Breaking down Northwestern softball’s 2025 schedule

Analyzing every part of Northwestern’s 48-game 2025 schedule.

In the first installment of softball previews as we inch closer to the 2025 season, we start by taking a look at the Wildcats’ schedule. With three new teams in the conference and an array of roster shake-ups as a result of the transfer portal and incoming freshmen class, Northwestern’s path to its fourth-straight Big Ten crown will be challenging. Let’s break it all down.

Non-conference games

There is so much to be excited looking at the 48-game slate. For starters, 26 non-conference games, mostly in February, make up the majority of Northwestern’s schedule and there are some fantastic matchups.

In the first weekend of the year, Northwestern will get tested in a major way at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida. Missouri, Duke and Tennessee were all NCAA Tournament teams a season ago, with all three advancing to the Super Regional Round. That trio makes up three of the 17 total games Northwestern will play against 2024 Tournament squads (11 different teams).

All three of these southern squads have stellar pitching staffs that will test Northwestern’s lineup early in the season. Cassidy Curd (Duke), Karlyn Pickens (Tennessee), Marissa McCann (Missouri) and Cierra Harrison (Missouri) will be among the best players Northwestern faces in the circle all season.

The next weekend, Northwestern will head to Baton Rouge for the Purple & Gold Challenge and play the likes of Virginia Tech and LSU, another pair of teams who did some damage a season ago. LSU lost a lot of talent from last year’s Super Regional roster but has players ready to fill the shoes of Ciara Briggs, Raeleen Gutierrez and Ali Newland. Virginia Tech also lost a lot of talent as its three leaders in hits recorded are no longer on the team in 2025, but it returns a trio of Cori McMillan, Bre Peck and Michelle Chatfield that was responsible for a whopping 53 combined home runs in 2024.

Utah and Cal make for fun and competitive games at the familiar Mary Nutter Classic before the team heads to Louisville, Kentucky for the Cardinal Classic and will play games against Central Michigan, Longwood (twice) and Louisville (twice). With the high level of competition throughout February, it’s fair to expect Northwestern will have a handful of losses on its resume by this point. The Cardinal Classic is a step down in terms of competition, making it imperative that Northwestern collects four or five wins in the final weekend before conference play.

In late March, Northwestern welcomes Sierra Sacco and Mississippi State to Sharon J. Drysdale Field for what just might be my most anticipated series of the season. The chance to take on an SEC foe at home this late in the season is rare. And with three games over two days (thanks to a Saturday doubleheader), Northwestern will have a chance to build momentum against a team from the premier college softball conference. Props to Kate Drohan and Northwestern for putting this on the schedule.

Finally, throughout conference play, Northwestern will play local midweek games against the likes of Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Loyola Chicago and UIC.

Looking at the overall non-conference slate, I’m impressed by Northwestern’s willingness to take on other successful programs. In the non-conference alone, Northwestern has 12 games against 2024 NCAA Tournament teams compared to other Big Ten teams such as Iowa or Wisconsin, who have half that total. The first two weekends will be tough, but it should allow Northwestern to build some confidence. If the Wildcats can win 18 or more of the 26 games, they should be in decent shape, but I think it’s reasonable to think Northwestern could push for 20-plus wins out of the conference.

Big Ten games

The 2025 Big Ten slate kicks off in Oklahoma City as NU plays two games against both Penn State and Michigan State in one of the best softball cities in the country. On one hand, it should be a cool opportunity for the team and a great chance to expose Oklahoma City to Big Ten softball. On the other, I really hate the idea of losing home conference games to be able to accommodate this. With a schedule where Northwestern already only gets to host 15 games at Sharon J. Drysdale field (largely because of weather concerns), a mid-March weekend of softball in Oklahoma City feels like a missed opportunity for fans of Big Ten teams to see their teams play in person.

There are two main series to highlight in the schedule, starting with the April stretch where the Wildcats will play host to Nebraska. Oddly, this is scheduled as a Saturday to Monday series, but there should be plenty of fireworks between what should be two of the best teams in the conference. Last season, superstar Jordy Bahl’s injury derailed the Cornhuskers’ season, but assuming she’s back at full health, Nebraska poses a major threat to the reigning conference champs.

The final series of the regular season is also a doozy as Northwestern will travel to Los Angeles to take on UCLA, who despite Northwestern’s recent dominance in the Big Ten, immediately becomes the conference favorite after years of dominating the Pac-12. Even without Maya Brady, the Bruins have one of the best rosters in the country and perhaps the best pitching staff in the nation with the trio of Taylor Tinsley, Kaitlyn Terry and incoming freshman and 2024 National Gatorade Player of the Year Addisen Fisher. UCLA is star-heavy but also deep, and this final series could have massive implications for both the Big Ten regular season crown and seeding for the conference tournament.

Despite drawing two of the better teams in the conference, it’s also worth mentioning who the Wildcats won’t have to play in the conference slate. Northwestern dodges the likes of Michigan, Oregon and Indiana — all teams that made the national bracket in 2024. With each team playing eight Big Ten series, that means every Big Ten team won’t play eight other teams in the conference this season. As a result, some teams got far luckier than others in who they do and don’t play:

As you can see, Northwestern is on the fortunate end of the strength of schedule ranking while teams like Maryland and Oregon drew the short end of the stick. That said, this metric was created using each teams’ opponent’s overall winning percentage from 2024, which fails to account for roster changes and can be artificially inflated if a team played an unusually easy or brutal schedule a season ago. For example, I expect Nebraska to be far more competitive than their 30-23 record a season ago. On the other end, Washington is likely to regress from their 32-15 record in 2024 after a mass exodus of players.

That said, even adjusting for some of those changes and natural randomness, Northwestern remains on the fortunate side of the scheduling draw in 2025 with series against Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan State, all of whom I expect to be toward the middle or bottom of the conference. Rutgers and Minnesota should be exciting and competitive series, but both are teams that Northwestern has been able to handle in recent years. With a more competitive Big Ten than a season ago, expect Northwestern to be closer to the 14-17 win range, down from the 19 wins from a season ago. But a more competitive schedule should also lead to more respect from the selection committee should Northwestern be in postseason contention.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more softball content as we count down the days until the 2025 season.