Rhonda Revelle addresses the possibility of using Jordy Bahl as a two-way player

The country knows all about Jordy Bahl and her ability on the pitcher’s mound. But her hitting ability is much less well known.

With a lineup full of stars at Oklahoma, Bahl wasn’t asked to contribute much from the batter’s box for the Sooners. But now with Nebraska, Cornhuskers head coach Rhonda Revelle said Bahl could be a two-way player for the team next season.

“I think when you see an athlete and if they have athletic talent on both sides of the ball, then absolutely we’re going to utilize that talent,” Revelle said. “There’s just a long history of that.”

Courtney Wallace was a two-way player this past season for the Cornhuskers. She made 30 starts on the mound and another 18 starts outside of the mound.

But going back about a decade, Nebraska had a two-way star in Tatum Edwards. Edwards was a two-time first-team All-Big Ten performer, winning 70 games and hitting 46 home runs during her career.

“We can go back to Tatum Edwards,” Revelle said. “If you recall that 15 inning game against Florida, Tatum started,” “She pitched the first seven or eight innings. We brought out with out. We thought she fatiguing a little bit. We put her in left field and then Emily Lachman threw three or four innings and then we bring Tatum back into pitch. All the while, the reason we put her in left field, she was a great athlete, but we couldn’t afford to take her bat out of the lineup. I think she was hitting leadoff for us that particular year.”

Bahl had 32 at-bats this season with 13 hits, 13 runs scored and eight RBI.

In high school at Papillion (Neb.) Papillion-LaVista, Bahl was a two-way star who hit 20 home runs with a .510 batting average as a senior. She was the 2020-21 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year.

“I watched her play so much and I don’t know if in high school I know that they were probably more feared with her on the mound but nobody wanted her up to bat against them either,” Revelle said. “(Her) senior year, she hit 20 home runs and they were legitimate like they were getting out of the ballpark. She just has that extra competitive fire and she has that will the win and it doesn’t matter if she’s on the mound with the facemask on or if she’s in the box with the helmet on, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Revelle said if Bahl ends up being considered for a two-way role, the rising junior will be up to the task.

“She loves hitting,” Revelle said. “She loves hitting so I don’t think she’s going to argue with that opportunity to be in our lineup, to earn a spot in our lineup.”