On a day that included a celebration of the Nebraska softball team’s 50-year anniversary and featured the first-ever sellout crowd inside Bowlin Stadium, head coach Rhonda Revelle thought of her mentor.
The late Dr. Barbara Hibner, a former Associate Athletic Director and Senior Women Administrator at Nebraska, had long dreamed of building a home for Husker softball that could entertain crowds in downtown Lincoln.
“She (Hibner) really had the vision for this place, and I remember when we dedicated it, she goes, ‘My hope is that we have to expand it someday,’” Revelle said. “I thought with the alumni here and trying to work for a sellout, what a great tribute to her.
An overflow crowd that packed into the outfield berm and infield bleachers helped sell out Bowlin Stadium for the first time in program history, with the day’s official attendance standing at 3,021.
No. 20 Nebraska softball treated those fans to a win, a 9-2 victory over Maryland which required a late offensive surge to get the job done.
Saturday’s events were bigger than just one game, though, a fact which Revelle was reminded of as she pulled an heirloom out of storage.
Revelle had kept an old item of Hibner’s through the years, a distinctive yellow jacket which she placed in a similar position to where Hibner would take in games at the stadium.
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – For the first time in Bowlin Stadium history, Nebraska softball played in front of a sellout crowd.
A record-setting 3,021 fans packed the stands on Saturday as the No. 20 Huskers rolled past Maryland, 9-2, to clinch its sixth Big Ten series win of the season. The victory moved the Huskers to 37-12 overall and 16-5 in conference play.
The historic crowd shattered the program’s previous attendance record of 2,699, which had been set just two weeks earlier against Indiana.
“The crowd was uneblievable,” Nebraska softball coach Rhonda Revelle said. “The kind of adrenaline the crowd gives you, whether you’re home or away, because you can hopefully channel it either way.”
