2026 Huskers Softball: A Magical Run Born of Jordy’s Torn ACL
· Yahoo Sports
If you’ve never seen Charlie Wilson’s War, I highly recommend it.
It’s an extremely funny movie about a very dark, amazing and crazy era in which the good old US of A armed the Afghans in their war to fight off a Soviet invasion – and then inadvertently screwed it up and helped give birth to the Taliban. Okay, you can’t win them all and I’m not here rehash the conflict.
Visit betsport.cv for more information.
But this much is true – it’s a great movie with Tom Hanks as Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson and Philip Seymour Hoffman as CIA-spook-extraordinaire both going the distance and throwing 102 for 9 full innings.
There are many memorable scenes, but this one where Gus tells Charlie the story of the zen master and how we never know how things are going to turn out seems especially relevant when it comes to Jordy Frahm and the 2026 Nebraska Cornhuskers:
On February 8th, 2024, Jordy (then) Bahl tears her ACL in the 3rd inning of their season opener against Ruby Meylan in Mexico.
Husker Fans: “Oh, no, this is terrible!!”
The Husker Zen Master: “We’ll see.”
The 2024 season and the Huskers’ best shot at a WCWS run appeared to have just go up in smoke. They would lose career home run leader Billie Andrews as well as her defensive-whiz sister Brooke and third baseman Sidney Gray after that season. They ended in the Big 10 tourney with their one healthy pitcher, Sarah Harness, reaching the end of her stamina in an Indiana comeback and extra-innings win in the semis. They were not selected for the NCAA tournament.
Husker Fans: “That was our best and only shot! We can’t replace an offense like that.”
The Husker Zen Master: “We’ll see.”
Coach Rhonda Revelle hit the transfer portal. In addition to Frahm and Bella Bacon in ‘24, she added Ava Kuszak, Olivia DiNardo, Kacie Hoffman and the Caminzend twins. The Huskers raised their batting average from .299 to .346 and were among the top 5 teams in the country with 107 home runs. They advanced to the Super Regional losing a 1-0 Game 3 to Tennessee and Karlyn Pickens.
This would have been the sunset on Jordy’s college career – except for that torn ACL and the medical redshirt which came with it.
Also coming were two more additions from the portal: catcher Jessie Farrell to replace Ava Bredwell and Hannah Coor to cement a center field position which seldom hit and a rotated a few different players in ‘25 – and freshman Alexis Jensen to add a high-quality second starter after a season which saw Jordy throw 206 innings and start every post-season game.
And, maybe most importantly, a roster which was young in 2025 had turned into a 23-woman unit with 12 seniors for ’26 – a team which was tailor-made to, as Coach Rhonda Revelle often put it, run itself.
And in 2026, they rolled to what is probably the program’s best team ever through a Super Regional:
- 51-6 record, 23-1 conference record, 1st place
- Record attained while playing the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation
- Regular season and conference tournament champions – first time since 2004
- 26 consecutive wins (and counting?) – school record
- Hosted and won their NCAA Regional going 3-0
- Hosted their first NCAA Super Regional sweeping Oklahoma State going 2-0.
I started thinking about that ACL injury back about the time Nebraska was 6-4 to start the season and had wins over each of the nation’s #1 teams over the first two weeks – Texas and Texas Tech. Others might have been having the same thought; I sure don’t claim to be the first. I’m guessing Jordy probably began having those thoughts in the fall around the time she saw Jensen start firing away.
By the way, I am aware the 6-4 start means they 45-2 since those first two weekends. Nothing like realizing you can play with anyone.
Following the final Oklahoma State game Saturday, I asked her if she still saw things reaching the current crescendo as she was beginning to rehab the injured knee. Her response?
“I think that that little injury was one of the best things that that has ever happened to me in the world of my sports career, or whatever. I just needed that year so bad to be away from the game, be away from the pressures, be away from everything, and just, yeah, absolutely reset, and also realign with my faith.“
After years of competitive softball including the two championship seasons at Oklahoma and all the accolades which accompanied them, a year away like that probably doesn’t feel like the worst thing. And while missing the competition and watching your team out there without you is tough, you do get to spend another year with your team.
“The joy doesn’t come from the outcomes on the field. That year that I was hurt was one of the most joyful years I’ve had, and that’s just continued from there.”
It wasn’t the first time she has expressed that sentiment. I had asked awhile back what it was like rehabbing in 2024, which just happened to be the worst rash of injuries in her tenure as Head Coach according to Revelle. But Frahm had smiled while she talked about remembering having so many teammates with her during the process going through the same thing.
And that injury being the reason she is still a member of the Huskers softball during this historic season is fully on her mind as the team prepares to head for Oklahoma City.
“When I transferred back home to Nebraska, obviously that (the ACL injury) happened right off the bat, and I can tell you that is the last thing that I was expecting. But if that didn’t happen, I’m not sitting here today in my fifth year with this special team, and I’ve thought about that so much. Just this year, as it’s gone on, it’s like I couldn’t have scripted this, nobody could have scripted this, the way this team came together. I never thought I’d be playing with my freshman roommate (Hannah Coor) again, never thought I’d be playing with Lex (Jensen) when we were getting coffee together when I was in high school. But here we are and yeah, it’s God’s timing and everything, and he has just totally written this story, and that just, whatever happens next week, it’s already written.”
I wouldn’t begin to agree the ending is already written, but that’s a quibble, an agree-to-disagree. The one thing I’m sure of is when bad things happen, one just has to roll with it, because we don’t know where things are going to lead. And as Jordy said, they’ve already led to some pretty great places.
And as far as the end result of 2026 Husker Softball? Sticking with the Zen Master.
Husker Fans: Oh my gawd, this team might actually win the WCWS!!!!
Husker Zen Master: We’ll see. 🙂