Following the upset of the Longhorns, the Huskers appeared to be not quite as invested in the UTSA. But they escaped.
Most sports fans have heard about the championship/big game/big win “hangover”. But after upsetting #1 Texas, barely a half hour had passed – not near enough time to birth a respectable hangover, be it real or figurative.
However – and I base this on nothing more than Washington’s 17-0 sandblasting of the Roadrunners yesterday – I was expecting an easier time this evening, and maybe I wasn’t the only one.
Coach Rhonda Revelle may have been thinking the same thing to an extent as she threw three reserves into the starting lineup and Kylee Magee in the circle against the weaker Texas-San Antonio squad. The game kicked off much as expected, which was an opening salvo to an easy run-rule victory over their outmatched opponents.
Jordy was plunked and took 2nd on a passed ball. The Hannahs then proceeded to knock in a couple of runs. First it was Coor knocking in Jordy and advancing to 2nd on the throw home. Shortly after, it was Camenzind knocking in Coor for another run. In the 2nd, Jordy smacked her second homer of the day and the Huskers were cruising 3-0.
But in the 3rd, Magee began to struggle with control again allowing the Roadrunners their first score of the weekend after a hit and a couple of walks. Her biggest issues – control and allowing too many baserunners – rose to the surface again, and Revelle decided to go with Hannah Cam on the flat hill.
However, that single run ignited a UTSA crowd who were elated to find themselves in a close game with the #9 Huskers with the game half-over after the Huskers failed to score in the 3rd or the 4th innings. At that point, the Roadrunners began to realize they might actually finish one of their three games this weekend and they made themselves heard with every pitch.
If the Huskers had an MVP who stayed dialed in while the Huskers were in the midst of this nuttiness, it was easily Hannah Camenzind. In relief of Magee, she got the final out of the 3rd inning and then cruised methodically through the next 2 as well giving up no runs. In addition to her 1st inning RBI, she ripped a 2-run homer the opposite way in the 5th. This settled things by extending the Husker lead to 5-1.
At this point, Revelle decided to get Alexis Jensen in for a little more work and damned if it wasn’t more of the same we saw in her first two starts. Two innings, 5 hits, but still no walks and 5 strikeouts. To this point in the young season, she has 21 K’s and 0 BB’s in 10 innings, but she had better start learning to work the corners and give up the occasional walk.
Why, you ask?
Because she has also given up 19 hits, 5 of them home runs, in those same 10 innings. It is very early in this season as well as her career and she does have filthy stuff, especially her change-up, so there’s no need for panic. But this is D1 softball where you better not expect to overpower too many folks down the middle of the plate where too many of her pitches are tracking right now.
Of the reserves who got a start, redshirt freshman Carlie Muhlbach looked very much at home. She played well defensively blocking balls in the dirt and calmly laying a tag on a Roadrunner who tried to sneak home in the 7th after a dropped strike three and a throw to first. Frahm took the throw, fired back to Muhlbach who slapped the tag on and ended the last UTSA threat. Prior to that, in the 6th inning, she gave the Huskers some breathing room with her first hit as a Husker, a solo blast well over the left field fence.
At the end, the Huskers have another win, their third, and they will go for their fourth when they play a rematch with Washington at 10am Sunday before making their way back to winter in Lincoln. If they can do it with a 4-1 record under their belts, we’ll have to box check this weekend a success.
Category: General Sports
