[4] NU hired Nancy Plantz, who led the Cornhuskers to the inaugural NCAA Division I Women's College World Series in 1982 (in its early years the tournament was held in Omaha, longtime host of the College World Series, meaning NU played the WCWS less than fifty miles from its Lincoln campus).

Plantz's tenure ended in a disastrous 1983 season that was cut short by the university after player walkouts and a last-place conference finish.

[5] The Cornhuskers set a school record for wins and returned to the WCWS as shortstop Denise Day was named the first All-American in program history.

Daigle's second season saw the breakout of freshman pitcher Lori Sippel, whose no-hitter against Louisiana Tech in the WCWS opener helped send the Cornhuskers to the title game for the first time, where they lost 2–1 to UCLA.

[2] This also made NU ineligible for postseason play in 1986, which would be Daigle's last at Nebraska; he resigned and returned to Texas, where he coached high school softball for the remainder of his career.

[8] Nebraska won at least fifty games in each of the next three seasons, culminating in another WCWS appearance in 2002; NU was eliminated with a pair of one-run losses.

Nebraska's run of twelve consecutive top-twenty-five national finishes ended in 2007, and the following year the program missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.