Nebraska Cornhuskers softball


The Nebraska Cornhuskers softball team competes as part of NCAA Division I, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference. The team has played at Bowlin Stadium since 2002.
The program was founded in 1976 as a club sport and became an officially sanctioned varsity sport the next year. Nebraska has made twenty-eight appearances in the NCAA Division I tournament with eight Women's College World Series berths. Longtime head coach Rhonda Revelle is the school's leader in career victories across all sports.

History

Early success

Nebraska's softball program began in 1976 as a club sport and was officially sanctioned as a varsity sport in 1977 in the wake of Title IX. Don Isherwood led the program in its early years but was fired in 1980 as the university wanted a head coach with a college degree. NU hired Nancy Plantz, who led the Cornhuskers to the inaugural NCAA Division I Women's College World Series in 1982. Plantz's tenure ended in a disastrous 1983 season that was cut short by the university after player walkouts and a last-place conference finish.
Nebraska was nearly unable to field a team in 1984 before hiring former NAIA Coach of the Year Wayne Daigle to lead the program. Shortstop Denise Day was named the first All-American in program history and led the Cornhuskers to a school record for wins and a return to the WCWS. Daigle's second season saw the breakout of freshman pitcher Lori Sippel, whose no-hitter against Louisiana Tech in the WCWS opener helped Nebraska reach its first title game, where it lost to UCLA. Months later, Nebraska's national runner-up finish was vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions; according to the committee, Daigle allowed a redshirt player to travel with the team and purchased dinner for a recruit and her family. NU was ineligible for postseason play in 1986, which would be Daigle's last season at Nebraska. He resigned and returned to Texas, where he coached high school softball for the remainder of his career.
Athletic director Bob Devaney named pitching coach Ron Wolforth Daigle's successor. Wolforth led Nebraska back to the WCWS in each of his first two seasons, its fourth and fifth appearances in the event's first seven years. Wolforth's teams were less successful in the later years of his tenure and he grew weary of the NCAA's increasingly stringent rules and guidelines. He resigned in 1992 to start a baseball and softball academy in Vancouver.

Rhonda Revelle era

Devaney hired former Nebraska pitcher Rhonda Revelle to replace Wolforth in 1993. Revelle inherited a program that hadn't made the NCAA tournament since 1988 but soon returned NU to national relevance. Nebraska did not miss the tournament from 1995 to 2007 and became a fixture in the national top twenty-five. In 1998, Nebraska completed the first undefeated season in Big 12 history and returned to the Women's College World Series – Revelle became the third person to reach the WCWS as a player and a head coach, and the first to do it at the same school. Nebraska won at least fifty games in each of the next three seasons, culminating in another WCWS appearance in 2002. NU's run of twelve consecutive top-twenty-five national finishes ended in 2007, and the following year the program missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.
NU reached the WCWS in its second season in the Big Ten, the same year Revelle won her 768th game to pass former baseball coach John Sanders for the most victories by any coach at the university. Nebraska won the Big Ten for the first time in 2014. In 2019, Revelle was placed on paid administrative leave after allegations she harassed and emotionally abused players, but was reinstated after investigation without further punishment. Revelle won her 1,000th game at Nebraska in 2021.

Conference affiliations

Coaches

Coaching history

1Don Isherwood1976–1980106–85 (16–24 (
2Nancy Plantz1981–198377–53 (17–16 (
3Wayne Daigle1984–1986110–31 (26–6 (
4Ron Wolforth1987–1992188–126 (29–25 (
5Rhonda Revelle1993–present ( (

Venues

Nebraska played its first six seasons at Ballard Ballfield, a public park in Lincoln's Havelock District, before moving to the NU Softball Complex, which was located directly north of Mabel Lee Hall on the university campus. Bowlin Stadium has served as the program's home venue since it was built as part of the Haymarket Park complex in 2002. It has a listed capacity of 2,796, with nearly 1,000 chairback seats in addition to metal bleachers down the first base line and all-grass berms down both foul lines. Nebraska has ranked in the national top ten in attendance five times and hosted five NCAA Regionals since moving to Bowlin Stadium. On April 27, 2024, a stadium-record crowd of 2,691 saw Northwestern defeat Nebraska 8–1. Bowlin Stadium is adjacent to the larger Hawks Field, which hosts Nebraska's baseball team.

Championships and awards

Women's College World Series

Conference championships

;Regular season
;Tournament

National awards

Conference awards

;Player of the year
;Pitcher of the year
;Freshman of the year
;Coach of the year

First-team All-Americans

  • Denise Day – 1985
  • Lori Richins – 1986
  • Ali Viola – 1996, 1998
  • Jenny Voss – 1998
  • Jennifer Lizama – 1999
  • Taylor Edwards – 2014
  • M. J. Knighten – 2016
  • Jordy Bahl – 2025

NCAA Division I tournament results

Nebraska has appeared in twenty-eight NCAA Division I tournaments with a record of 69–58, including eight trips to the Women's College World Series.
1982RegionalMissouriW 1–0, L 1–0, W 4–1
1982Women's College World SeriesCreighton
Arizona State
Fresno State		W 3–2
L 2–0
L 1–0
1984RegionalOklahoma StateW 3–2, W 2–1
1984Women's College World SeriesFresno State
Texas A&M
Adelphi
UCLA		W 2–0
L 5–2
W 2–1
L 1–0
1985RegionalKansasL 4–1, W 6–1, W 2–0
1985Women's College World SeriesLouisiana Tech
Cal Poly Pomona
Cal State Fullerton
UCLA		W 6–0
W 2–0
W 5–1
L 3–0, L 2–1
1987RegionalUtahW 6–0, W 3–2
1987Women's College World SeriesFresno State
UCLA
Central Michigan
Texas A&M		W 1–0
L 3–0
W 2–1
L 4–0
1988RegionalIowa State
Creighton		W 5–2
L 3–2, W 7–2, W 4–1
1988Women's College World SeriesCal Poly Pomona
Adelphi
Fresno State		L 3–0
W 5–1
L 1–0
1995RegionalFlorida State
Arizona		W 6–1, L 6–2
L 9–1
1996RegionalMinnesota
Southwest Louisiana
Nicholls State		W 5–0
L 9–4
2–0
1997RegionalArizona State
Arizona		W 10–1, W 2–1
L 2–0, L 5–1
1998RegionalCoastal Carolina
Iowa
Oregon		W 7–0
W 1–0
W 9–7
1998Women's College World SeriesFresno State
Texas
Washington		L 6–1
W 2–1
L 3–1
1999RegionalNotre Dame
Arizona State
Florida Atlantic		W 2–0, W 4–3
L 1–0, W 2–1, L 4–2
W 4–2
2000RegionalIllinois State
South Carolina
Arizona		W 8–0
W 11–1, W 9–0
L 13–0, L 5–0
2001RegionalBYU
Pacific
Stanford		W 3–1
W 2–1, L 3–1
L 5–1
2002RegionalUIC
Iowa
Oregon State
Notre Dame		W 1–0
W 3–0
W 7–0
W 5–3
2002Women's College World SeriesArizona
Michigan
Florida State		L 1–0
W 1–0
L 4–3
2003RegionalHofstra
Pacific
Mississippi State
Iowa		L 3–1, W 6–0
W 11–7
W 8–0
L 2–1
2004RegionalLehigh
Creighton
California		W 6–0
W 2–0, W 3–1
L 2–0, L 2–0
2005RegionalIowa
Washington		W 4–0, L 1–0
L 7–6
2006RegionalIowa
California
Illinois State		W 1–0
L 4–2, L 6–1
W 3–1
2007RegionalGeorgia
Creighton		L 3–2
L 2–1
2009RegionalJacksonville State
Tennessee		W 4–2, L 4–1
L 5–2
2010RegionalNorth Carolina
L 1–0, L 1–0
W 5–1
2011RegionalFresno State
Pacific
Stanford		L 1–0, W 5–0
W 11–1
L 4–1
2013RegionalNorthern Iowa
Stanford		W 4–0
W 7–1, W 10–5
2013Super regionalOregon
2013Women's College World SeriesWashington
Florida		L 4–3
L 9–8
2014RegionalKansas
Bradley
Missouri		L 3–1, W 2–1
W 9–0
W 11–4, W 8–1
2014Super regionalAlabamaL 6–5, L 2–1
2015RegionalArizona State
Texas Southern
LSU		L 5–2
W 5–0
L 3–2
2016RegionalLouisville
Missouri
BYU		W 3–2
L 8–0, L 9–0
W 2–0
2022RegionalNorth Texas
Oklahoma State		W 3–0, L 3–0
L 7–4
2023RegionalWichita State
UMBC
Oklahoma State		L 6–5, W 9–8
W 3–2
L 5–2
2025RegionalConnecticut
Southeastern Louisiana		W 10–2
W 14–1, W 8–0
2025Super regionalTennesseeW 5–2, L 3–2, L 1–0

Seasons

Regular season championTournament championRegular season and tournament champion