It reminded me of how I had to restrain myself when parents said things like, “There’ll be days like this!” During days like this.

Sometime in the middle of the game, one of the logic-challenged Rutgers cheerleaders calling the game on B1G+ app mentioned the flight carrying the Huskers to New Jersey the previous night had been delayed several hours and did not arrive until well after midnight. And thank goodness it did, or else there would be no excuse for the mistake-riddled day which led to a 9-3 throttling of Nebraska by the B1G 6th-place Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

One of the upsides for Nebraska was holding B1G Player of the Year candidate, Morgan Smith, to a 1-3 performance at the plate lowering her season average to .455. Unfortunately, the one hit was a 2-run homer in the 1st, which was her 18th of the season and gave Rutgers a 2-1 lead after Billie Andrews led the game off with a bomb of her own to left center.

In the top of the 2nd, Nebraska’s Katelyn Caneda hit a 2-run blast to give Nebraska the lead back at 3-2 and it appeared the Huskers were in a good spot in a tight game. It seemed unlikely they were done scoring for the day.

But they were and then came the 3rd inning. In the top, Sydney Gray singled and then Sammie Bland drilled a shot into the gap in right center and it appeared the Huskers were cooking with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Except suddenly, with the ball in the relay’s hands, Gray never slowed down and was easily thrown out at home by about 10-15 feet. Whose fault was it? Revelle gave no visible sign but maybe yelled stop and Gray blew by? The wind was blowing so hard she didn’t hear? We may never know.

In the bottom of the inning, the craziness continued. With one out and a runner on first, pitcher Sarah Harness issued a walk. The speedy Kyleigh Sand trotted down to 2nd, then bolted for 3rd safely when catcher Ava Bredwell was caught lobbing one back to Harness on the mound who wasn’t paying attention, either.

Caitlyn Neal dropped a line drive in left. Then with runners on the corners, Rutgers attempted a steal of second. The throw was fired down to the bag to….no one?

It sailed untouched into center field and Rutgers had taken the lead back 4-3, but one could sense the air being taken out of Nebraska’s sails at that point. LA Matthews and Katie Wingert added solo shots in the 5th, Wingert’s giving her the Rutgers career home run record. A 3-hit 2-walk bottom of the 6th had the Scarlet Knights coming up just short of mercy-running the Huskers and after closing it out in the top of seven, Mattie Boyd had gone the distance and Rutgers had a 9-3 victory.

The Huskers can still come back and win Saturday and Sunday for a series victory and stay in contention for the B1G title and a post-season bid. And given the resilience the team has shown in the face of injury after another, it would not surprise me at all to see this happen.

It’s not an excuse, but sometimes things are just what they are and anybody’s who has played the flight delays game knows how foggy you can be the day after something like that.

This Huskers group of the past couple of years and their coaching staff have made discipline and mental toughness two of their cornerstones. And that was definitely on my mind during the 3rd inning when I was sitting there with my jaw hanging open probably looking like I was ready to go trawling for krill in the briny deep.

Kids? April 12, 2024, reinforces that, yes - there will days like this.

Yeesh - I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

The Huskers are back in action against Rutgers tomorrow at 2pm CST. Tune into B1G+ or Huskers Radio for the action.

The B1G “Boom Goes the Dynamite!” Call of the Day

Simply because after half a season of this weirdness some of this stuff needs to be shared, I’m going to post my top B1G announcer observation of each contest in the recaps. Today, narrowly edging out for 1st place, “Someone needs to write a book on the college transfer portal that focuses on Rutgers and Nebraska softball!”, I give you this deep thought exclaimed after Huskers LF Sam Bland crashed into wall and crumpled for bit before getting up and continuing:

“I just hate non-contact injuries.”

See y’all tomorrow

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Rutgers Scarlet Knights