The grass is wet, a mist hangs in the air, and the temperature hovers around 45 degrees.
But talk to the Cornhusker softball team, and you’d think you left late-winter Lincoln for a Caribbean cruise.
“We’re just so happy to be outside,” coach Rhonda Revelle said.
One can hardly blame Revelle for overlooking the gray skies and impending thunderstorms. With a lineup chock full of freshmen, she has been forced to watch a snow blanket over Bowlin Stadium stubbornly resist melting for the first 21 games of the season.
Not having access to an outdoor field makes developing a young team especially challenging, she said. While some factors can be accounted for inside, others like wind and field conditions cannot.
But all that changed Tuesday when the Huskers held their first outdoor practice nearly one month after opening the regular season. It marked the latest date for a first trip outside Revelle can remember in her 18 years as Nebraska’s coach.
“I felt like it was the first (practice) of the season our outfielders could work on getting better in real game-like conditions,” Revelle said. “We’re on grass, we’re wearing cleats, we’re able to get balls from hitters.”
Cabin fever has been especially hard on a young Nebraska outfield already hurt by Crystal Gonzalez’s hamstring injury. Still, freshman Brooke Thomason and sophomore Nikki Haget have been settling into outfield roles.
Haget, who only saw time as a pinch runner last year after playing infield in high school, said she slowly made the adjustment with more and more opportunities to play.
“It was a struggle,” she said. “I’m getting better and better. It’s just about reps, and I’m started to feel really comfortable out in the outfield.”
Revelle expects her young players to learn faster now that they are able to apply what they learn in a game to a similar practice situation, not just a pitch in a batting cage.
“I think once we get consistent outside, you’re going to see faster learning curves,” Revelle said. “Because that’s what you do after you play, you go out and you work on those things. Some of those things, when you go back indoors, you can’t replicate.”
Haget is a prime candidate to break out defensively. With six errors committed on the season and a team-low .733 fielding percentage, Revelle said her speedy slap hitter is part of an outfield corps that just needs time to adjust.
“The very thing that our young outfielders need is the very thing they haven’t been able to get,” Revelle said. “It’s just a total uncontrollable. They can work as hard as they can on taking fly balls from a coach hitting inside, it’s just not the same.”
And while Revelle said the team is able to do about 80 percent of its work inside, the other 20 percent of the equation has been holding her 11-10 squad back. The team is 0-5 in one-run games, 0-2 in extra innings and 3-5 when they commit two or more errors. Correcting a dropped ball here or a misplayed ball there could have the Huskers sitting well above .500.
But while it can’t turn back the clock on those tight games, a chance at redemption will come this weekend in the team’s last of five preseason road tournaments. The Huskers open play Friday in Tempe, Ariz., against Pacific, a team that hasn’t had to battle blizzards back home.
And with some precious time to practice outdoors, Revelle is expecting more contributions from her outfield.
“I’m expecting those outfielders to have a bit more confidence,” she said. “Now we’ve had 200 percent more outfield practices than we had going into last weekend.”
mitchsmith@dailynebraskan.com
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