It's hard to imagine Saturday's game going worse for Nebraska softball. It's not just that the Huskers lost the contest to Alabama, it's that the loss was full of lost opportunities and the Huskers shooting themselves in the foot. Now, Rhonda Revelle will have to find a way for her squad to shake off an ugly loss and avoid elimination on Sunday.
The Saturday afternoon nightmare started with NU seeing a rare rough outing from its all-world captain, Jordy Frahm. Perhaps not fully recovered from her 130+ pitch extra-inning outing on Thursday, Frahm struggled with control. In two innings, she allowed three hits, a three-run bomb, walked one, and hit one.
Frahm also made a costly error in the bottom of the third inning. She gathered a bunt and overthrew Lauren Camenzind, who was covering first. Ana Roman reached on the throwing error and moved to second. First baseman Brooke Wells‘ (walked) pinch runner, Kinley Pate, moved to second and third on the error. She scored after a Giles sacrifice fly to left to make it 4-0.
Alexis Jensen came into the game in the third, but by then Alabama had done its damage. The Huskers did get one homer as Hannah Camenzind jacked a solo blast to center field to get NU on the board, 4-1, in the top of the fourth.
Jordy Frahm and Nebraska softball need a fast WCWS reset after Alabama loss
Unfortunately for any chance of gaining some momentum in the bottom of the inning, a throwing error by Ava Kuszak helped center fielder Kristen White reach and then advance to second in the bottom of the fourth. Second baseman Jena Young brought her home with a single to center field to take the decisive 5-1 advantage.
Making matters worse, Alabama did allow for an opening. Alabama’s defense committed its first error in the top of the fifth. Catcher Jesse Farrell‘s fly ball to left field was dropped, and she advanced to second. She eventually moved to third but was stranded there. In the next inning, Hannah Coor's fly ball to center was dropped, but with two outs and Coor on second, Hannah Camenzind struck out looking.
Nebraska has less than 24 hours to learn from its loss to Alabama and recover physically and emotionally to face Texas in what is now an elimination game.
“We have 18 hours until the next game, so we can’t spend a lot of time on this game,” Revelle told the assembled Nebraska media after the game. “We can debrief about things that we want to do better, and that can maybe address some things in this game. So we spent some time doing that, but we’ve got to be able to turn the page, get some rest, and come out with a fighting spirit tomorrow because Texas is really tough. We’re just down to that place in the season where everybody is so good. You can’t give them anything extra, and we gave a lot of extras today.”
The Huskers and Longhorns split a series earlier in the season, with Texas knocking off the Cornhuskers 15-10 in this year's team of destiny's second game. The Big Red came back in the second game of that series and took down the 2025 defending national champions 8-5.
On Sunday afternoon, Nebraska needs to show the Will Compton Curse that might have been laid on them after Thursday night's thriller is nothing more than silly talk. At 2 p.m., they can pull themselves out of the dirt, brush themselves off, and secure a massive win for the program, keeping its national title dreams alive.
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