HUSKERS Win One All Year – And It Could Be Their Only WCWS Start: NEBRASKA 5 – Arkansas 3 (10 inn.)

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HUSKERS Win One All Year – And It Could Be Their Only WCWS Start: NEBRASKA 5 – Arkansas 3 (10 inn.)

The ball didn’t go past midnight, but it moved forward to the bar.

Ava Kuszak had just hit a 2-run homer and when she circled first, finally making sure the ball was out of Devon Park’s ballpark, the tears of joy began to flow as she broke into the best home run of all time.

Her teammate, Hannah Coor, who had hit her game-tying bomb in the bottom of the 8th to keep the Huskers alive, was already down from the pitch in the ribs, and watched Kuszak’s shot continue to rise and had a similar, if not more emotional, reaction:

“I was standing by second base and when he hit his bat, I was like, oh my god, we just won the frickin’ game.

He was not wrong.

The game that came to mind before this one ended was a thrilling 9-8 win in 9 innings over Wichita State in the 2023 Stillwater Regional where they kept answering the bell until they finally got past the Shockers in 9 for a “shocking” win over their rivals.

Fast forward to May 29, 2026.

The Razorbacks’ Kailey Wyckoff drew a first-down home run to center field to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead over Nebraska. While Wyckoff made Jordy Frahm look human, starter Robyn Herron was shutting the Huskers out for three innings.

However, Herron, who struck out 173 batters in 113 innings entering the tournament, managed just one on the night in 5 2/3 innings against the pesky Huskers and in the 4th inning, Nebraska would begin to repair its connections. They reeled off three straight hits, the last being a Sammie Bland line drive to right for their first run.

Sammie grounded out to second to put a double play on the plate before pinch hitter Bella Bacon singled home runner Kennadi Williams, her 14th hit of the season. Bland was 2-for-4 on the evening and thrilled the crowd of over 12,600 with his glove, arm and range swallowing up everything the Razorbacks threw at him.

As coach Rhonda Revelle said, “It’s fun to watch her defense, and I thought she came up big for us tonight.” Frahm announced his performance and after the game. And ESPN agreed to throw Bland at #10 in their day games. The Huskers tied things at 2-2, the score will remain in regulation.

Speaking of Frahm, he had batted his hatches leaving 11 straight batters following Wyckoff’s homer. She would hold the Razorbacks scoreless until the 8th inning when Ella McDowell proved that Bland was human when she couldn’t get up enough to cut off McDowell’s flare single to give her team a 3-2 lead.

But then in the bottom half, Coor tied things up with a home run that blew everyone away when he tagged Payton Burnham’s first deep offering. The Huskers seemed to try to outrun Arkansas early in the count, and in the end it paid off big when they needed it the most.

Both teams went 1-2-3 in the 9th. Arkansas got an infield single in the top of the 10th, but couldn’t capitalize and finally it was time for Kuszak to finish and send the weary crowd home with a 1-0 pitch – to start the count again.

Kuszak hadn’t been tearing it up before, going 0-for-4 with groundouts to the pitcher in his previous at-bats. How did he stay positive and get a stroke of confidence in a stressful situation?

“I feel like (I feel) in practice, and even if it doesn’t go well, you keep growing and you keep fighting and you keep making changes. Even after hitting the ball, I was learning, and I had to keep telling myself that I’m learning, learning, and just focus on my team and what needs to be done, and then continue to continue to improve.”

As Billy Beane said in Moneyball, “How can you fall in love with softball?”

(Yes, you said baseball, but you’ll be fine with that little correction.)

It wasn’t a stat night for Jordy, but somehow it still was. Yes, he only went 1-for-5 at the plate to go along with a subpar – for him – performance at the plate. However, he has been hitting shots badly and straight at defenders, and a breakout seems inevitable – and at the right time.

He earned his 21st win of the season by pitching 10 innings, scattering 8 hits and allowing 3 runs while striking out 9 and walking just one. Not great after a 16-hit shutout for Grand Canyon two weekends ago, but did I mention he threw all 10 innings??

After the game, I asked Revelle if he ever thought about taking Frahm out as the extra innings piled up. It is possible that the answer set the record for being short in these situations.

“No,” she said. And he smiled at me.

Later in the presser, he elaborated on what makes Jordy…well…Jordy. “What you see is what you get every day, so his consistency is contagious. His consistency is inspiring, because it’s not just consistency, it’s consistency to consistently perform at a high level.”