The Huskers avoided disaster by sweeping lowly Iowa is a pair of walk-off victories. Next up, Northwestern.

(Due to the doubleheader falling in the same time as the weekly softball podcast, the recap will be abbreviated.)

Bella Bacon may have gotten the high fives - very well-deserved, I might add - after a clutch 2-out double in the bottom of the eighth inning brought home Sammie Bland with the only run of the first game and a 1-0 Huskers win.

However, on a night where Husker bats were mostly silenced by Iowa’s Jalen Adams, it was Kaylin Kinney who matched Adams inning after inning to thwart the Hawkeye’s upset bid by scattering 6 hits and two walks over an 8-inning shutout of Iowa. Iowa threatened a few times, but Kinney always left them stranded, most notably in the 3rd and 6th innings where she fired strikeouts both times with runners on the corners to end things.

Finally in the 8th, the Huskers bats found their flame. Bland reached on an infield single and Sydney Gray laced one into left to put Sammie in scoring position. Two fly outs followed, but then up came Bacon, the Omaha native and Millard West grad who transferred back to her home state from Purdue with possibly her biggest hit of the year.

The Huskers had their first win of the day, but the stress levels weren’t coming down.

In Game 2, the Huskers appeared to have things well in hand after a 4-run 3rd inning highlighted by a Billie Andrews 2-run double. This was followed by Billie and Bland scoring on wild pitches.

Then, trailing 4-0, Iowa center fielder, Grace Banes - a .231 hitter with only 4 extra base hits on the season (all doubles) - decided to have the game of her life and try to steal one for Iowa all by her lonesome.

First, she drove one over the fence in left center, a solo shot which put Iowa on the board for the first time all day. Iowa scored 2 more in the 5th to cut the deficit to 1, but the Huskers answered with a run of their own when Peyton Cody knocked in Bland who was 1-2 and also walked twice. The lead was back up to 5-3.

The in the top of the 7th, up came Banes again after the first two Iowa batters reached by single and walk. After running the count to 1-2 and fouling off a couple of pitches, Banes turned on the next one and sent her second home run of the game - and season - out to left and suddenly Iowa was up 6-5 and disaster loomed for Nebraska.

With a victory now in play, Iowa went back to their ace Adams to try and nail down a critical upset against their rival. But this time, it wasn’t going to take 8 innings to get to her.

With one out, Peyton Cody walked, but Game 1’s hero Bacon popped up to short. Up came Ava Bredwell who was 0-6 on the day thus far. Apparently, it just meant she was due. After fouling a few pitches off and taking a ball, Bredwell calmly swatted the 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for the second walk-off of the day, a 7-6 win and the sweep.

The Huskers return to action against 1st place Northwestern at Bowlin Stadium in Lincoln at 5:30 on Friday evening.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Iowa Hawkeyes