With Jordy Frahm on in relief in the top of the 7th inning protecting an 8-5 lead, the Washington Huskies appeared to have runners on the corners with the tying run coming to the plate after Sammie Bland charged in to field a bunt and fired a bullet which hit Emmerson Cope in the glove and sailed on by. She may or may not have been interfered with by Addie Craig coming up the baseline, but Coach Rhonda Revelle noticed a better appeal.
Marley Teasley, who advanced to 3rd on the snowball fight, left
1st base early. Like, way early. Her foot was off the bag while Frahm was still in her downswing. Challenge successful, play overturned, two out. A Craig lineout to Bland at 3rd later, the game was over and the Huskers were 1-0.
But the game was anything but normal.
Perhaps, the height of the strangeness was freshman Alexis Jensen’s wild maiden voyage in the circle for the Huskers. She struck out 3 in the top of the 1st – including Alexis DeBoer, one of the nation’s best hitters, while only allowing a squibby skimmed-hit double which barely cleared the infield. Her stuff looked fantastic as she struck out 10 while walking none in her 5 innings of work while surrendering 6 hits.
But that illusion of control was deceiving. As commentator and former Texas All-American pitcher Cat Osterman commented, Jensen needed to not be afraid to throw a few more balls by challenging batters with some pitches on the edges. She said this after watching Jensen repeatedly get ahead in the count then groove pitches in the middle of the zone. Because of this, 4 of the 6 hits given up left the yard including 2 solo shots by DeBoer, daughter of Kalen DeBoer, current Alabama and former Washington head football coach.
Gabi Toney hit the first one giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd. However, the Huskers bombed back with UNLV transfer Jessie Farrell blasting a solo shot to left in her first at-bat as a Husker, followed by Lauren Caminzind blasting a 3-run shot in the same direction for a 4-1 Nebraska lead.
In the following innings, DeBoer swatted her pair and Toney added another dinger and Washington entered the bottom of the 5th finding themselves up 5-4. That’s when the real fun began. I’m going to play lazy and just show you my tweet following the hijinks:
Honestly, I’m not sure how the two batters and their coaches and teammates failed to realize they were batting out of order. Maybe Kacie Hoffman didn’t realize Sammie had snuck in front of her until a pitch was thrown and she then decided to stay quiet. Bland walked and Hoffman just headed on up to the plate. After a pitch or two, the Washington coach came out to talk the ump. What she was likely told is that the appeal must be made before a pitch is thrown to the next batter. At this point, the game simply continues and did.
In the booth, Osterman made things more confusing by continually telling the audience perhaps UW’s coach was just waiting to see what Hoffman would do (she flew out) before deciding whether or not to appeal. Which was not an option, see above.
Anyway, the Huskers had the 3-run lead which they would not give up, especially after Revelle had seen enough of Home Run Derby to bring Frahm on to protect that margin. She got in some early warm-up work earning the save before facing Texas in a few hours.
A few post-game observations, mostly observing my pre-game prediction goofs
- Jensen did get the start today; I thought Revelle might go the other way. In the end, going with Jensen is looking like the right call.
- I knew Revelle really liked Hannah Coor, a 3-year reserve at Oklahoma. I did not know it was going to be to the point of having her leadoff. Last year’s leadoff hitters were Frahm (.462 average) and Kuszak (.412). Wow.
- I mentioned getting to see Jesse Farrell’s arm in the fall intrasquad games. Washington tested her once and got gunned down. Being able to replace Ava Bredwell’s cannon with another strong arm will be huge.
- Emmerson Cope DP’s today – I was remiss not listing her in the lineup guess with Olivia DiNardo. Cope can stroke.
- Sammie Bland, a red-hot #2 hitter in the order in the final weeks of 2025, was in the 8-spot today. Odd.
