The second game wasn’t as exciting and –
Whoops, hold the presses, the score is now 5-3, there’s two runners aboard and here comes the go-ahead run to the plate. Alexis Jensen who had pitched a pretty spotless 6 innings had entered the 7th with the Huskers up 5-1, but given up a pair of doubles to cut that lead to 5-2, and Coach Rhonda Revelle, likely possessed by a strong desire not to let one get away, late went to the pen to bring in Jordy Frahm and put an end to this uprising.
A rare Samantha Bland error put runners on the corners. An RBI single then cut it to 5-3 and brought us to the situation described above. Last week, I had asked Coach Revelle about Jordy’s ability to turn it up a notch with the bags full and the score tightening or the potential last out of the game standing at the plate. She shrugged and told me I’d have to ask her about anything like that, but I felt she knew what I was talking about.
In this situation, she just did both while facing that potential go-ahead run. Three times.
First came a ground ball to Bland who scooped it up and tagged the runner on second out. Then a strikeout which brought up Rutgers .314 hitting home run leader Sam Rohwer to the plate. She battled back from 0-2 to even the count then swung and missed. Game over.
Frahm added an additional duty this season of protecting leads for Jensen, the Husker freshman sensation. And while still carrying the mantle of being one of the best starters in the nation, her abilities as a closer currently have her Nebraska single-season save record at 9 and counting after tacking on another today as the Huskers racked their record up to 29-6 and 10-1 in Big Ten play.
Before the unexpected excitement of the 7th inning, they appeared to be cruising to a relatively boring –
I’m just kidding. Yes the score was lower, but runs came a little harder as the 20-30mph winds began blowing directly in from left. And the Huskers put a few highlights together. Starting with Hannah Coor in the 2nd inning.
After the game, Coor said catches at the wall are something they work on in practice but admitted the wind gave things an added degree of difficulty.
That catch was in the 2nd inning, but the Huskers weren’t done. In the bottom of 3rd, Hannah Camenzind absolutely destroyed a 2-2 pitch and sent the ball WELL over the right field wall. How far?
As Hannah’s about to round 1st base, you can see the ball dropping from where it hit the netting protecting the Huskers logo just about square in the middle. (Also watch her as her stony expression bursts into a huge smile about halfway to third.) Afterward, when asked where it ranked in her hardest hits ever, she laughed and said, “Oh, it’s up there!”
Ava Kuszak was the next batter and she ran the count full before inflicting damage on the Alex Gordon Training Complex.
That back half of back-to-back shots ran the score to 3-0, but it only managed to bounce up and ding a garage door.
We were going for record tape-measure shots, today. C’mon, Ava Kuszak, do better.
(And, yes, I’m kidding.)
Jensen, with the win, raised her record to 15-2, and while all the runs were charged to her, she did strike out 9 while only walking one and surrendering only 4 hits. They drew 4 more walks in game 2, but Rutgers did cut down on the errors from the opener and were nice enough not to drill any Husker batters this time around.
In the 4th inning, Nebraska got the last of their 5 runs with a display of small ball that brought 2 home. I think I described it pretty well here.
The aggressive base running had the Scarlet Knights out of sorts and led to a pair of runs. As far as the Jensen shot back at Rutgers pitcher Kelsey Hoekstra, I made light of it, but it appeared to nail her right in sternum area and she went down for a bit. She pitched to the next batter then left the game. Sincere wishes that it is nothing too serious.
The final game in the series will be played tomorrow at Bowlin Stadium with the first pitch scheduled for Noon. The game will again be aired on B1G+ and broadcast on the Huskers Radio Network.
