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Published Thursday January 26, 2006 New faces will lead CU, NU softball teams BY CHAD PURCELL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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It isn't at all rare for the Creighton and Nebraska softball teams to get that first taste of sun and dirt only after traveling south for their first games of the year.

But thanks to the mild weather that's dominated January, both the Bluejays and the Huskers already have spent several days on campus working out outside.

"I can't remember a January quite like this," Creighton coach Brent Vigness said. "And for this team, with us being so young, it couldn't be better timing. It's just what the doctor ordered."

For both of the state's Division I softball programs, success in 2006 will depend on the progress of some fresh faces in the circle.

College Softball Creighton Season opener: Oklahoma State Classic, Feb. 17-19, Stillwater, Okla. Home opener: South Dakota State, March 22 Nebraska Season opener: Arizona State Classic, Feb. 10-12, Tempe, Ariz. Home opener: Northern Colorado, March 14

Call it a changing of the arms.

Molly Hill, the star pitcher out of Wayne, Neb., begins her first season with the Huskers. As a senior last year, Hill led Wayne High School to the Class C state title. She went 33-0 and didn't allow an earned run.

Nebraska coach Rhonda Revelle hopes Hill and junior Ashley DeBuhr can form a formidable 1-2 punch.

DeBuhr was dominant at times last year, earning second-team All-Big 12 honors after throwing just 36²/₃ innings as a freshman.

Revelle even said it probably won't be rare for the Huskers to throw both DeBuhr and Hill in the same game, a strategy that helped the team in the early 2000s when standouts Leigh Ann Walker and Peaches James pitched at NU.

"I think Ashley and Molly will have their share of complete games, but they'll have their share of split games, too," said Revelle, whose team was ranked 21st and 22nd in the two preseason polls released Tuesday. "They're different enough pitchers that we can use them in the same game and really give hitters a whole different look."

For Creighton, touted rookie pitchers Cassidy Nee (Flora Vista, N.M.) and Mel Gomez (Chino, Calif.) join the Bluejays' new-look staff.

Creighton graduated two of the best players in Missouri Valley Conference history last year in Tammy Nielsen and Abby Johnson, and those two pitched almost every inning for the team in 2005.

But the Bluejays also return senior Stephanie Cortese and freshman Laura Fonda, who redshirted last year, and Vigness said all four pitchers will get a chance to show what they can do this season.

"We're certainly going to be using our pitchers differently than we did in the past, when we relied so much on Tammy and Abby," Vigness said. "We're going to need innings from all of our pitchers this year."

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