The Nebraska Cornhuskers are an extremely balanced squad which would normally make it somewhat difficult to pick a single player as the key to moving through the first obstacle of the NCAA tournament.
The Huskers are very potent offensively as evidenced by their .337 team batting average. They’re not quite in the company of UCLA and Oklahoma power-wise, with 182 and 174 home runs respectively – and who quite frankly need to have their bats checked if you ask me – but they are in the top 15 nationally
in dingers with 89. They also play some small ball and have speed to burn with starters Jordy Frahm, Hannah Coor and Sammie Bland, and speedsters like Kennadi Williams, Katelyn Caneda and Nessa McMillen coming off the bench.
But it’s their pitching which has taken the this jet to rarified air in 2026. An A-list pitcher in softball is an advantage which can immediately move things next-level – arms like NiJaree Canady, Maya Johnson and Jocelyn Briski. Pitchers like this can probably best be only compared to a top goalie in hockey; one who can keep a low-scoring team in any contest. Check last year’s Knoxville Super Regional matchup between Frahm and Karlyn Pickens. The deciding game between two very potent offenses was decided by a 1-0 score after the two hurlers started all three games.
Frahm is obviously a key to how far the Huskers go. Without her and with potent offensive teams, they posted records of 36-22 in 2023 and 30-23 in 2024 (of which Frahm missed all but a few innings due to injury). They were eliminated from the Stillwater Regional in ‘23 and failed to make the NCAA Tourney in ‘24.
With Jordy aboard full-time in 2025, this jumped to 43-15 and a national seed of around #18 which was close to their final poll rankings. As stated above, they advanced to a super regional against Tennessee.
But the addition of freshman Alexis Jensen is why I am selecting the pair as the key to how far the Huskers go this season.
In 2025, a lack of a dependable second starter was Nebraska’s Achilles heel. Against quality, and sometimes less than quality opponents, if Frahm was removed from the game or in games which she did not start, the difference was obvious and they suffered losses when they should have won.
Jensen, while learning as a freshman as evidenced by her 21 HR’s surrendered, also brings that A-List stuff to the table. She has more than complemented Frahm’s numbers (18-4 1.24 ERA 152.2 IP 201 K’s 27 BB’s) with some pretty stellar stats of her own (22-2 2.58 ERA 135.2 IP 197 K’s 32 BB’s). Their respective WHIP’s of 0.891 and 1.047 keep the bases from being over-occupied and opposing batters only hit .193 and .213 against them.
As far as their how team has fared, the story must still play out fully, but the effects are already obvious:
- final poll positions of #1 and #2, with two of each from the four organizations.
- a 46-6 record against a much tougher schedule than the previous two seasons
- the Big 10 regular season and tournament championships
- a final RPI ranking of #3 with an SOS rated 11th toughest in the country.
- a #4 national seed for the NCAA tourney guaranteeing super regional hosting should they advance
- a reduced workload for Frahm as well as the school saves record (and current national lead) mostly accumulated by closing the door on Jensen’s starts
Jensen had a few shaky appearances late, so Coach Rhonda Revelle elected to take away some of the workload by having Emmerson Cope assume the DP duties. Jensen responded with possibly her best outing of the season, a complete game two-hit shutout in which she whiffed 12 while surrendering only a single walk. Jordy, with a day of rest in between not afforded her in the 2025 post-season, won the other two games including the final against UCLA. A fresher Frahm held the Bruins prolific offense to only 2 runs, while UCLA’s Taylor Tinsley was tagged by Nebraska for 7.
Tinsley was making her third consecutive start and while Nebraska piled on, UCLA never once even warmed up another member of their staff, who have an ERA of 6.23 without Tinsley’s numbers. Nebraska’s 2025 weakness is now UCLA’s, but much worse for the Bruins.
The Huskers batting average for the tourney was .284; not ugly, but still around 50 points below their season average. Frahm and Jensen combined for an 0.67 ERA and 0.810 WHIP never really made Husker fans sweat in the late innings of lower-scoring affairs.
And this is why Jensen is added to Frahm as the key and why the Huskers can go out and win games if the bats aren’t at full power. Add to it the fact that not only Frahm – whose accolades speak for themselves – but Jensen as well are both battle-tested against top-notch competition, and it becomes apparent why Nebraska is as well positioned as they are for a big post-season run.
If these two keep performing as they have, they will carry their team beyond simply making an appearance in Oklahoma City.
Others To Watch
Getting Hot at the Right Time – Sammie Bland had a rough start to her season playing through an illness opening weekend and going 0-15 at the plate. Take away Penn State weekend and she’s been hot for a few weeks now, especially last weekend in College Park where she hit .714 and had an on-base of .777 while scoring twice & stealing a couple bags. Her aggressiveness wreaks havoc on the bases and her arm and glove often make the difficult look easy at third. Pitchers get no relief after the top of the order when she’s cooking.
Underrated but WHY?? Hannah Camenzind was left off post-season All-Big 10 teams in some head-scratching voting by the coaches. She is currently hitting .387 with 23 extra-base hits and a team-leading 53 RBI’s. After an also team-leading five at the B1G tourney, they didn’t make the same mistake twice when picking the All-Tournament team.
Even When They Stop Her, They Don’t – Jordy Frahm slumped at the plate this weekend…or did she? She was 1-for-8 at the plate, but add in her 4 walks drawn and her on-base% was still .417. The fact she had only that single hit, and none on the day, didn’t stop UCLA from putting her on intentionally in the 3rd inning which flipped the momentum to Nebraska.
Prediction for the Regional – Frahm and Coor were a combined 2-18 at the top of the order last weekend which probably explains some of why the offense never really got on track until Saturday. A 180-degree bounce-back for those two spurring the team to one or two double-digit run totals wouldn’t be the worst wager one could make this weekend. In my humble opinion, of course.
