Is this team WCWS ready?
Let’s take the big one first – and the answer is yes. In 2025, they won the Baton Rouge regional and came within a run of upsetting Tennessee to claim a spot in Oklahoma City last season. They begin 2026 where they finished 2025 – ranked 9th. More detail below, but they’ve improved the roster. The Pac-12 additions benefitted Big 10 softball as much as any sport with Oregon and UCLA making the WCWS, and Washington being ranked 22nd to start ‘26. (Souther Cal weirdly doesn’t
field a team.)
Nebraska is positioned to become the only true cold weather team is the 2026 field.
So how was the roster improved over the off-season?
1) The lone everyday starter lost to graduation was Ava Bredwell. More important than her dangerous but streaky bat was her cannon arm which neutralized teams that relied on speed to defeat Huskers power – see their back-to-back wins over hyper-speedy Southeastern Louisiana in the NCAA regionals. To replace her, Revelle brought in UNLV’s Jesse Farrell who batted .338 with 19 HR’s in two seasons with the Rebels.
And also threw out the only two runners who attempted to steal in the first intra-squad game I attended this fall.
2) Hannah Coor transferred in from Oklahoma and appears poised to take over center field, the position which was usually DP’d with Jordy Bahl hitting every game. In three years with the Sooners, she served in a reserve role, but Revelle sees something there and after last years portal picks (Kuszak, Hoffman, DiNardo, the Caminzinds), I wouldn’t doubt her.
3) At #3 here, but poised to be the #1 newcomer, Gretna’s Alexis Jensen will step into the #2 spot in what was the biggest hole in the roster last season. Need evidence? Check the Huskers 2025 post-season starters:
Big 10 Tourney – Bahl, Bahl
NCAA Regional – Bahl, Bahl, Bahl
NCAA Super Regional- Bahl, Bahl, Bahl
Revelle has compared Jensen to Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens and Texas’ Teagen Kavan as far as being A-level ready at the D1 level as true freshman. At Gretna, she set program records in batting average (.445), career wins (83), strikeouts (959) and ERA (1.30) and was a national high school All-American. If she can approach the hype, it will add multiple wins to the 2025 total.
Speaking of that, what will the opening weekend rotation look like?
Here’s what I said yesterday:
G1: JORDY FRAHM – Washington
G2: ALEXIS JENSEN – Texas
G3: JORDY FRAHM – Texas
G4: ALEXIS JENSEN/KYLIE MAGEE – UTSA
G5: JORDY FRAHM – Washington
My reasoning? If it was me, I’d want to roll Jordy out there first for a win. I’m assuming Rhonda will give both Frahm and Bahl a shot against Texas and not pitch Bahl in a late game followed by an early game the next day against the Longhorns. Go ahead and rip the band-aid off with Jensen, and if she gets knocked around a little, she can come back against UTSA for a confidence-builder.
I listed Magee as a possibility against the Roadrunners since Revelle seems determined that she can fix her control problems which have been steadily there for 3 years before and after her ‘24 wrist injury, and a win against UTSA could be a confidence booster for her.
But don’t be surprised if Rhonda flips all that. She knows just a little more about the game than I do and could factor in a thing or two I haven’t considered.
Speaking of Rhonda, how badly does she want an NCAA Super Regional series in Bowlin Stadium?
Feels like a good time to break out my favorite Revelle quote which she offered in the post-game press conference following the Game 3 Super Regional loss to Tennessee:
“Let it burn as bad as it can. Watch them (Tennessee) celebrate, watch them hold their (WCWS) ticket, watch them put those hats on and watch them in the World Series. Because I feel like that is how you are able to gain the most out of being on the other end of that. And so with as many returners as we have, that’s what we’re doing. Yeah, we had a great year, but … we know we didn’t meet our potential, and we’re going to be hungry for next year.”
The Tennessee crowd was packed and loud for all three contests. I tend to show up an hour or hour and a 1/2 early for games to get settled in the press and wander a little. There’s usually good parking and not much of a crowd. I did that in Knoxville and found myself having to walk a 1/2 mile or so to the stadium as their fans were already parked in force and tailgating their hearts out. There were even several RV’s who were anchored in and living there for the duration.
When Rhonda talks about the potential of hosting that atmosphere in Lincoln, you can see it in her eyes – she doesn’t just want it. She WANTS it.
Will Jordy improve on 2025’s numbers?
Something to think about. 26-8 1.56 ERA 286 K’s in 206 innings. After never hitting full-time at Oklahoma, .462 BA 23 HR’s 66 RBI’s an insane 1.543 OPS. First player in NCAA D1 history with 20 wins and 20 HR’s.
And this was her first season coming off of torn ACL replacement surgery. Could she level up in 2026, even with a tougher schedule?
Speaking of the 2026 non-conference schedule…
In order to give themselves the best chance for a high ranking which would insure a Super Regional in Lincoln should they win their regional, Revelle ditched weaker non-conference invitationals, such as New Mexico, and opted only for those with the stiffest competition including Texas, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, Washington and UCF as well as a road series against Top 25 Oklahoma State.
Let’s say things go a little on the downside of expectations and the Huskers begin conference play with a record of 13-11 or so and a corresponding drop in the rankings. Will fan enthusiasm wane?
Not to add pressure, but there’s another reason a good start may be crucial.
The Big 10 is a much stronger softball conference now. However, the Huskers will be dodging many of the top teams in their 2026 B1G slate. They play top 10 UCLA and always tough Michigan but will miss many of the toughest teams from 2025 – top 10 Oregon and preseason #22 Washington as well as Northwestern and Ohio State.
Teams may end up being improved over the course of the season, but right now there’s not a lot of RPI help once conference play starts.
Finally, a couple of things to watch line-up-wise. First – which position will likely sit out of the batting line-up for a DP when Jordy pitches?
We know it won’t be her.
Last year, it was center field, but if we’re listening to Revelle, Coor will be out there and she’ll be hitting. The obvious candidate would appear to be second baseman Lauren Caminzind who is the only returning starter who hit under .300 (.276) last season and appeared overmatched against stronger pitching. But…
Let’s talk about second base for a moment, shall we?
Okay, this is not an attack on Lauren, who flashed a fantastic glove in an infield whose defense was underrated after slow start in ‘25. But will there be a battle for the position? Caminzind took over last season for 2-year starter and 2023 All Big 10 selection Katelyn Caneda. The competition never really got out of the blocks as Caneda suffered an early injury and then had more medical bad luck quickly on her return.
However, she is fully healthy now and looked good in fall ball games. Has either already won the job for now as season play opens or is this an ongoing wait and watch story in which both will be seeing playing time?
With the four different polling organizations comes multiple player watch lists. And you bet there’s a few Huskers listed.
Jordy Frahm is the consensus #2 player to watch in the country with shortstop Ava Kuszak also appearing in the upper fourth of Top 100 Watch Lists. The above-mentioned Jensen not surprisingly appears on all Top 50 Freshman lists. Don’t be surprised if a couple others play their way into that Top 100 crowd.
