You can always come home.
And in the case of the Huskers and other northern softball teams, you have to after a usually 4-week or so southern and western swing of invitationals which level the playing field some for non-southern and western schools playing an outdoor diamond sport which begins in early February.
The last couple of years, I’ve gotten a bit of a feel for that myself having taken trips to Wichita and Stillwater, respectively, before returning home on the heels of the team bus for the first
Bowlin Stadium weekend in Lincoln the next weekend – and in early March, the weather is still a toss-up. And, yes, I’m very much looking forward to the view through the familiar press box windows.
As for the weather, it appears the softball gods will be smiling over the Hawks/Bowlin Complex for both the men and the women this weekend (see the full weather outlook below & plan your tailgates). Both Coach Rhonda Revelle and team captain Jordy Frahm seemed excited to finally have a home crowd behind them and be sleeping in their own beds after four straight weekends living out of hotels and the team bus.
So what can we expect?
- The addition of Alexis Jensen to the roster has turned their pitching staff from one which was thin behind Frahm in 2025 into one of the best in the country. The team ERA is 2.18 and Jensen’s is a respectable 3.00 after pitching all but one start against ranked teams including two #1’s.
- Through 44 1/3 innings, she has 78 strikeouts against only 5 walks. The issue is home runs – 10 total, but 5 in the 1st weekend. And, as Coach Revelle told us yesterday, that is improving week-by-week as she learns the occasional walk while working the corners more deep in the count is fine as opposed to letting pitches escape into the heart of the zone for a long ride.
- Sammie Bland will hopefully be able to begin taking game swings again full-time this weekend after injuring her shoulder making a diving grab of a popped-up bunt against UCF. She has been wearing a sling since and taking swings on a one day on/one day off schedule and was expected to be cleared by this weekend.
- She got a test drive against Tulsa Friday and SMOKED a liner over the the center field fence which was still going up as it left the yard. She didn’t bat again Saturday but Revelle assured us there was no additional injury and hopes she is good to go today.
- Add Hannah Camenzind to the list of reasons for improved staff depth. She has been taking #3 starter games against teams like Hawaii, Seattle and SDSU and responded with 3 wins, a no-hitter, 13 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings and Big 10 and SI on Softball Player of the Week awards. She is not overpowering but hits spots and throws ground balls – an irreplaceable trait in the windy plains.
- She currently leads the team with a 1.15 ERA.
- The Huskers will be hard-pressed to match last years .346 school-record batting average after playing one of the nation’s toughest non-conference schedules – or did anyone else play all three of the country’s #1 teams thus far and go 2-2 against them?
- As well as going 4-3 with a 1.72 ERA – and 5 saves! – Frahm is again pacing the hitters hitting .421 with 7 HR’s 19 RBI’s and a .548 OB%. Nice to be able to pencil that into the order.
- UNLV transfer Jesse Farrell has 6 HR’s of her own and has stilled any worries of Ava Bredwell’s arm being replaced. She has already pegged two runners who wandered too far off to beat her snap throw to first after the pitch.
- Hannah Cam is hitting .354 with 6 doubles and 2 HR’s in the #2 slot in the order as she continues to show solid power the opposite way from the left side of the plate. Her sister Lauren has become a clutch-hitting weapon at the plate in 2026 with a .321 average and a team 3rd-best 16 RBI’s.
Did You Know We Have a HUSKERS SOFTBALL Podcast?
That’s right – every Tuesday night at 8PM.
It’s called Husker Heat and we started our 3rd season two weeks ago. With my lovely daughter Mylie as my co-host (of course I’m biased – daughter), we cover the previous weekend, preview the coming games, talk about current storylines and likely find a couple of non-softball topics to chatter about as well. We try to keep it around 45 minutes while still making sure you’re the best-informed fans in Nebraska.
There’s a section for comments, so please fire away with any thoughts or questions and if we don’t have answers on hand, we’ll try to have them for you by next week’s show. It broadcasts on Facebook Live, Twitter and YouTube Live.
Husker Heat – click the link above to check out last week’s show and join us next Tuesday!
Corn Nation Players of the Game
That’s right – someone should be handing these out, so why not us?
After each game Mylie or myself will select a CN Player of the Game. Now, we love our Huskers and all attempts will be made to award it to a Husker, but game respects game, so that may not be 100%. That view is not universal as I found out after retroactively awarding Thursday night’s honor to Ruby Meylan.
This resulted in abuse – greatly unwarranted in my opinion – being heaped on me by my co-host Mylie during Tuesday night’s episode of Husker Heat (see above). This leads me to believe the Huskers will indeed win 100% of these under her watch. So be it.
Next week’s preview will include all 2026 awards from previous games being handed out retroactively.
Stillwater/Tulsa Weekend: THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
- I can talk up the Jackrabbits and the Mavericks until the sun rises tomorrow, but anything less than a 4-0 weekend is unacceptable.
- As I reminded all here last week, taking SDSU lightly could come with consequences as almost proven last season when the Huskers went to extra innings twice against their Summit League opponents. It was looking like another close one until they exploded for a 7-run 4th inning, one of two on the day last Friday.
- Normally, I’d say be ready to see UNO All-American Maddia Groff in both weekend games, but UNO’s staff appears deep so far. Alexis Wiggins or Grace Hornbuckle should start one of the weekend games.
- In today’s transfer world, it’s surprising to see Groff at UNO for her junior year and I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides to test herself on a power conference staff next year. However, people sometimes forget that there are reasons for staying, as well as leaving, and there aren’t exactly MLB contracts awaiting softball players.
HUSKER GAME INFO
Schedule: (All times CST)
March 5 – South Dakota State 4 p.m.
March 5 – South Dakota State 6 p.m.
March 7 – Omaha 2 p.m.
March 8 Omaha 2 p.m.
Location: Bowlin Stadium, Lincoln, NE
Surface: Traditional Dirt “Skinned” Infield, Kentucky Bluegrass outfield
TV/Streaming: The Oklahoma State games will be streamed on the B1G+ app. Broadcast team TBD.
Radio: Huskers Radio Network. You can listen for free at Husker Audio – University of Nebraska – Official Athletics Website huskers.com – Nate Rohr is on the call for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Weather: Thursday’s games will be relatively mild for the season – The 4pm game should be played under mostly sunny skies with temps around 60 degrees and winds out of the SSE at 10-20mph. The winds will drop slightly for the evening game with temps falling to the low 50’s and partly cloudy skies.
The weekend games should both be played under sunny skies with those 10-20mph SSE winds continuing. Expect temps in the low-to-mid 50’s on Saturday but rising to around 70 for Sunday’s contest.
THE OPPONENTS
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (12-9)
South Dakota State is 12-9 on the season, coming off of an 0-5 weekend at the Oklahoma State/Tulsa Tournament. NU and SDSU met at the tournament, and the Huskers claimed an
8-1 victory. Last year, the Jackrabbits were 29-26 with a 13-5 mark in conference play. Head coach Kristina McSweeney is in her fourth season at SDSU and is 113-76 with the Jackrabbits. In her 14-season career, she has compiled a record of 473-263-1.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Amanda Vacanti leads South Dakota State with a .490 batting average, along with seven
home runs and four doubles. Emma Vike has posted a team-high 22 RBI on 26 hits. She has
also scored 17 runs.
UNO (14-4)
Omaha is 14-4 this season with their only losses coming to Troy, Arkansas and Kansas. The
Huskers and Mavericks met in a game last fall, with Omaha coming out on top, 1-0. Last
season, the Mavs went 40-13, won the Summit League title and appeared in the NCAA
regional round.
Head Coach Mike Heard is in his fifth season with Omaha and is 162-63 with the Mavericks.
In 11 career seasons, Heard has compiled a record of 314-159. Mike’s brother, Bill Heard, coached Alexis Jensen, Carlie Muhlbach and Skarlett Jones at Gretna.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Sammy Schmidt and Taylor Sedlacek lead Omaha with batting averages of .432 and .431,
respectively. Schmidt has 19 hits with 3 homers, while Sedlacek has 23 RBI with a team-
high 22 hits.
All-American Maddia Groff has thrown 46.1 innings and has a 4-2 record with a 3.63 ERA. She adds 56 strikeouts with 10 walks. Alexis Wiggins is 6-1 with a 3.42 ERA across 11 apperances and 30.2 innings. Grace Hornbuckle has a team-low 2.59 ERA and 28 strikeouts across 24.1 innings.
HUSKERS LINEUPS (Best Guess)
P/1B #98 JORDY FRAHM (BAHL)
LF #9 HANNAH CAMENZIND
C #25 JESSE FARRELL
RF #14 KACIE HOFFMANN
SS #7 AVA KUSZAK
DP/P #72 CARLIE MUHLBACH/#33 EMMERSON COPE/#4 MALIA THOMS/#99 ALEXIS JENSEN
CF #23 HANNAH COOR
3B #29 SAMANTHA BLAND (if cleared to hit)
1B #3 BELLA BACON (When Jordy pitches)
2B #2 LAURA CAMENZIND
STARTERS:
G1: ALEXIS JENSEN – South Dakota St.
G2: HANNAH CAMENZIND – South Dakota St.
G3: JORDY FRAHM – UNO
G4 – ALEXIS JENSEN – UNO
I’m guessing big all over the place this weekend. DP will likely be based on match-ups and could go any of at least three ways:
– Muhlbach went 0-for-3 against Meylan Thursday and didn’t hit again, but with a .381 BA and .552 OB%, she’s far from forgotten.
– Cope has yet to catch fire, but she is a pure hitter with power to spare and is always in the DP convo.
– Little-used junior Malia Thoms is now on the radar after getting a start against Okie State Saturday and rewarding Coach Revelle’s matchup nod with a game-tying 4th inning 2-run bomb. She’s now 2-for-5 with 2 homers.
– Alexis Jensen is starting to find her Gretna school-record-batting-average stroke (.445) and if that continues, that’s three pitchers on staff for whom a DP will not be used.
– And if Sammie is cleared to start swinging full-time again, it won’t be 3rd base either, which has been the case the past two weekends.
I fully expect Frahm and Jensen to get the starts against the Mavericks, but South Dakota St. may not be as clear-cut. Hannah will almost certainly get one of those starts. The other? I’d give it to Jensen, but after three consecutive solid relief outings with big leads against lesser teams, easily her best stretch as a Husker, is Revelle ready to give Kylee Magee another start before the risks become much higher in conference play?
