The ingredients that have the Husker softball team rolling — good pitching, good defense, timely hits and momentum-swinging homers — were there again Sunday as Nebraska scratched out two wins at Michigan State to push its win streak to 13.
Olivia Ferrell delivered a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to lift NU to a 7-5 extra-inning win in Game 1 in East Lansing, Michigan. The Huskers followed with a 5-4 win in the second game.
Nebraska is 28-9 overall, and its 8-0 start to league play has it atop the Big Ten standings. NU is 8-0 in conference play for the first time since 2004, and the 13-game winning streak is the program's longest since the 2002 Huskers won 23 straight.
On Sunday, the Huskers showed their toughness in a pair of back-and-forth games.
In Game 1, Nebraska had a 5-4 lead and had Michigan State down to its last out. But Jess Mabrey tied the game at 5-5 on a solo home run off of Ferrell, who entered the game in the seventh inning.
The Spartans (20-20, 1-9) threatened to walk it off in the bottom of the eighth after a lead-off walk, but Ferrell got out of trouble with a groundout and two fly balls.
Ferrell changed the game with her bat. After Abbie Squier reached on an error, Ferrell connected on a pitch to the outside part of the plate and it cleared the fence in dead center field.
Ferrell kept it going in the second. She homered again to tie the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning.
After MSU regained the lead, Billie Andrews sliced an RBI double to right field in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3 and Mya Felder singled through the left side to score Andrews for a 4-3 lead.
Andrews added another RBI hit in the sixth to push the lead to 5-3.
After recording three hits in the first game, Andrews added two more hits and two RBIs in the second. NU's defense also turned a pair of critical double plays in the first game.
Kaylin Kinney (2-1) earned her second win in as many Sundays. She tossed four innings and struck out two, and Ferrell pitched the final three innings for the save.
NU returns home to host a doubleheader against Iowa beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Bowlin Stadium.
Photos: Huskers look to close out softball sweep against Rutgers