It didn’t take long for Arrocha Ballpark to pay off for Kansas University’s softball team.

Melaney Torres’ wind-blown home run helped the Jayhawks edge Utah, 2-1, Saturday morning in the debut game at KU’s new stadium.

And Serena Settlemier also benefited from the wind in slamming a solo blast during KU’s 3-0 nonconference blanking of Nebraska in the afternoon portion of the Jayhawk Classic.

Neither Torres nor Settlemier would have had a home run at Jayhawk Field, KU’s old facility.

“No, because the wind would have been blowing in,” KU coach Tracy Bunge said.

Jayhawk Field faced the prevailing southwesterly winds; Arrocha Ballpark faces the northeast.

“We did that to help the scoring,” Bunge said. “You’ll see more home runs like that. But we also did it to make it more fan friendly. Instead of having wind and dirt in their faces, the fans have the wind at their backs.”

Kansas hadn’t collected a hit off Utah pitcher Samantha Schroeder until Torres, a sophomore from Grand Prairie, Texas, led off the fifth inning by launching the fly ball that wafted just behind the left-field fence to give the Jayhawks a 1-0 lead.

“She threw me a change-up the first time, and I popped it up,” Torres said. “I knew they’d throw it again. I like change-ups, but I didn’t think I hit it out. It feels good, though.”

Kansas University players Nettie Fierros, left, and Lindsey Weinstein, right congratulate Sandy Smith after her solo home run against Nebraska. The Jayhawks won twice Saturday -- 2-1 over Utah and 3-0 against the Cornhuskers -- in their first games at Arrocha Ballpark.

Kansas added what proved to be the winning run in the seventh on a Nettie Fierros double and Jessica Moppin’s RBI single.

KU pitcher Kara Pierce surrendered a gigantic solo home run to Utah’s Kate Nygaard in the bottom of the seventh before retiring the side and making history by becoming the first pitcher to win a game at Arrocha.

“Yeah, I’m the first winning pitcher,” Pierce said with a smile, “and I’m the first to give up a bomb.”

Nygaard’s home run — a towering rainmaker that landed on the football practice field far beyond the left-field fence — needed no help at all from the wind. Neither did KU third baseman Sandy Smith’s line shot just inside the foul pole that started the second inning of the nightcap.

As it turned out, Smith’s homer was all freshman hurler Kassie Humphreys needed to dispose of the No. 17-ranked Cornhuskers. Humphreys fanned 11 and allowed just one hit, a single by Liz Lawhorn.

In retrospect, it’s a wonder Humphreys, making her KU home debut, ever went to the mound at all.

“I was nauseous. I was an emotional wreck,” said Humphreys, Arizona’s high school player of the year in 2003. “I needed a tranquilizer or something. But I finally settled down. After the first inning, I felt much better.”

Humphreys walked five and had to pitch out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

“Kassie spotted her low stuff well, and with the wind blowing out we needed that,” Bunge said.

Coincidentally, Pierce, who surrendered just three hits to Utah in the opener, also pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth-inning.

“She’s been doing that a lot this year,” Bunge said of Pierce, a senior right-hander. “We’ve seen her get tougher when she’s in trouble. There was no way in the world she was going to let a run in. You could see it on her face.”

Kansas (11-4) stretched its winning streak to 10 with the two victories. In Saturday’s other game, Nebraska clubbed Utah, 9-1, in six innings.

The Jayhawks will meet Utah at 12:15 p.m. and Nebraska at 2:30 p.m. today. Utah and Nebraska will meet at 10 a.m.