NU softball finishes 3-1
By Sean Callahan
Staff writer
The Nebraska softball team did
not come out the way it wanted to in
the Creighton Fall Softball Classic,
but Head Coach Rhonda Revelle said
her team played well.
The Cornhuskers finished the
tournament 3-1. Nebraska’s final
game against Missouri Valley
Conference Champion Creighton was
called in the bottom of the fourth
inning due to the rain. There was no
score in this game.
On Saturday, NU opened the tour
nament by defeating Hastings 13-0.
The Huskers then lost to Division II
runner-up Kearney 4-1. Nebraska fin
ished the day by defeating Iowa
Western Community College 11-0.
In the loss to Kearney, Revelle said
Kearney came in really high.
“Kearney is an excellent hitting
team,” Revelle said. “I think they can
win the national championship in
Division II this year.”
Revelle also said that in the
Kearney game, senior Husker pitcher
Jenny Voss struggled with her control
on the ball.
“As any pitcher knows, some days
aren’t your best days,” Revelle said.
“Jenny was over-throwing a little bit,
so the ball didn’t have much move
ment on it.”
In their only completed game on
Sunday, NU defeated Augustana
(S.D.) 10-1.
The tournament was originally
supposed to have a championship
game on Sunday, but due to some
teams dropping out, the championship
game was eliminated.
USM s loss due to own mistakes
USM from oasre 8 LL — -
five of those turnovers, throwing
four interceptions and fumbling
once. The fumble led to Julius
Jackson’s 16-yard return for the
Cornhuskers’ first score. Then
Jackson intercepted a Kelly pass,
which he also returned for a touch
down and the final 20-13 margin.
Kelly then threw two intercep
tions inside NU territory in the
fourth quarter. The final interception
- made by NU’s Keyuo Craver -
came as USM was at the
Nebraska’si 4-yard line.
“It was just a bad pass,” said
Kelly, who completed 23-of-45 pass
es for 268 yards and two touch
downs. “I had (Josh Gulley) over the
middle. The pass just sailed on me.”
It also put an end to a game that
saw USM out-perform the Huskers
in nearly every statistical aspect.
The Golden Eagles outgained the
Huskers 293-185. They had more
first downs. They had 28 more offen
sive plays, fewer penalties, a better
third-down conversion rate, more
time of possession and a better yard
per play average. And still lost.
But it wasn’t for a lack of trying
or strategy. USM, with its ever
changing defensive scheme, plugged
up holes for the Nebraska offense,
holding it to 119 rushing yards and
forcing four turnovers. The Huskers
never had a larger gain than 14 yards
We turned it over to them. You can’t do that
against good football teams.”
Jeff Boweit
USM head coach
on the ground.
“The main thing in all our prac
tice was having responsibilities,”
linebacker T.J. Slaughter said. “Some
of us had dive, some of us had quar
terback, some of us had the pitch.
The whole defense played as a unit
the whole game. It became an emo
tional game.
“I think we pretty much handled
them. We ran everything well.”
Offensively, Southern
Mississippi tried to keep the
Blackshirts’ defense ofifbalance with
a mix of run and pass. All the running
came the way of H-back Derrick
Nix, who carried the ball 29 times for
70 yards.
“We just wanted to get 2, 3, 4
yards per run,” Bower said. “We did
that. We didn’t have any long runs,
but we had like three 8- or 9-yard
runs in the game.”
Most of the passes went to
receivers Todd Pinkston and Sherrod
Gideon, both All-America candi
dates. Facing what Gideon called
“the best secondary we’ve played,”
the two receivers combined for 19
receptions and 244 yards.
Gideon dropped what could have
been a touchdown at the end of the
first half. Kelly lofted a pass that
went through Gideon’s hands at the
NU six-yard line.
“Ralph Brown tipped it just a lit
tle bit,” Gideon said. “I couldn’t
quite get it.”
The statement sort of summed up
the day for the Golden Eagles but
didn’t leave the team wholly discour
aged. Southern Miss can’t be dis
couraged as it visits No. 7 Texas
A&M next Saturday.
But this Saturday was one big
missed opportunity, Bower said,
although he did impart a message
about the strength of his team.
“We probably should have won
the football game,” Bower said when
asked if his team should be ranked.
“Everybody says, ‘Well, what’s
wrong with Nebraska?’ Well, give us
some credit.
“Don’t take anything from our
kids. They played hard.”
NU holds 20-13 lead
%
to win against USM
NU from page 8
tell ourselves to get after it because
we were starting to get winded. We
had to suck it up and keep going.”
The lack of production by the
offense also motivated the defense
to suck it up and try to score.
“Every time we get in the hud
dle, Carlos (Polk) is saying we got to
scoref’ Vanden Bosch said. “The
sign of a good defense is not only
getting done what needs to be done,
but also making the big plays - get
ting interceptions and fumble recov
eries - and scoring yourself.”
After Craver tipped a Kelly pass
in the third quarter, Jackson inter
cepted the ball and rumbled 28
yards for his second touchdown.
“He has great hands,” defensive
coordinator Charlie McBride said
sarcastically. “If you look at them
real close, they look like the bottoms
of skillets. I think the ball must have
bounced off his face mask about
four times before he really did catch
it.
“But I will tell you one thing, the
world’s sprint champion couldn’t
have caught him from behind when
he caught that thing. He was
rolling.”
Jackson’s score gave NU an 18
12 lead. Dan Alexander, who rushed
16 times for 57 yards, scored the
two-point conversion to give the
Huskers the seven-point lead.
After the game, Crouch and the
rest of the offense was apologetic of
its performance and vowed to not
rely so heavily on the defense next
week in Missouri. The Huskers took
41 carries for 119 yards and record
ed just eight first downs - their
fewest since 1968.
“I already talked to some of the
defensive guys.” Crouch said, “and I
told them, ‘next week we are going
to try to make it easier on you.’”
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