2015 Northwestern Softball Spring Break
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2015 NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL SPRING BREAK THE @NUSBCATS The Preview THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE Fresh off a sweep of Penn State to begin the Big Ten season that was at once GAME 25 • at Hofstra 14 • NCAA TOURNAMENT Appearances Tuesday, March 24 • 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET 7 • BIG TEN Championships dominating and nail-biting, Northwestern Hempstead, N.Y. • Hofstra Softball Stadium 7 • NCAA Regional Championships has arrived in New York City for a two-day 5 • WCWS Appearances visit that includes a Tuesday doubleheader GAME 26 • vs. Fordham 3 •WCWS Semifinals against Hofstra and Fordham in Hemp- Tuesday, March 24 • 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET 1 • WCWS Championship Series stead, N.Y. Hempstead, N.Y. • Hofstra Softball Stadium Northwestern games this week begin 2015 SCHEDULE/RESULTS (14-10, 3-0 B1G) at 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET against the host THIS WEEK’S COVERAGE Pride before the Wildcats face the Rams Date Opponent Time (CT)/Result immediately after. Both games will feature live stats and live audio at NUsports.com. LIVE STATS: Gametracker will be available for both FEBRUARY 6-7 Kajikawa Classic—Tempe, Ariz. Fordham is 12-12 after dropping a games at NUsports.com 6 vs. North Carolina W, 7-3 series at Saint Louis last weekend while 6 vs. UC Santa Barbara W, 13-4 (5) Hofstra comes into Tuesday with an 11- LIVE TWITTER: Get live game updates via Twitter by 7 vs. Texas L, 5-4 following @NU_SportsLIVE. 7 vs. No. 2 Oregon L, 8-0 (5) 7-1 record after winning their last four 8 vs. California L, 5-2 games all in shutout fashion. LIVE AUDIO: Long-time Northwestern softball SID 13-15 Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic—Las Vegas The Pride’s pitching prowess will Doug Meffley will provide live audio of both games 13 vs. No. 12 UCLA L, 12-3 meet a Wildcats’ offense that literally at Hofstra this week on the NUSB UStream channel 13 vs. BYU L, 5-1 (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/northwestern- 14 at UNLV L, 8-7 exploded over a three-game set at Penn 15 vs. Long Beach State W, 5-2 State last weekend. Northwestern entered softball). its Big Ten-opening series in University 20-22 Nutter Collegiate Classic—Cathedral City, Calif. 20 vs. No. 13 Arizona L, 7-6 20 vs. Syracuse L, 2-1 games of 2015; NU then proceeded to bash 13 home runs out of the park during a three- 21 vs. No. 14 LSU L, 10-0 (5) Park having hit 17 home runs in its first 21 22 vs. South Carolina W, 6-4 game sweep of the Nittany Lions. Senior Olivia Duehr led the way with four home runs MARCH Seven different Wildcats tallied at least one home run with , 27-1 Louisville Slugger—Fullerton/Long Beach, Calif. Andrea Filler Andrea Feb 27 vs. Southern Utah W, 9-0 (5) includingDiPrima andthe gameBrianna winner LeBeau in extra-innings joining Duehr during in hitting Sunday’s multiple finale. balls out of the park. Not to Feb 27 at Cal State Fullerton W, 5-4 (8) be outdone, freshman Sabrina Rabin extended her current hitting streak to seven games— Feb 28 vs. Stanford W, 12-7 1 vs. No. 14 UCLA L, 8-2 scored. 7-8 Louisville Classic—Louisville, Ky. a stretch which has the newcomer batting .500 with five multi-hit efforts and 13 runs 7 vs. Massachusetts Canceled Meanwhile, junior Kristen Wood helped the offense stand up by collecting all three 7 vs. Illinois State Canceled victories in the circle, beginning with an 11-strikeout, one-hit shutout in a 10-0 (5) run-rule 8 vs. Ball State W, 13-0 (5) win in the series opener. She then got the W in the second contest with 4.0 innings of score- 8 at Louisville W, 11-0 less relief before she fought all the way for an extra-inning, 8.0-frame complete game win 14 IUPUI (DH) (at Rosemont) W, 6-5; W, 5-3 21 at Penn State W, 10-0 (5) 21 at Penn State W, 13-5 Prior to the game, Northwestern will take advantage of its massive alumni base in New 22 at Penn State W, 5-4 (8) YorkSunday City in for the two finale. special Wood events now onis 7-3 Monday. on the First, season from and their averaging Manhattan 9.4 Ks hotel per baseseven near innings. 24 at Hofstra 2 p.m. Times Square, the Wildcats will meet with the architects and get a VIP tour at the World 24 vs. Fordham 4 p.m. 27 WISCONSIN o 4 p.m. Trade Center Museum Monday morning before enjoying an NU For Life networking dinner 28 WISCONSIN o 1 p.m. with, among others, Northwestern softball alumni and NU Athletic Hall of Fame members 29 WISCONSIN o Noon Ndidi (Opia) Massay and Chinazo (Opia) Cunningham. APRIL Following the two-day Spring Break stop in New York, the Wildcats return home to 3 PURDUE o 4 p.m. 4 PURDUE o 1 p.m. 5 PURDUE o Noon scheduled for 4 p.m. CT with a 1 p.m. CT start Saturday and a noon CT go time on Sunday. 8 UIC 4 p.m. Ticketshost the are Badgers available of Wisconsin now at NUsports.com March 27-29 at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. First pitch Friday is 10 at Minnesota o 6 p.m. 11 at Minnesota o 1 p.m. IN THESE NOTES 12 at Minnesota o Noon • Head Coach Kate Drohan (PAGE 2) 15 at Notre Dame 5 p.m. or at the Drysdale Field gate. For the first o NUsports.com for just $3 per ticket. • Social Notes (PAGE 3) 17 at Nebraska 5:30 p.m. time, 10-ticket flex packs are available at 18 at Nebraska o 1 p.m. • The Northwestern Roof Club (PAGE 4) 19 at Nebraska o Noon 22 ILLINOIS (DH) o 2 p.m. • NCAA Statistical Rankings (PAGE 4) 24 OHIO STATE o 4 p.m. • Big Ten Overall Stat Rankings (PAGE 5) 25 OHIO STATE o Noon • National Polls (PAGE 6) 26 OHIO STATE o Noon 29 DEPAUL 4 p.m. • NU Single-Game Records (PAGE 6) • Season/Career Records (PAGES 7/8) MAY 1 at Iowa o 6 p.m. • Roster/Quick Facts Information (PAGE 9) 2 at Iowa o 2 p.m. 3 at Iowa o 1 p.m. 7-10 Big Ten Tournament—Columbus, Ohio SOFTBALL ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS INFORMATION All times Central • Home games in BOLD CAPS • o Big Ten games Softball Contact: Office Phone: Office Fax: Cell Phone: Doug MeffleyE-mail: (847) 491-3588 • (847) 491-8818 (847) 833-2471 • [email protected] @NU_SPORTS 2015 NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL @NUSBCATS HEAD COACH KATE DROHAN LEADING OFF Northwestern head coach Kate Drohan is in her 14th season at the helm of the Northwestern’s Calling Card: Strength of Schedule Year in and year out, no team seeks out stronger opponents than NU. That scheduling strat- Wildcats’ program egy helped the ’Cats earn No. 2 and No. 4 overall national seeds during its Women’s College alongside her twin sister, World Series runs of 2006 and 2007, and it bore fruit again in 2012 when NU had the No. Caryl Drohan. A 1995 graduate of Providence 1 rated nonconference strength of schedule to help it earn an NCAA Tournament berth. A who earned three few stats on NU’s 2015 schedule breakdown: All-BIG EAST honors @KateDrohan as a player, Drohan percent) in their non-NU games. • So far this season, Northwestern’s opponents have a combined record of 423-236 (64 spent three seasons as an assistant with Boston College before coming 100 of the RPI last season; this was a very deliberate approach to scheduling this season by • Fully 40 of the Wildcats’ 51 scheduled games are against teams that finished in the top- to NU as an assistant prior to the 1998 season. She was promoted to head coach in 2002 after head coach Kate Drohan, ramping up her usually tough slate even more. the retirement of NFCA Hall of Fame Coach Amy Letourneau Named to Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List Sharon J. Drysdale. Below are several need-to- Fourth-year junior Amy Letourneau is one of 50 members of the 2015 USA Softball Colle- know numbers about Kate and Caryl Drohans’ giate Player of the Year watch list despite being shut down for the majority of 2014 due to Northwestern tenure: injury. Now back and full strength, Letourneau seeks to capitalize on an outstanding 2013 both at the plate and in the circle. She continues a good run for NU with the award; at least Wins at Northwestern, ranking second all-time in program one Wildcat has appeared on the watch list or been a finalist in nine of the last 10 years. 466 history. Four All-Big Ten, Five All-Region Wildcats Return for the 2015 Season NU lost a ton of talent to graduation a year ago, with four starters and an important pitcher moving on and taking a bevy of accolades with them. Old Mother Hubbard hasn’t exactly Career winning percentage at found the cupboard bare in 2015, however, with these returning award winners: .645 Northwestern Brianna LeBeau (first-team All-Big Ten; first-team All-Region) has emerged from a slow start to the season to currently rank third on the team with 14 runs scored and fourth with 15 RBIs • NCAA Tournament appearances Amy Letourneau (first-team All-Big Ten; second-team All-Region) has broken out of a deep early in 13 previous seasons for the • 9 Wildcats under the Drohans in Northwestern’s last 12 games season slump to bat .500 with a .972 slugging percentage, five home runs, 16 RBIs and 10 runs scored Kristen Wood (second-team All-Region) • has taken no-hitters into the fifth three times in 2015, NCAA Regional titles, leading finishing her third-career no-no in a 9K, 5.0-inning run-rule of Ball State on 3/8.