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Welcome to This Week In Softball
Another weekend of softball passed and with it, another Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award was subsequently FedExed westward to Lincoln, NE, this time with Nebraska’s Jordy Frahm inscribed on the nameplate, the 3rd Cornhusker so far in 2026.
Frahm made two appearances in the circle in NU’s sweep of Michigan State last weekend. She began on Friday with a complete game 2-hit shutout of the Spartans, striking out 12 against only 2 walks in the 2-0 victory. On Sunday, she came in and tossed 3 scoreless innings to grab the save, her 7th of 2026 which just happened to tie the school single-season saves record which she now currently holds with Coach Rhonda Revelle who set standard in 1983.
For the weekend, Frahm struck out 15 batters and walked only two across 10 innings and allowed four hits and no runs for an ERA of a perfect 0.00 and a WHIP of .600. She also added a home run, her 10th of the season and 3 RBI’s at the plate.
In becoming the third Husker this season to snag the honor, Frahm joins teammates Hannah Camenzind and Alexis Jensen as recipients. They become the first three Husker teammates in team history to earn any conference Pitcher of the Week in the same season.
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#7 UCLA Comes to Town
The 7th ranked Bruins come to Lincoln and the second half of a probably-not-loved road trip which saw them first head to New Jersey to play Rutgers, then take flight to Lincoln, NE, for a 3-game set against the Huskers.
8 of UCLA’s 31 games have been against ranked teams (compared to 14 for the Huskers), against whom they are 5-3, and 3 come against top 10 teams where they are 1-2, but took the lone victory against Florida, who just took 2 of 3 against Tennessee. The Huskers are 2-2 against the top 10 with 3 of those games coming against teams who were or are ranked #1 and were 2-1 in those games.
UCLA’s 2025 rotation lost two of their three starters to the portal, Katelyn Terry and Addison Fisher, and it shows with their ERA ballooning to 4.50 without that pair. However, they still have Taylor Tinsley who defeated the Huskers in 2025.
Their strategy has been bludgeoning the opposition pitching with their bats. They are hitting .410 as a team with a .522 OB%. They are led by two seniors – Megan Grant (.557 BA .720 OB% 23 HR’s 54 RBI’s and a staggering 2.320 OPS) and Jordan Woolery (.527 .623 19 68 1.892).
Before those numbers set too much fear in you, please remember UCLA’s pitching stats – 4.50 ERA as mentioned, 1.640 WHIP and only 144 K’s and 87 BB’s. The Huskers will combat the Bruins’ hammers with a 1.98 ERA, 1.106 WHIP and 252 K’s vs 47 BB’s. While UCLA has put double-digit scores on ranked squads, they have been stymied by good pitching – Okie St. beat them 4-3 and they were shut out by Tennessee. Expect a big dose of Frahm and Jensen and some exciting games.
I’m going to pick 2 of 3 wins for the Huskers with their pitching depth.
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Other Notes and Storylines
- I’m not sure how travel has affected the west coast Big 10 schools but if it’s anything like football, this could end up being an advantage for the Big Red. Back from New Jersey very late on Sunday. Would they fly out Wednesday to have a day to adjust or drop in Thursday, maybe because of the late start Friday?
- And what about an 8pm start Friday night? This appears to be a concession to be televised on FS1 and softball has to take the exposure it can get in the regular season, but dang. However, a late beddy-bye and then getting up for an early afternoon game Saturday probably plays to Nebraska for reasons just mentioned.
- The Huskers maintained their #8 and #9 rankings with On3/ Softball America and USA Today/NFCA respectively. They lost a spot in both ESPN/USA Softball and D1 Softball (#6 & #7), but don’t read anything sinister into that. Florida took the 2 of 3 from Tennessee and jumped up several spots. They were already ahead of the Huskers in two polls and jumped them in the other two.
- The Huskers remain #3 in RPI which is the most important ranking when it comes to national seeds for the NCAA tourney.
- Several players have DP’d in the lineup this season as Revelle has gone with their match-up or the hot bat. Right now that bat is Alexis Jensen. This past weekend, she was 6-for-9 with a double, a homer and 3 RBI’s. Throw in a walk and her on-base was .700. She will join Frahm as always hitting when she doesn’t pitch for the foreseeable future, as she is now hitting .438 nudging ahead of Jordy for the team lead in batting average.
- This series is crucial when it comes to maintaining that RPI ranking. There appear to be no true threats left on the schedule before the B1G tournament. Wisconsin and Penn St remain interesting as they have both won 20, but both were easily dispatched by UCLA and are not off to great conference starts.
- Don’t let the 2-0 and 4-1 scores last weekend Alexis scare you off the Husker bats. They belted 39 hits in three games against the Spartans and had 6 line drive outs in the final innings for Sunday’s game.
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