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Jordy Frahm planted herself on the warning track, the back of her Nebraska jersey almost touching the vinyl replica of her No. 98 adhered to the outfield wall.
That’s where the softball standout formerly known as Jordy Bahl stayed for, well, who knows? She never keeps track of time when she’s signing autographs. Not when the fans are young, and especially not when they’re kids from Nebraska.
“Make a line,” she told the masses a few weeks ago, “and I’ll sign an autograph for everyone.”
Sure, it was senior day, and she had more family and friends than normal at the ballpark. Yes, she had thrown a complete game that afternoon, too. But none of that mattered — she was focused only on the dozens (hundreds?) of faces that stretched nearly back to the infield.
Rhonda Revelle has watched a similar scene play out every time Frahm played a game in a Husker uniform, and the Nebraska coach isn’t sure the weight of those moments can truly be measured.
More: NCAA softball bracketology: Final predictions for 64-team bracket on Selection Sunday
“A lot of little girls grow up wanting to play for their home-state school,” said Revelle, whose current roster has lots of Nebraskans doing just that.
Eleven of the Huskers are home-grown products.
But none is more successful, more known, more loved than Frahm.
“When you see them really succeeding at a high level, it hits them differently,” Revelle said of the young fans dreaming big. “I think she might tell you that’s what she’s enjoyed most.”
It’s been almost three years since Frahm announced she was leaving Oklahoma after pitching the Sooners to back-to-back national titles and returning to her home state of Nebraska to play for the Huskers. Shock mixed with understanding. Going home made sense, but leaving the juggernaut Sooners?
But now, as the NCAA Tournament gets underway — the bracket will be announced at 6 p.m. Sunday — she and the second-ranked Huskers stand as one of the top-ranked Sooners’ biggest threats.
Frahm may well end her college career back where it began. Nebraska seems likely, after all, to make the Women’s College World Series, returning for the first time since 2013 and trying to win a WCWS game for the first time since 2002.
With Frahm, though, anything seems possible.
But if there’s one person not thinking about Frahm returning to OKC, it’s Frahm. She has tried to be as present as possible this season. She knew as a senior, it would be easy to look ahead.
“Just enjoy every day,” she told The Oklahoman of her mentality. “A big part of that is just trying to take everything one step at a time and be in the moment that we are in.”
Make no mistake, Frahm has always wanted to win a national title at Nebraska. She is driven and competitive and determined — you’ve seen her stalk around the pitcher’s circle like a caged lion, right? — so, of course she wants to finish her career with a Devon Park dogpile.
But in many ways, her time at Nebraska has already been a rip-roaring success.
More: Megan Grant, Kendall Wells bring NCAA softball home run race on Road to WCWS
Rhonda Revelle wants softball to be the next volleyball in Nebraska.
Seems like a big dream.
Volleyball in the Cornhusker State, after all, is like softball in the Sooner State. Second only to football. Beloved by millions.
But Revelle, in her 34th year as the softball head coach at her alma mater, knows that volleyball hasn’t always been a sport that draws sellout crowds for every home Husker match and fills Memorial Stadium to set a world record.
No, Revelle knows that it started with Terry Pettit, the longtime Nebraska volleyball coach, who went all over the state doing camps and clinics for decades. He spread the volleyball gospel. He “kept just planting seeds,” Revelle said.
“And then the seeds took off,” she said.
Allison Weston was the first big yield. She was an in-state product from Papillion, and she was a superstar, leading the Huskers to their first national championship in 1995, then becoming an Olympian in 2000. She was an ideal for little girls in Nebraska, an in-the-flesh example of what was possible.
Ever since, the Huskers have had rosters dotted with Nebraskans and arenas filled with even more of them.
Revelle sees the early signs of something similar happening with softball. In addition to the 11 Nebraskans on her current roster, the Huskers’ average home attendance of 2,611 this season ranked fourth nationally. Only OU, Alabama and Arkansas averaged more home fans.
What’s more, Nebraska’s average attendance was actually higher than its capacity of 2,500.
The fervor is noticeable, and Revelle says Frahm has lots to do with that.
“She wouldn’t take the credit for that,” the coach said. “She’d give it all to all of the girls, but she’s really impacted that.”
More: Oklahoma State softball 'not nervous' about NCAA hosting bid after Big 12 semifinal loss
Jordy Frahm is unapologetically proud of her home state. She has an outline of it tattooed on the inside of the bicep on her mighty right arm. She posts pictures of it on her social media. This past summer, she even married a fellow Nebraskan and former Cornhusker baseball player, Trey Frahm.
But the thing Frahm does best for her home state is going onto the softball field, wearing NEBRASKA across her chest and dominating.
This season, she is 16-4 with a 1.26 ERA, which ranks fifth nationally. She’s struck out 184 batters while only walking 22. But when she isn’t pitching, she often plays first and bats leadoff for the Huskers. She finished the regular season leading the team in batting average (.429), home runs (19) and runs batted in (49).
And remember, she is only a couple of years removed from tearing her ACL. The knee injury happened in her first game as a Husker and cost her the entirety of the 2024 season.
Frahm plays like she never missed a beat.
But ask her about any of that — her development, her leadership, her role — and she is remiss to talk about herself. She is quick to shift the focus to the team.
“God has totally pieced this together,” she said. “There’s just so many girls here on this team that we have histories of playing together before college, in college. Like, I’m playing with my roommate from my freshman year.”
Frahm was referring to Hannah Coor, a former Sooner who transferred to Nebraska after last season.
“We get to finish together now,” Frahm said. “How special is that?”
She chuckled.
“There’s just so many stories with girls throughout the entire team who were together at one point, life took us separate directions and now we’re back. To see it piece together like that, it truly is so special.”
While the Huskers wouldn’t be one of the top-rated teams in the country without talent up and down the roster, having a superstar who sets the tone is no small thing.
Coor did an interview earlier this season where the California native talked about how much she loves Nebraska.
“Because all the players on the team from Nebraska love Nebraska so much,” Revelle remembers Coor saying. “You can just feel it. You want to be a part of it.”
No Husker loves Nebraska more than Frahm.
More: NCAA softball automatic bids live tracker: Who won 2026 conference tournaments?
Jordy Frahm is in her final days as a Husker.
Even if Nebraska makes the WCWS and goes as far as possible, she still has less than a month remaining as part of Team Big Red. She has spent the entire season trying to enjoy each day, savor each moment, and she intends to keep doing that for as long as possible.
“Just truly being in one pitch at a time and keeping things simple no matter what situation the game is in,” she said, “whatever pitch I’m throwing, try to have one or two thoughts for that pitch and have that be consistent and simple and keep it easy.”
Revelle gets emotional when she thinks about how Frahm has grown.
Not as a player; she’s always been great.
Not even as a competitor; she’s always gone hard.
“But her finding the joy in the game in lots of different ways,” Revelle said. “To be able to be as competitive as she is but also be able to just sit back and take in a moment … I think it’s the growth of being able to take it all in and really take in the moments.”
Earlier this season, Revelle looked around the dugout after a game and realized Frahm was just sitting there. She was watching. She was listening. All the while, she had a look on her face that was easy to read.
Jordy Frahm was grateful.
Nebraska softball looks at her and feels the same way.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at [email protected]. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Nebraska softball dreaming of WCWS title on Jordy Frahm's last ride
Continue reading...
That’s where the softball standout formerly known as Jordy Bahl stayed for, well, who knows? She never keeps track of time when she’s signing autographs. Not when the fans are young, and especially not when they’re kids from Nebraska.
“Make a line,” she told the masses a few weeks ago, “and I’ll sign an autograph for everyone.”
Sure, it was senior day, and she had more family and friends than normal at the ballpark. Yes, she had thrown a complete game that afternoon, too. But none of that mattered — she was focused only on the dozens (hundreds?) of faces that stretched nearly back to the infield.
Rhonda Revelle has watched a similar scene play out every time Frahm played a game in a Husker uniform, and the Nebraska coach isn’t sure the weight of those moments can truly be measured.
More: NCAA softball bracketology: Final predictions for 64-team bracket on Selection Sunday
“A lot of little girls grow up wanting to play for their home-state school,” said Revelle, whose current roster has lots of Nebraskans doing just that.
Eleven of the Huskers are home-grown products.
But none is more successful, more known, more loved than Frahm.
“When you see them really succeeding at a high level, it hits them differently,” Revelle said of the young fans dreaming big. “I think she might tell you that’s what she’s enjoyed most.”
It’s been almost three years since Frahm announced she was leaving Oklahoma after pitching the Sooners to back-to-back national titles and returning to her home state of Nebraska to play for the Huskers. Shock mixed with understanding. Going home made sense, but leaving the juggernaut Sooners?
But now, as the NCAA Tournament gets underway — the bracket will be announced at 6 p.m. Sunday — she and the second-ranked Huskers stand as one of the top-ranked Sooners’ biggest threats.
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Frahm may well end her college career back where it began. Nebraska seems likely, after all, to make the Women’s College World Series, returning for the first time since 2013 and trying to win a WCWS game for the first time since 2002.
With Frahm, though, anything seems possible.
But if there’s one person not thinking about Frahm returning to OKC, it’s Frahm. She has tried to be as present as possible this season. She knew as a senior, it would be easy to look ahead.
“Just enjoy every day,” she told The Oklahoman of her mentality. “A big part of that is just trying to take everything one step at a time and be in the moment that we are in.”
Make no mistake, Frahm has always wanted to win a national title at Nebraska. She is driven and competitive and determined — you’ve seen her stalk around the pitcher’s circle like a caged lion, right? — so, of course she wants to finish her career with a Devon Park dogpile.
But in many ways, her time at Nebraska has already been a rip-roaring success.
More: Megan Grant, Kendall Wells bring NCAA softball home run race on Road to WCWS
You must be registered for see images attach
'Just planting seeds'
Rhonda Revelle wants softball to be the next volleyball in Nebraska.
Seems like a big dream.
Volleyball in the Cornhusker State, after all, is like softball in the Sooner State. Second only to football. Beloved by millions.
But Revelle, in her 34th year as the softball head coach at her alma mater, knows that volleyball hasn’t always been a sport that draws sellout crowds for every home Husker match and fills Memorial Stadium to set a world record.
No, Revelle knows that it started with Terry Pettit, the longtime Nebraska volleyball coach, who went all over the state doing camps and clinics for decades. He spread the volleyball gospel. He “kept just planting seeds,” Revelle said.
“And then the seeds took off,” she said.
Allison Weston was the first big yield. She was an in-state product from Papillion, and she was a superstar, leading the Huskers to their first national championship in 1995, then becoming an Olympian in 2000. She was an ideal for little girls in Nebraska, an in-the-flesh example of what was possible.
Ever since, the Huskers have had rosters dotted with Nebraskans and arenas filled with even more of them.
Revelle sees the early signs of something similar happening with softball. In addition to the 11 Nebraskans on her current roster, the Huskers’ average home attendance of 2,611 this season ranked fourth nationally. Only OU, Alabama and Arkansas averaged more home fans.
What’s more, Nebraska’s average attendance was actually higher than its capacity of 2,500.
The fervor is noticeable, and Revelle says Frahm has lots to do with that.
“She wouldn’t take the credit for that,” the coach said. “She’d give it all to all of the girls, but she’s really impacted that.”
More: Oklahoma State softball 'not nervous' about NCAA hosting bid after Big 12 semifinal loss
'It truly is so special'
Jordy Frahm is unapologetically proud of her home state. She has an outline of it tattooed on the inside of the bicep on her mighty right arm. She posts pictures of it on her social media. This past summer, she even married a fellow Nebraskan and former Cornhusker baseball player, Trey Frahm.
But the thing Frahm does best for her home state is going onto the softball field, wearing NEBRASKA across her chest and dominating.
This season, she is 16-4 with a 1.26 ERA, which ranks fifth nationally. She’s struck out 184 batters while only walking 22. But when she isn’t pitching, she often plays first and bats leadoff for the Huskers. She finished the regular season leading the team in batting average (.429), home runs (19) and runs batted in (49).
And remember, she is only a couple of years removed from tearing her ACL. The knee injury happened in her first game as a Husker and cost her the entirety of the 2024 season.
Frahm plays like she never missed a beat.
But ask her about any of that — her development, her leadership, her role — and she is remiss to talk about herself. She is quick to shift the focus to the team.
You must be registered for see images
“God has totally pieced this together,” she said. “There’s just so many girls here on this team that we have histories of playing together before college, in college. Like, I’m playing with my roommate from my freshman year.”
Frahm was referring to Hannah Coor, a former Sooner who transferred to Nebraska after last season.
“We get to finish together now,” Frahm said. “How special is that?”
She chuckled.
“There’s just so many stories with girls throughout the entire team who were together at one point, life took us separate directions and now we’re back. To see it piece together like that, it truly is so special.”
While the Huskers wouldn’t be one of the top-rated teams in the country without talent up and down the roster, having a superstar who sets the tone is no small thing.
Coor did an interview earlier this season where the California native talked about how much she loves Nebraska.
“Because all the players on the team from Nebraska love Nebraska so much,” Revelle remembers Coor saying. “You can just feel it. You want to be a part of it.”
No Husker loves Nebraska more than Frahm.
More: NCAA softball automatic bids live tracker: Who won 2026 conference tournaments?
You must be registered for see images
'Finding the joy in the game'
Jordy Frahm is in her final days as a Husker.
Even if Nebraska makes the WCWS and goes as far as possible, she still has less than a month remaining as part of Team Big Red. She has spent the entire season trying to enjoy each day, savor each moment, and she intends to keep doing that for as long as possible.
“Just truly being in one pitch at a time and keeping things simple no matter what situation the game is in,” she said, “whatever pitch I’m throwing, try to have one or two thoughts for that pitch and have that be consistent and simple and keep it easy.”
Revelle gets emotional when she thinks about how Frahm has grown.
Not as a player; she’s always been great.
Not even as a competitor; she’s always gone hard.
“But her finding the joy in the game in lots of different ways,” Revelle said. “To be able to be as competitive as she is but also be able to just sit back and take in a moment … I think it’s the growth of being able to take it all in and really take in the moments.”
Earlier this season, Revelle looked around the dugout after a game and realized Frahm was just sitting there. She was watching. She was listening. All the while, she had a look on her face that was easy to read.
Jordy Frahm was grateful.
Nebraska softball looks at her and feels the same way.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at [email protected]. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Nebraska softball dreaming of WCWS title on Jordy Frahm's last ride
Continue reading...
