Softball: Five things to know from a topsy-turvy midseason homestand

Ties, highlights and other oddities from this week.

What an odd week it was.

After Northwestern’s midseason game ended in a tie for the first time since 2002, the Wildcats faced off against rival Illinois for a three-game set. A 2-1 loss in the middle match knocked the Wildcats off their undefeated podium in conference play into a three-way tie at the top of the Big Ten standings, but another two wins gave Northwestern its 20th consecutive series victory in the Big Ten.

Although most teams are decently well-established by this point in the season, a few major developments highlight this week’s list of five things to know.

1. Ayana Lindsey — welcome back to the lineup

After spending almost the entirety of March coming off the bench primarily as a pinch runner, Ayana Lindsey was reinserted into the starting lineup in the Sunday doubleheader against Illinois. It will take a few more games to see if it sticks, but Lindsey may have earned those additional opportunities after a two-hit game in the series finale, including an RBI single that marked her first hit since mid-February.

The senior offers Northwestern more defensive prowess in center field and allows the Wildcats to shift back to Kelsey Nader playing right field, but her early-season offensive struggles made it difficult to keep her in the lineup, especially with the emergence of first-year Avery Garden. Perhaps, Northwestern finds a way to keep both in the lineup with Lindsey in the field and Garden as the designated player, but that could be a tough call because of…

2. Lauren Sciborski is making the case for more reps in the eight-spot

The eight-spot is the one place in the lineup where Northwestern has continued to tinker and search for more, and Lauren Sciborski has made a strong effort to enter her name into consideration. Against Notre Dame, the veteran catcher reached base three times with two hits and a hit-by-pitch. She didn’t add any hits in the Illinois series in the two games she played but had some quality plate appearances.

The high strikeout rate is a concern, but I think I’ve just accepted that Northwestern is going to ride the hot hand at the bottom of the order. Sciborski, along with Lindsey, Garden, Riley Grudzielanek and perhaps even Kate Dowden or Grace Minarovic, will all get some at-bats, and it may rotate game to game.

3. Kaylie Avvisato has unlocked Northwestern’s run game

After another five steals this week, Kaylie Avvisato is now up to 18 on the season, double the amount that any individual Northwestern player had a season ago. She ranks third in the Big Ten in steals per game, and as a team, Northwestern ranks third. If you limit the sample to just conference games, no team has stolen more bases than Northwestern, including Oregon, who is third in the nation in total steals this season.

While we’re here talking about Kaylie Avvisato, who is inching closer and closer to topping the 24 bases Rachel Lewis stole in her freshman campaign, can we talk about how she hasn’t struck out in conference play? 10 games! That’s a lot of games! There are nine total Big Ten players with enough at-bats to qualify who can say the same — none have more at-bats than Avvisato.

4. Another week of pitching inconsistency — but reasons for optimism

I feel like this has become a weekly part of the column, but the pitching remains a bit unstable. Starting with Riley Grudzielanek, who struggled mightily against Notre Dame by giving up the same number of runs as outs (five), but came back on Sunday to blow her career best out of the water with a whopping 11 strikeouts. She ended up throwing a complete game, allowing only two (unearned) runs.

A similar arc was true for Signe Dohse, who was far from her best against the Fighting Irish, walking three batters and allowing another three hits in just 1.1 innings of work. But in the final game against Illinois, she appeared in relief and tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless ball, allowing a single hit while hammering the zone with 80% strikes.

For Emma Blea, it was the opposite. Against Notre Dame, she faced the minimum number of batters through three innings, stacking that on a previous performance when she recorded a career-high six strikeouts. But against the Fighting Illini, she took a step back, allowing two runs and several hard-hit balls in 2.1 innings.

The inconsistency is maddening, but the flashes are there. Somewhat shockingly, Northwestern has three pitchers in the conference’s top 10 in ERA in Big Ten games (Grudzielanek at 1.31, Lauren Boyd at 2.03 and Signe Dohse at 2.10). All three also rank in the top ten in WHIP and batting average, and as a unit, Northwestern’s pitchers allowed opposing offenses to hit just .218 with runners on base and .194 with runners in scoring position across four games this week. The potential is there, but Northwestern has yet to face any of the scariest offenses in the conference.

5. The two-out offense needs to improve

After a midweek game where the Wildcats plated seven runs with two outs (although they gave up eight in the same situation on the other end), Northwestern struggled to get anything going against Illinois with two outs. Across the three games, NU scored just two runs with two outs and hit 2-of-20, although the team did draw a handful of walks. Fortunately for Northwestern, they didn’t abandon too many runners on base as a result of the struggles in the clutch, but if this trend continues against higher-caliber teams, Northwestern’s margin for error is much slimmer.

Weekly Awards

Week MVP: She’s officially all the way back. Kansas Robinson (7-of-14, 12 RBI, two home runs, double, walk) is smoking the ball recently, and Northwestern looks like a totally different team because of it.

Best Play: Even if ties are super lame, hard to deny how awesome it is to hit a grand slam when down to your final strike after your team was trailing by seven runs. Great work by Kansas Robinson, and what an electric broadcast call! (I’m being facetious, that is in fact my voice, which I’m amazed I didn’t lose as a result of the excitement of the moment.)

Big Ten Lookaround: With Oregon sweeping Michigan and UCLA sweeping Ohio State, some clarity was provided at the top of the conference. What I did not expect, however, was the third West Coast team to surge up the standings. I may have severely underestimated Washington, who rebuilt its entire roster this past offseason but looks to be rounding into form. The Huskies have won nine in a row and are 7-2 in conference play. Next weekend against UCLA is a big test, but if they can steal a game or two, they will go from a team that piqued my interest to a team that has my undivided attention.

What I’m watching for next week: I’m prepared to say it — this is the biggest series of the season. A home slate against a very competitive Nebraska team gives NU the chance to prove its record isn’t a result of just beating up on bad teams. Jordy Bahl is as advertised as a two-way player — she has hit 12 home runs with a .447 average while also throwing 156 strikeouts with just a 1.34 ERA and .150 batting average.

Northwestern has done a better job as of late to cut down on strikeouts and put the ball in play, and it’s imperative they keep that up to put the pressure on Nebraska’s defense, which ranks in the middle of the pack. Similarly, no team has been better at keeping the ball in the park than the Wildcats, but Nebraska ranks second in the conference with 76 home runs (hitting exactly two per game). It’s imperative that NU doesn’t get stuck in offensive shootouts with the Huskers.

Ethan’s favorite NU softball thing he saw this week: Nothing like a good old Gatorade bath, especially when it’s to celebrate Kate and Caryl Drohan’s 800th career win, a feat that only three other coaches in the Big Ten have accomplished. While they’re working on the new stadium, they may as well get started on sculpting some statues — it’s only a matter of time.

That’s all for this week! No midweek matchup for the Wildcats this week, so this column will return next Tuesday after Northwestern’s Saturday-Monday series against Nebraska, which should provide plenty to talk about.