Three Huskers Named Big Ten Players to Watch

Jordyn Bahl, Ava Kuszak and Olivia DiNardo were all recognized as Big Ten Players to Watch, the conference announced on Tuesday. 

 

Bahl earned numerous other awards leading up to the 2025 season. She was tabbed No. 2 on D1 Softball’s Top 100 Players to Watch list, along with being named the No. 2 pitcher to watch. She was also a D1 Softball Preseason First-Team All-American. She was dubbed a Softball America Preseason First-Team All-American and was No. 9 on Softball America’s Top 100 Players to Watch for the 2025 season. Bahl was also named a member of USA Softball’s Top 53 Watchlist.

 

The Papillion, Neb., native suffered a season-ending injury in the Huskers’ first game of the season last year. In her first two years at Oklahoma, she was a two-time NFCA First Team All-American and a two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, along with being named the 2022 National Freshman of the Year. 

 

DiNardo, a catcher, racked up various accolades during her two years at Arizona. She was a second-team NFCA All-West Region member in 2023 and a Third-Team member in 2024 and was named a Second-Team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honoree in 2023. Over the course of two seasons with the Wildcats, DiNardo started 102 games and built up a batting average of .340, along with 15 doubles, 20 home runs and 74 RBIs.

 

Kuszak earned second-team All-Big Ten honors and third-team NFCA All-Great Lakes Region accolades in 2024. During her two seasons at Wisconsin, the infielder played in 76 games with 65 starts and notched 16 doubles, 10 home runs and 33 RBIs on a .278 batting average.

 

The No. 19 Huskers will open their season this Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. (CT) against No. 6 Tennessee at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. The game will be streamed for free on GameChanger and is free to listen to across the Huskers Radio Network.