Softball: Five things to know from a deflating series against Nebraska

What’s wrong with the Wildcats?

Well, that was no fun.

After starting 8-0 in conference play, Northwestern has now dropped four of its last five Big Ten games, including this past weekend, where the Wildcats were bested on their home turf in a series sweep against Nebraska.

With two run-rule losses and a shutout, Northwestern is left shaken and searching for answers. It looks like my weekly column will take on a solemn tone, but here are five things to know from a humbling series against the Huskers.

1. The offense continues to disappear in big games

One of the most puzzling teams about this season’s Northwestern squad is the way the offense has gone M.I.A. in some of the team’s most important matchups. I think this is an offense that is somewhere between solid and outright good (we have the proof!), but the big-game stats are puzzling. Here are Northwestern’s run totals in its ranked matchups in 2025: 0, 4, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 4, 2, 1, 1, 0.

1.2 runs per game just won’t cut it. Yes, some of those games have been against the nation’s top pitchers (including two this weekend against Jordy Bahl, who is even better in person than she is on TV), but at some point, the results are the results. Across the three games against Nebraska, the team managed just seven total hits. Northwestern had a chance this weekend to prove its recent surge wasn’t just a result of weak competition, and instead, those narratives have only intensified while new questions have been raised.

2. The pitching hasn’t performed much better when the lights are bright

Let’s go through that same exercise with the number of runs Northwestern has given up in those dozen ranked matchups: 3, 1, 12, 3, 7, 8, 14, 2, 12, 11, 10, 3.

There are some good results in there, but with an average of 7.2 runs in these games, Northwestern has found itself in run-rule territory on a handful of occasions, and it has been a near-disaster anytime an arm that isn’t Lauren Boyd has faced one of these ranked offense. And this weekend, even Boyd faltered, getting forced out of the game in Saturday’s contest after a brutal second inning (though she did recover nicely in Monday’s start.) Slow starts in the circle had Northwestern in the cellar before Northwestern was even halfway through the batting order in the first two contests. Nebraska has one of the best offenses in the country, but the pitching staff that led the Big Ten in ERA a season ago has sunk to ninth in 2025 and continues to be a vulnerability.

3. What happened to home-field advantage?

Even more than run-rules or sweeps, nothing makes me sadder than seeing Northwestern struggle in its home venue. The J has built a reputation as one of the most daunting home environments in the Big Ten, but this year, the Wildcats just haven’t been able to protect home turf. Yes, six games have come against ranked Mississippi State and Nebraska, but a home record of 4-6-1 is perplexing nonetheless.

In the previous three seasons combined, Northwestern had just two losses at the J. That total was exceeded in this series alone, and it wasn’t for a lack of crowd support. The Wildcats have just four more home contests this season (Wednesday vs Loyola and a series against Wisconsin) before renovations begin and we say goodbye to this iteration of the J. Hopefully, the team can get right to bid adieu to the venue the right way.

4. A bad time for slumps

I’ll preface this by stating that, once again, Nebraska is an awesome team and Jordy Bahl (who threw two complete-game shutouts) is absolutely filthy, but what a bummer of a weekend for Northwestern’s lineup. Everyone struggled, but it was especially surprising to see Bridget Donahey and Emma Raye leave the series hitless.

Donahey (0-of-7, six strikeouts) and Raye (0-of-6, four strikeouts) each drew a walk and played solid defensively but were a void in the middle of the Northwestern lineup. Because of the team-wide struggles, there weren’t many runners to leave on base, but both struggled with strikeouts and saw their season-long averages take a noticeable dip.

Because of the small sample and high level of competition, I’m not harboring too much long-term concern, but a mash session in the midweek game would do a lot to re-establish a rhythm for two of NU’s most important performers.

5. So… what’s the good news?

This weekend was no fun by any means. Watching a 20-series Big Ten win streak come to a close was a big stinker, but at the end of the day, it was one series. 11 games on the schedule remain, including some get-right non-conference games, what should be a chance for some easy conference wins and one last opportunity to boost the resume against a ranked opponent.

Despite how catastrophic this weekend felt, Northwestern is still tied for fourth in the conference standings and very much in the hunt for postseason play (although far more work needs to be done). On the field, I thought the defense was excellent on Monday and was impressed with Lauren Boyd’s resilience to fight off the Saturday scaries and attack a stellar Nebraska lineup in the final game.

All this to say, the sky isn’t falling. Is a look in the mirror needed? Absolutely. But there’s a lot of softball left to be played. With that, let’s dive into some awards.

Weekly Awards

Week MVP: Uhhhh…next.

Best Play: Your weekly reminder that Kelsey Nader is superhuman. Seriously might be the best play I’ve ever seen live at the J.

Big Ten Lookaround: After UCLA and Oregon both secured sweeps this weekend, it sets up the series of the year in the Big Ten with the Bruins traveling to Eugene for a three-gamer that could very well decide the regular season title. If they split and tear each other apart, it would open the door for Nebraska who has a tough Indiana series of its own.

What I’m watching for next week: This is the get-right week of all get-right weeks. Loyola Chicago is 12-29 on the year and currently on a five-game skid while Rutgers is last in the Big Ten without a conference win in the last calendar month. Northwestern not only needs to go 4-0, but to put it lightly, the ‘Cats need to beat the brakes off these teams to have me feeling better about postseason chances.

Ethan’s favorite NU softball thing he saw this week: Not going to lie, pretty slim pickings this week, but these golf towel giveaways are pretty awesome. Speaking of golf, I hope you chose to catch the end of the Masters on Sunday instead of Northwestern’s 10-1 loss.

That’s all for this week! In the coming days for the ‘Cats is a Wednesday matchup against Loyola Chicago (I’ll be on the broadcast for B1G+) before the team travels to Piscataway for a weekend series with Rutgers. No more Monday games so should be back to a normal column schedule beginning next week.