NU Heads to Minnesota for Final Big Ten Series

May 2, 2024 / NU Athletics

The Nebraska softball team travels to Minneapolis this weekend for a three-game series against Minnesota to close out the regular season. Friday’s opener will start at 6 p.m. with Saturday’s game slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch and Sunday’s finale set for Noon.

Nebraska (27-21) and Minnesota (26-22) are both battling to be one of the four teams that receives a bye for next week’s Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers enter the final weekend in fourth place in the Big Ten standings with a 12-8 conference record. The Huskers are just a half game behind in fifth place with a 10-8 Big Ten record.

It should be a close series as Nebraska and Minnesota are similar on paper. Both teams boast one of the top offenses in the Big Ten. The Huskers are hitting .290 as a team and average 5.7 runs per game while the Gophers are batting .292 and score an average of 6.1 runs per game. Nebraska has hit 86 doubles and 52 home runs while Minnesota has totaled 83 doubles and hit 51 home runs.

In the circle, Minnesota’s team ERA of 4.22 is nearly identical to Nebraska’s 4.26 ERA, and the Gophers allowed 4.8 runs per game compared to 4.9 runs per game by the Huskers. The teams are also the top two fielding teams in the Big Ten as Minnesota leads the league with a .972 fielding percentage and Nebraska ranks second, fielding at a .971 clip.

The first two games of the series will air on the Big Ten Network while Sunday’s final game can be seen with a subscription to Big Ten+, with subscriptions starting at $9.99 a month.

Leading Off

Six of Nebraska’s 24 players (25 percent of the roster) are out for the season with an injury.
Nebraska leads the nation with an average of 1.8 doubles per game.
Nebraska has played nine extra-inning games this season, its most extra-inning games in a season since 1982 (11).
Ten of Nebraska’s 18 Big Ten games have been one-run games, including six extra-inning games.
Nebraska has come from behind in 16 of its 27 wins. The Huskers have won four games when trailing after six innings, their most such wins this century.
Billie Andrews enters the weekend with 97 career extra-base hits. Ali Viola is the only Husker to total 100 extra-base hits.
Billie Andrews is two home runs shy of becoming the sixth player in Big Ten history with 60 career home runs.
Billie Andrews needs two stolen bases to become the first player in school history with 50 career steals & 50 career homers.
Kaylin Kinney ranks 12th nationally with 36 pitching appearances this season, pitching in 75 percent of NU’s games.
Kaylin Kinney entered the week as one of eight pitchers who rank in the top 40 nationally in both wins and saves.

A Battle for A Big Ten Tournament Bye
Heading into the final weekend of the Big Ten season, no team has been officially eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament and nine teams are still in contention for a top four seed and a first-round bye at the conference tournament.

Northwestern and Michigan have already clinched two of the four byes in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. The Wildcats and Wolverines are guaranteed to be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, although which team will be the top seed is still undetermined.
Rutgers, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, Penn State, Purdue and Ohio State are all still in contention for the final two byes, although the best the Buckeyes could finish is a tie for fourth place, where the Big Ten Tournament seeds would be sorted out via tiebreakers.
Nebraska must win this weekend’s series in order to be in contention for a top four seed.
A sweep this weekend and Nebraska would be guaranteed to be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed at the Big Ten Tournament.
A 2-1 series victory would put Nebraska in strong position for a top four seed but would not guarantee the Huskers a top-four seed. With a series win, the Huskers would fall below the No. 4 seed only if either Indiana swept Northwestern or Purdue swept Michigan State.

Huskers Have Faced Big Ten’s Toughest Schedule
The fact that Nebraska enters the final weekend in a strong position to secure a top four seed at the Big Tournament is a testament to the toughness and fight the Huskers have shown this season. Not only has Nebraska remained near the top of the Big Ten standings while playing most of the conference schedule with 25 percent of its roster sidelined with injuries, the Huskers have also played the Big Ten’s toughest schedule.

In Wednesday’s NCAA RPI ranking, Nebraska had the No. 38 strength of schedule in the country. The Huskers have faced the toughest schedule this season of any Big Ten team according to the RPI, as Purdue ranks second with a No. 43 strength of schedule.
In conference play, Nebraska and Ohio State are the only Big Ten team who have played - or will play - each of the top four teams in the current conference standings.
The Huskers not only played - or will play - each of the current top four Big Ten teams, nine of their 11 games against those opponents were on the road. Nebraska hosted only Northwestern in its four series against the top four teams but the third game of that series was unable to be completed after Nebraska built a 5-0 lead after three innings.
On the flip side, NU played only four games against the current bottom four teams in the conference standings. Maryland and Nebraska are the only two teams who have played - or will play - fewer than five games against the bottom four teams in the Big Ten standings.
Nebraska’s eight Big Ten opponents - including Minnesota - boast an 87-71 record in conference play entering this weekend. For comparison’s sake, the Golden Gophers’ eight conference opponents enter the weekend with a combined 66-91 record in Big Ten play.

Minneapolis Matchup: Two of the Nation’s Best Shortstops
Two of the nation’s top shortstops will be on the field this weekend in Minneapolis in Nebraska senior Billie Andrews and Minnesota sophomore Jess Oakland.

On Wednesday, Softball America released its updated list of the top 10 shortstops in the country and Oakland came in at No. 2 on the list while Andrews was No. 4.
Andrews and Oakland have combined for 34 home runs and 62 extra-base hits this season. To put those numbers in perspective, the duo’s 34 home runs are more than 216 Division I teams have hit this season and the 62 extra-base hits are more than the total for 56 teams.

Billie Andrews Named NU’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year
Billie Andrews won Nebraska’s most coveted award at the Huskers’ annual recognition banquet on Sunday when she was named the 2023-24 Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year. With the honor, Andrews will be the Huskers’ Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient this season.

Andrews is just the third softball player to be named the Female Student-Athlete of the Year in the 34 years the award has existed. The other softball players to win the honor were Mattie Fowler (2016) and Jenny Smith (1998).
Andrews owns the distinction of being chosen as both the Nebraska Female Athlete of the Year (2022) and the Female Student-Athlete of the Year (2024). She joins volleyball player Mikaela Foecke and diver Abigail Knapton as the only three women to win both awards.

Young Huskers Swinging Hot Bats
Nebraska’s regular starting lineup features five juniors and seniors. But recently, it’s been two Husker freshmen and one sophomore who have stood out at the plate.

Over the past 10 games, the only three Huskers hitting .300 are freshmen Emmerson Cope and Samantha Bland and sophomore Katelyn Caneda. Together, that trio has combined for seven doubles, six homers and 19 RBIs while hitting .349. The rest of the Husker roster has produced nine doubles, four home runs and 25 RBIs with a .245 average.

Scouting Minnesota (26-22, 12-8 Big Ten)
Minnesota is 26-22 on the season and enters the weekend in fourth place in the Big Ten standings with a 12-8 conference record. The Gophers are coming off a three-game sweep at Iowa last weekend.

Nebraska and Minnesota share six common opponents this season in Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, San Diego State, Washington and Wisconsin. The Huskers posted a 7-4 record against that group while the Gophers also went 7-4.

Minnesota is batting .292 as a team while averaging 6.1 runs per game, a total that ranks 27th nationally. The Golden Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 12th nationally in walks. Defensively, Minnesota owns a 4.22 ERA and a .972 fielding percentage while allowing 4.8 runs per game. The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 30th nationally in fielding percentage.

Jess Oakland is Minnesota’s top hitter and is among the best hitters in the country. Oakland is hitting more than .100 higher than any other Gopher, as she leads the team with a .455 average, 71 hits, 16 doubles, 19 homers, 64 runs and 54 RBIs.
Oakland has put up remarkable statistics in Big Ten play. She is batting .523 in the conference season with 34 hits, 11 doubles, 11 home runs and 34 runs.
With three conference games still remaining, Oakland already ranks second in Big Ten history for home runs in a conference season (11, one shy of tying the record) and runs in a conference season (34, four shy of tying the record). Oakland’s 11 doubles currently rank as the fourth-most in conference season in Big Ten history.
On the season, Oakland leads the Big Ten in batting average, hits, home runs, runs, on-base percentage (.552) and slugging percentage (.923) while ranking second in the conference in RBIs.
Nationally, Oakland ranks third in runs per game and slugging percentage, sixth in batting average, home runs and on-base percentage and 19th in RBIs.
Morgan DeBord is batting .354 this season and has produced eight doubles, three home runs and 27 RBIs.
Taylor Krapf owns a .306 average and has 12 doubles, 10 home runs and 45 RBIs.
Sydney Strelow is hitting .299 and has tied Oakland for the team lead with 35 walks.
Breezy Burnett has started every game and is a perfect 13-of-13 on stolen bases.
In the circle, Bri Enter has seen the most action but she has not pitched since April 17. Enter is 12-7 on the year with a 3.16 ERA in 110.2 innings. She leads the Gophers in wins, ERA, innings, starts (19), complete games (4) and strikeouts (67) while tying for the team lead with one save.
Jacie Hambrick is 6-8 on the year with one save and a 4.80 ERA in 89.0 innings. She leads Minnesota with 30 appearances and ranks second in starts (16) and innings.
Macy Richardson and Sydney Schwartz have also seen significant time in the circle. Richardson is 5-4 with a 5.30 ERA over 27 appearances, 10 starts and 67.1 innings. Schwartz is 3-2 with one save and a 3.21 ERA in 28.1 innings over 10 appearances.
Jessa Snippes (0-1, 6.66 ERA in 13.2 IP) and Cameron Grayson (0-0, 3.50 ERA in 8.0 IP) round out the Gopher staff.
Piper Ritter is in her fourth season as Minnesota’s head coach. She has guided the Gophers to a 122-80-1 record. Prior to becoming the head coach, Ritter spent the previous 13 seasons as Minnesota’s pitching coach.

Nebraska Softball Game Notes Minnesota.pdf