Nebraska Wins 2022 Big Ten Softball Tournament Championship
2022 Big Ten Softball Tournament Central
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The second-seeded University of Nebraska softball team won the 2022 Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship Saturday with a 3-1 victory in eight innings over No. 4 seed (and two-time defending tournament champion) Michigan in the title game before a packed house at Secchia Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.
It was the Huskers’ first conference tournament championship since 2004, when they were members of the Big 12 Conference. Saturday’s final was also just the second Big Ten Tournament championship game to go extra innings, the other coming in 2016 (when Minnesota defeated Michigan, 4-3 in 10 innings).
With the victory, Nebraska earns the Big Ten’s automatic berth into this year’s NCAA Tournament, with the complete 64-team NCAA field revealed at 7 p.m. (ET) Sunday live on ESPN2.
Tournament Most Outstanding Player Cam Ybarra had two hits and factored into all three Nebraska runs on Saturday. She started by drilling a solo home run to right in the top of the first inning to put the Huskers (40-14) ahead. However, a handful of chances on both sides, that would be the only scoring through the first four innings.
Michigan (36-16) tied the score in the bottom of the fifth on a rally that started when Annabelle Widra was hit by a pitch with one out. She promptly stole second and, after an out and a walk, Audrey LeClair came through with a clutch two-out double to left center, scoring Widra with the equalizer.
The Wolverines had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh when Ella McVey led off with a walk and Kristina Burkhardt was hit by a pitch. However, LeClair grounded to Ybarra at second, and she tagged the passing Burkhardt before throwing to first to complete the double play. Lexie Blair followed with a pop out to Ybarra, sending the championship game to extra innings.
Nebraska then fashioned a two-out rally in the eighth to take the lead. Billie Andrews started by drawing a four-pitch walk and Ybarra immediately drove her home on the next pitch with a double to the right-center field gap. Two pitches later, Sydney Gray laced a single to left field, scoring Ybarra with an insurance run.
Courtney Wallace earned the pitching win in relief, throwing 2.0 perfect innings, including a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to clinch the Big Ten Tournament title. Wallace stepped into the circle in place of Olivia Ferrell, who worked the first six-plus innings and allowed just one run on three hits with four walks and two strikeouts.
Burkhardt had two of Michigan’s three hits on Saturday. Alex Storako matched Ferrell and Wallace nearly pitch for pitch all afternoon for the Wolverines, settling down after the first-inning home run by Ybarra and retiring 11 in a row between the second and fifth innings. She ended up taking the pitching loss after going 7.2 innings and allowing just four hits and fanning four but yielding all three Husker runs.
The 2022 Big Ten All-Tournament Team was as follows:
Most Outstanding Player: Cam Ybarra, Sr., 2B, Nebraska
All-Tournament Team
Taylor Bump, Grad., 3B, Michigan
Alex Storako, Sr., P, Michigan
Annabelle Widra, Fr., DP, Michigan
Mya Felder, Jr., 1B, Nebraska
Olivia Ferrell, Sr., P, Nebraska
Courtney Wallace, Sr., P, Nebraska
Cam Ybarra, Sr., 2B, Nebraska
Rachel Lewis, Grad., OF, Northwestern
Danielle Williams, Sr., P, Northwestern
Lexie Handley, Grad., P, Ohio State
Melina Wilkison, Fr., OF, Ohio State
Bailey Parshall, Sr., P, Penn State