All Megan Urquhart felt she could do was try to dislodge the ball from the catcher’s glove.
Instead, the throw struck her, bounced away and two runs scored that enabled Kansas to edge Nebraska, 6-4, and end the Cornhuskers’ 17-game softball win streak on Saturday at Jayhawk Field.
Nebraska won the second game, 1-0.
“I was going for the catcher at that point and the ball hit me on the left wrist,” said Urquhart, KU’s junior third baseman. “I hurt, but then I realized we had scored two runs.”
Kansas coach Tracy Bunge noted the ball never would have hit her if Urquhart hadn’t attacked home plate in the correct manner.
“Megan ran on the inside of the baseline,” Bunge noted. “It’s a little thing nobody pays attention to, but it was the difference in that ball game.”
Kansas rallied from a 4-0 hole to knock off the Cornhuskers, who hadn’t lost since bowing 6-5 to Texas Tech on March 31.
Courtney Wright’s two-run single in the fourth cut the deficit in half, then the Jayhawks erupted for four runs in the fifth on four walks, two hits and two NU errors.
Urquhart’s double off the left field wall drove in KU’s third run, then NU reliever Katie Decker walked Wright with the bases loaded to forge a 4-4 deadlock.
Moments later, with Urquhart on third, Leah Tabb on second and Wright on first, Katie Campbell grounded to NU third baseman Cindy Roethemeyer who threw home for a force out. But the throw hit Urquhart and rolled far enough away to allow Tabb to score all the way from second.
“You have to take advantage of your opponents’ mistakes and we did that,” Bunge said.
Freshman Kara Pierce settled down after Nebraska scored all its runs in the third to record her 21st win. During one stretch, Pierce retired 12 straight batters.
“Some of my pitches weren’t working ,” Pierce said, “but I sat down and refocused. My teammates talked to me and got me pumped up to go back out and do it.”
Kirsten Milhoan pitched better than Pierce in the second game, but suffered her 12th defeat in 20 decisions. Milhoan surrendered just three singles, but two were in the sixth when the Cornhuskers scored their only run.
Leigh Suhr singled up the middle, stole second and scored when Nicole Trimboli’s line drive ticked off shortstop Wright’s glove and went into left field.
Meanwhile, Nebraska freshman right-hander Peaches James held Kansas hitless until Urquhart drove a line single to right-center to open the seventh. A walk and an error loaded the bases, but Christi Musser took a called third strike with two outs James’ eighth strikeout.
“That’s probably as good a performance,” Bunge said of James’ pitching, “as we’ve had against us this year.”
Kansas (31-24 overall, 10-7 Big 12) will conclude the regular season today with a 2 p.m. game at Missouri. A victory will earn the Jayhawks the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City.
Nebraska (46-11, 15-2) can clinch the league regular-season title and the tourney’s No. 1 seed by defeating last-place Iowa State today in Lincoln.
