend is not a time to spread the innings. Look for plenty of their two hammers with Camenzind chipping in if needed. With the winds blowing out hard Saturday and still pretty brisk on Sunday, throwing ground balls will be key against UCLA. But, that being said, if they have to go deeper in the staff than Hannah, things probably aren’t going well.
HUSKERS Season Stats
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Big 10 Softball Standings
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