ESPN
While Ava Kuszak played the hero for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Thursday night’s 5-3 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Women’s College World Series, she was far from the star of the show.
Kuszak hit a two-run, walk-off home run in the tenth inning to give the Huskers their first WCWS win since 2002 and only their second walk-off victory in WCWS. However, anybody who watched the game knows that the real star was Susan Eads.
Eads does not play for Nebraska. She also does not play for the Razorbacks. Instead, Eads was the home plate umpire for the game, and for once, an umpire is at the center of a story for something other than a blown call or an ejection.
Susan Eads’ Hilarious Strikeout Calls Thrill Women’s College World Series Viewers
Instead, Eads became the star of the game thanks to her extremely demonstrative strikeout calls, which quickly went viral on social media and are most likely unlike anything you’ve ever seen or heard before.
“That ump out here sounding like (she’s) calling WWE matches instead of softball strikes,” one fan said of Eads’ calls. “10 innings of full-throat screams? (Her) voice box gotta be filing for workers comp tomorrow.”
Umpire screams on every called strike throughout the entirety of a 10-inning softball game pic.twitter.com/iRkbQGPsmU
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 29, 2026
“Stoppp the umpire has main character energy… every called strike is (her) personal standing ovation,” wrote another.
In total, there were 11 strikeouts in the contest, nine of which came from Nebraska pitcher Jordy Frahm, whose husband has also been a major story throughout the tournament.
However, not everyone had quite as much fun with Eads’ audacious strike three calls.
“Great fight from our Arkansas softball team last night. Sad it didn’t go our way. Heck of a game and big 👏 to Nebraska. However, the umpire behind the plate was the most audibly annoying ump I’ve ever heard. Need to fix that. Youch,” one fan wrote.
Personally, as someone with no investment in either team, I’m all in on Eads joining the show. That is, so long as she’s making the correct calls.