Knoxville Super Regional Preview with Voice of Nebraska Softball Nate Rohr

Voice of Nebraska Softball Nate Rohr joined Kaleb Henry on HuskerMax Today to preview the Knoxville Super Regional.

Nebraska softball players celebrate after beating No. 6 Tennessee to open the 2025 season. / Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska softball is just two wins away from returning to the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2013.

The Huskers take on No. 7 national seed Tennessee in the Knoxville Super Regional this weekend. Voice of Nebraska Softball Nate Rohr joined Kaleb Henry to preview the series and look back at the dominance by the Big Red in Baton Rouge.

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You can read Nate's responses below, and continue scrolling to watch the entire conversation.

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On Jordy Bahl's historic season

This is next-level stuff. This is Michael Jordan-level stuff. This is a player taking over a softball game on both sides, offensively and pitching-wise, in a way that I have never seen it done before. And I've seen some softball games. And I asked Rhonda Revelle, "have you seen anybody take over a game like Jordy did this weekend?" And she hasn't seen it. And she's seen twice as many softball games as I have. So it was just unprecedented what we saw from Jordy.

Jordy Bahl rounds the bases after a home run against UConn in the first round of the Baton Rouge Regional. / Nebraska Athletics

If she never threw a pitch, she would be a first-team All-American and a national player of the year candidate. Because she's thrown a pitch, and a lot of good ones, she is in my mind, the front runner for national player of the year. I'm a little worried that the big regional performances is maybe feeding a little bias on my part because remember they took the USA softball player of the year vote before regionals. They're sitting on the results

And you worry the SEC propaganda machine, ESPN, will push Bri Ellis (Arkansas) as the player of the year. But the fact of the matter is, Jordy Ball has more or less equaled what Bri Ellis has done with the bat. She has more or less equaled what NiJaree Canady (Texas Tech) has done in the circle. She's well exceeded what NiJaree Canady has done with the bat. And she absolutely has blown. I mean, Bri Ellis hasn't thrown a pitch this year. So she's done way more than what Ellis has done on the defensive side of things.

It was just a further assertion of how great Jordy Bahl is and how complete a player Jordy Bahl is.

Jordy Bahl takes the mound at Bowlin for the first time. / Amarillo Mullen

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On contributions from the entire lineup

They walked Jordy seven times in the three games, and she has base stealing capability, but somebody's got to hit her in. Samantha Bland had a terrific weekend and had four RBI in the regional final. Ava Kuszak hit a couple of home runs. Really, it was up and down the lineup putting pressure on these teams.

And you think of Hannah Camenzind. Hannah Camenzind comes up with a home run early in the game on Saturday, the first one against Southeastern Louisiana. That really shut them down for that game. That put them down three-nothing. Yeah, they get a run in the bottom of the first, but they're down two runs after one inning, and that made them a whole lot more conservative offensively and really shut off the best part of their game.

Nebraska third baseman Samantha Bland swings at a pitch against Maryland at Bowlin Stadium on May 2, 2025. / Nebraska Athletics

It was everybody up and down the lineup. The fielding was fairly tight. The once or twice that they tried to steal on Nebraska, they cut them down. It was the complete effort. And one through nine ought to take plenty of pride in it.

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On Tennessee

I think their top two pitchers are about as good as there are in the country. You mentioned (Karlyn) Pickens. An ERA under one in the Southeastern Conference, which now is absolutely the best league in college softball, and 22 wins. Just a tough, high velocity pitcher. It worries me a little bit that Nebraska hasn't seen this caliber of pitcher for a long time. But the fact of the matter is you're not going to see this pitcher much because there are very, very few that stack up to her.

And then (Sage) Mardjetko. There are two ERAs under two-and-a-half in SEC play getting regular work. That really grabs your attention. You feel like Tennessee has maybe a slight edge with the top pitcher, and then a larger edge with the secondary pitching.

Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens (23) pitches during a NCAA regional game between Tennessee and Ohio State at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on May 18, 2025. Tennessee won 5-0 against Ohio State. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It'll be really important for Nebraska to get some good work out of Hannah Camenzind and Kylee Magee. That was so important in the regional. They handed the ball to them and didn't need to take it back. So when those two are called upon, they need to be really good because you figure that Tennessee's getting great pitching throughout.

Offensively, they're not quite as good as Nebraska. They don't have the power numbers Nebraska has, but they're still good. They're still a really good offense, but they're not quite the slugging machine that we've seen from Nebraska and from some other teams throughout the year. But don't be fooled. They're still a tough offense.

So it's going to be really important for Nebraska to be able to score a little bit and to put innings together. That's been maybe the biggest question about this offense is can they string three, four, five hits together to score three runs in an inning? Because if there's one flaw about this offense, it's very home run dependent. And home runs are going to be tough to come by. Tennessee's only given up 21 all year.

Tennessee utility Ella Dodge (25) and Tennessee outfielder Kinsey Fiedler (27) celebrate Tennessee outfielder Gabby Leach's (55) home run during a NCAA regional game between Tennessee and Ohio State at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on May 18, 2025. Tennessee won 5-0 against Ohio State. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

You feel like you're going to have to, if you're going to score with any reliability, string innings together, hits, walks, putting pressure on the defense. And that's something we've not seen a whole lot of from Nebraska this year. Not to say they can't do it, but it's just not been something they've done a lot.

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On Super Regional weekend

We'll have great series throughout. You think about Oklahoma taking on an Alabama team that has surged. And, oh, by the way, if Nebraska were to come through the super regional and chalk holds on the other side, it's Nebraska and Oklahoma first round in Oklahoma City, which, whoa. Yes.

But it's a pretty SEC-heavy, six-team team field at this point, which I think we expected. The SEC, for the most part, took care of business, performed at the level that we thought they would.

Oklahoma infielder Ella Parker (5) is greeted at home by teammates after hitting home run in the fourth inning of a softball game in the Norman Regional of the NCAA Tournament between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the California Golden Bears at Love's Field in Norman, Okla., Sunday, May 18, 2025. Oklahoma won 12-1. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I was a little worried about Oregon getting out of that regional, especially when Stanford thumped them. But hopefully Oregon has gotten some momentum behind them to where they can get through a super regional.

UCLA is who they are. I mean, they're talented. They're tradition. They are who they are. They've got a good chance to get through theirs.

But you talk about looking around the super regional field and you've got Texas A&M eliminated. Nebraska came through the Baton Rouge regional without seeing LSU. Otherwise, there's a lot of chalk. It's pretty chalky. I think we're going to get some very hotly contested super regionals.

Oregon’s Dezianna Patmon heads for home after hitting a game winning home run against Stanford to end the Duck’s remarkable run through the Eugene NCAA Regional Sunday night. / Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I'm curious to see how Liberty responds because they've been a program that's been the tough out in regionals, a team you've got to deal with, a team you've got to worry about, but also they haven't taken that next step. Well, now they have. How much gas do they still have in the tank? And that'll be the big question against Oregon because had to fight for their regional, too, and kind of stumbled down the stretch. We'll see how those teams are mentally and which one comes out with its best self, but it's going to be a fun super regional round. Obviously, it usually is, but with the parity that has existed throughout college softball this year, I think this will be as competitive as ever.

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You can watch the full conversation below.

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