The No. 4 Nebraska softball team’s 2026 season came to an end in the Women’s College World Series on Sunday, but head coach Rhonda Revelle said the relationships the Huskers built is what she’ll remember most about this year’s team.
Those relationships started early on, with Revelle reading the team the book “The Carpenter” by Jon Gordon. Revelle said the story shows the principles of loving, serving and caring, which is what she wanted the team to focus on.
“When that became our mission, softball and the way we played the game was a byproduct of what we were trying to be and do as human beings with each other, for each other, and everybody that traveled in our path,” Revelle said. “This team did a remarkable job of that because of No. 1, who they foundationally are at their core, but No. 2 of how they nurtured all of those things.
“It’s an incredible story, and I wish we had a documentary about how to love and serve and care for one another, because it’s beautiful. If that’s all we had and weren’t even worried about games, we just won the national championship.”
Nebraska (52-8, 23-1 Big Ten) lost 3-1 to sixth-ranked Texas in an elimination game at Devon Park in Oklahoma City Sunday afternoon.
Senior two-way player Jordy Frahm concluded her final season 21-6 in the circle. With a lead-off walk to start the game against Texas, the Papillion-La Vista grad became the first player in NCAA softball history to have 20 home runs and 20 wins in consecutive seasons.
“I would just say the whole journey has been not what I expected, obviously, starting out at Oklahoma University and then transferring back home to Nebraska and getting hurt and all that,” Frahm said. “One thing that we talked about in the locker room, somebody said ‘Jordy, thank you for coming home and changing this program.’ I said, ‘I didn’t come home and change this program, no one person can do it.’ It was the girls who were already here that absolutely bought into what this program could do, it was all of the transfers that we had coming in with the goal, knowing what this program could do, and it was everybody the last three years putting in their work to make this team what it was this year …
“It really hurts right now, but I’m just so thankful for the journey and to finish it here with this team.”
In her three seasons at Nebraska, Frahm went in the circle 47-15. The 2026 USA Collegiate Softball Player of The Year and NFCA Player of the Year led the Huskers to Big Ten regular season and tournament titles as a senior. She was also named the Big Ten player and Pitcher of the Year. Frahm guided Nebraska to its first Super Regional hosting opportunity in program history and helped the Huskers tie the program record for wins in a season. Nebraska’s .867 winning percentage is also the highest in school history.
At the plate, she hit .403 with 51 RBIs, 11 doubles, four triples and the aforementioned 20 home runs. On Monday, Frahm announced that she and her husband Trey are expecting their first child in December. She was pregnant for most of the season.
“Just her person, it’s big, and it’s big not because she’s trying to make it big,” Revelle said of Frahm. “It’s big because everything she does she’s trying to do it to the very best of her ability, and she also happens to be very talented too. She’s physically talented, she’s athletically gifted, but what maybe people don’t understand is her emotional intelligence is off the charts. Her ability to feel and read her teammates, and know when they need something, that’s the stuff that hasn’t been talked about enough.”
The Huskers have 12 seniors graduating, but Frahm said she believes the culture they’ve built together have the Huskers in a good position heading into the future.
“Having girls stand up with such passion for the things that they were saying about this program, I truly believe that this is a steppingstone,” Frahm said. “This is just a steppingstone for the higher places this program’s going to continue to go. I think we have great leaders, and one thing that we also talked about in there was Coach said just the place that our culture’s at now, not letting that waver. We are losing a lot of girls, and we’re going to have a lot of new people coming in next year, whether it’s freshmen, transfers, whatever.
“The culture that we have right now is set in a great place to continue growing, and to continue building, and my confidence is through the roof with our returners.”
Revelle echoed the sentiment.
“They feel a lot of responsibility, and they’re encouraged by what this senior class did, and where this senior class has positioned this program,” Revelle said of next year’s returning players. “They take a lot of pride in it, not doing this, and I love that. I love that they spoke out and spoke up like that. We’ve got a freshman group that we are super excited about … So the future is still bright.”
Out of Nebraska’s 12 seniors, eight are transfers, including Nebraska natives Frahm, outfielder Kacie Hoffmann (Oklahoma) and twin sisters outfielder Hannah Camenzind and second baseman and catcher Lauren Camenzind (Arkansas).
“Many of these seniors that came back and returned to Nebraska weren’t originally on the roster because we went through a really tough time,” Revelle said. “So there’s a variety of reasons they weren’t originally on the roster, but I actually said to the three that went to Arkansas the night before we played Arkansas, I said, ‘You understand, and (head coach) Courtney (Deifel) and I had this conversation, had that 2019 incident never happened you would have always been a Husker, and you’re always a Husker …
“So they’ve left it in a beautiful place for us to build on, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Frahm said she wants the senior class to be known for the relationships they built and the care they had for one another.
“I hope that we’re remembered for the way that people who watched our games saw that genuine love for one another, but the joy that we played with, and the tenacity that we played with,” Frahm said. “Those are really the biggest things, just the character of this team more than anything.”
