Billie Andrews hit 57 home runs in high school, so it was only a matter of time before she showcased that power at the next level.
On Saturday, in her 44th at-bat in Husker red, the freshman shortstop popped one over the fence in right field in the first of two games against Penn State at Bowlin Stadium.
Andrews has found her stride, and so, too, have the Huskers, who combined for 21 hits and 18 runs in a doubleheader sweep of the Nittany Lions. NU won the first game 8-2 and used an eight-run inning to take the second 10-2 in five innings.
The bottom of the lineup sparked the Huskers (9-6) in Friday’s 9-0 series-opening shutout. In the first game Saturday, the top three in the lineup card — Tristen Edwards, Andrews and Cam Ybarra — combined to go 8-for-10 with five RBIs. In Game 2, eight Huskers had hits, including Andrews, Sydney Gray and Anni Raley, who each had two.
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“To me when you get something like that, you can have a good team,” NU coach Rhonda Revelle said. “Hitting’s hard, right? It’s hard for the top of the lineup to be on and the bottom of the lineup to be always on.
“It’s just important that somebody is on.”
After a quiet start at the plate to begin the season, the Huskers are increasing their team batting average. Andrews, a Gretna grad, has followed a similar trajectory. She started her season 5-for-33, but is 8-for-13 in her past four games. Her hot bat had her placed second in the lineup Saturday.
Andrews said she has been working with hitting coach Diane Miller on making small adjustments.
“It was hard (at the beginning of the season), but I knew this is a different level and the pitchers are at a higher level here, so I knew that it would click at some point, so it was just staying on with my plan,” Andrews said.
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Penn State (0-15) had four total hits between the two games Saturday. Andrews alone had five. She swatted a three-run homer in the fourth inning to push the Husker lead to 6-0.
An eight-run fourth inning helped the Huskers break open the second game.
Nebraska opened the frame with four straight hits, including a two-run double from Rylie Unzicker. The Huskers strung together four more hits in the inning, which included a 12-pitch at-bat for Ybarra, who poked an RBI single over the head of the shortstop to push Nebraska’s lead to 8-0.
Gray, a freshman, capped the eight-run inning with a curling bloop two-run double to right field.
Ybarra credits the team’s offensive improvement to extra reps in practice.
“We had talked about a plan (against) Purdue (two weeks ago) and we executed it,” said Ybarra, who went 4-for-6, including a home run, Saturday. “We did carry it into practice and a lot of people always do extras and ask the coaches for extra hitting and fielding, whatever we needed to work on. But I think it was more of like two extras a day and we just kept going.”
The Huskers’ pitching also was on Saturday. Junior Courtney Wallace limited Penn State to three hits in a game-complete effort to start the day. She retired 10 straight batters at one point to improve to 4-2.
Senior Olivia Ferrell (4-4) recorded her second five-inning victory in as many days. She was one out away from a no-hitter before Penn State’s Maggie Finnegan reached on an infield hit in the fifth inning.
After the win, Nebraska had an on-field ceremony for Revelle, who won her 1,000th game with the Huskers earlier this season.
She thanked many people, including her father, Barbara Hibner and assistant coach Lori Sippel.
“If you heard my voice crack, it’s just a lot of accumulation of a lot of things, but I’m glad I’m here,” Revelle said. “I’m glad I’m here.”
Nebraska and Penn State will close out their four-game series at 11 a.m. Sunday.