Softball: Five things to know from Northwestern’s opening weekend

Softball is back and it feels so good.

It may still be 25 degrees in Evanston, but it’s softball season.

I am beyond psyched, not only because softball is back, but because its return marks the start of year two of this column. For those who followed along last year, welcome back! For those of you who are new (first of all, where were you?), welcome aboard! With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

To open the 2025 season, Northwestern traveled to sunny Clearwater, Florida for the NFCA Leadoff Classic. The ‘Cats went 3-2 on the weekend, securing one-run victories over Kennesaw State and Southern Miss and adding an early-season resume-booster with a 4-1 win over No. 8 Duke. Against other ranked opponents; however, Northwestern didn’t fare quite as well, losing 3-0 to No. 15 Missouri and 12-1 to No. 5 Tennessee in five innings. Here are five things to know from Northwestern’s opening weekend:

1. Let’s talk about the lineup!

Opening weekend is always a treat, not only because softball is being played again, but because so many of the biggest offseason questions immediately get answered.

Among the headlines and surprises from Northwestern’s lineup cards early in the season:

• Grace Nieto is back at her slot at second base. As a result, Kansas Robinson moved over to first base, making Ainsley Muno the odd woman out (for now). I, for one, would be disappointed if Muno, who only saw two at-bats all weekend, continued to not get opportunities. She was really coming into her own in the back end of 2024, hitting .300 in conference play. She should see more action in the DP spot even if she isn’t playing first.
• Elsewhere in the infield, first-year Kaylie Avvisato is the starting shortstop, which she played in high school. It does shift Bridget Donahey over to third base. Although both had an error this weekend, I think the left-side of the infield will be a strength.
• Kansas Robinson will continue to bat leadoff, with Kelsey Nader right behind her. Northwestern made this switch about a third of the way through the 2024 season and it was quite successful. No changes for 2025.
• I think I vastly underestimated the role Riley Grudzielanek would play as a hitter this year. She saw nine plate appearances in the five games (on top of pitching duties) and served as the teams’ starting designated player in a handful of contests.

2. Triumphant returns from injury

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing two of Northwestern’s most important players, Lauren Boyd and Grace Nieto, retake the field after missing all of 2024 with injuries. Not only was their return a feel-good story, but both players balled out in their first few games back.

Nieto sits second on the team with a .364 batting average after the opening slate of games and didn’t strikeout all weekend. Nieto’s hot start was a welcome sight considering the last time we saw her was the end of the 2023 season when she struggled down the stretch and was unable to record a hit in her final nine games of the season. In her 3-for-3 day in the season opener against Kennesaw State, she showed no signs of rust.

Boyd, who’s journey back to the pitcher’s circle I chronicled earlier in the week, was also incredibly impactful in her first action since the 2023 season. She threw 12.2 innings of 2.76 ERA softball including tossing a seven-strikeout complete game against a top-10 Duke squad. Boyd isn’t known for high strikeout totals, but she had excellent command and looked plenty mobile as a fielder. Last week, Kate Drohan said “we’ll use [Boyd] as much as we can,” and the early returns seem to indicate she’s up for the task.

3. A budding superstar

Kaylie Avvisato, I think you’ll fit in at Northwestern just fine.

Northwestern’s first-year shortstop got off to a scintillating start to her career. At the end of the weekend she sits with a .563 batting average and 1.401 OPS and at one point this weekend, recorded a hit in seven straight at-bats (six of them coming against ranked opponents). And these weren’t just bunts or infield singles — three went for extra bases, including one triple.

Not to step on the toes of our resident analytics guru Adam Beck (who will have more on Avvisato tomorrow!), but I was curious about how Avvisato’s start to her career stacked up against other freshmen around the country:

Comparing her to other true freshmen in the four major conferences — pretty darn good! No hitter has more than Avvisato’s nine and for some, like Shumaker and Maloney, it took an extra game to earn their spot on this elite list. It may be a small sample, but Avvisato’s Wildcat tenure is off to a scorching start.

4. Early star struggles

Overall, Northwestern didn’t have the best weekend at the plate, plating just 12 runs across five games. Considering the Wildcats faced the likes of Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens and Missouri’s Cierra Harrison, two of the best pitchers NU will see all season, I’m not too concerned. But, it’s worth pointing out that only three Wildcat hitters left the weekend with an average over .250.

Three of Northwestern’s best players were excluded from that group in Emma Raye (.214), Bridget Donahey (.182) and Kansas Robinson (.176). Albeit in small sample sizes, Northwestern’s trio of sluggers got off to slow starts, and more alarmingly, combined for 14 strikeouts at the plate. That said, I have zero long-term concerns about any of them.

Raye was excellent in the season opener and her power at the plate will cause trouble for defenses any time she puts the ball in play. For Donahey, her on-base percentage is actually second among all Wildcats because she drew five walks this weekend and displayed excellent plate discipline, consistently forcing pitchers into seven and eight-pitch at-bats. And as for Robinson, she’s Kansas Robinson. She’ll be fine.

5. Pitching inconsistency

Outside of Lauren Boyd, Northwestern’s young pitching staff had an up-and-down opening weekend. Sophomore Riley Grudzielanek appeared in four contests and yielded a mixed bag of results. Against Missouri and Tennessee, her command was a bit inconsistent as she walked six batters in seven innings and gave up a few extra-base hits. But against Kennesaw State and Southern Miss, Grudzielanek looked comfortable and reliable. Against the Golden Eagles on Sunday, she threw a complete seven innings allowing just two hits and one run.

Renae Cunningham struggled to prevent base runners in her two appearances and first-year Emma Blea had a debut to forget, but considering both primarily played in the matchup against a top-5 Tennessee team, I’m inclined to throw those results down the gutter. I want to see how they look next weekend, or frankly against any competition that isn’t the SEC’s finest.

Weekly Awards

Week MVP: Easy choice. It’s the aforementioned Kaylie Avvisato (.563 average, two doubles, triple) who vaulted up to third in the batting order by the end of her first weekend of collegiate ball.

Best Play: There are few things better than sick diving catches. There is nothing better than sick Kelsey Nader diving catches. Look at this majestic play. I kid you not it looks like Julio Jones’ sideline catch from Super Bowl LI.

Big Ten Lookaround: This year, instead of a first-year shoutout (I figured there are only three first-years who I expect to play consistently and it would very quickly morph into a weekly Kaylie Avvisato award) I want to highlight something in the world of Big Ten softball for each weekend. For this week, it’s new conference member Oregon, who not only went 5-0 (albeit against lesser competition) but did so outscoring their opponents 73-16. Take a look at the current Big Ten batting leaders — it looks like a local pond with how many Ducks there are. After one weekend, I’m feeling awfully lucky Northwestern doesn’t have to play Oregon.

What I’m watching for next weekend: Another new category for this year. I’m super pumped for Northwestern’s two matchups against LSU, who started 5-0 but the Wildcats should represent the toughest team thus far on their schedule by a wide margin. The Tigers lost a ton of talent from their tournament team a season ago, but freshman Jayden Heavener threw a perfect game in her collegiate debut, so I’d say they restocked pretty well.

Ethan’s favorite NU Softball thing he saw this week: This easily could have also won for Play of the Week, but if you had asked me who would be responsible for Northwestern’s first homer of the season, I might have listed 10 names before getting to Ayana Lindsey. Not only did Lindsey record her first home run in over 150 plate appearances, but she did it in heroic fashion, launching a solo shot in the top of the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie and give Northwestern the game-winner over Southern Miss.

That’ll do it for this week’s column! Northwestern will be back in action on Friday at the Purple & Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and will take on Virginia Tech, LSU and UT Arlington. See you back here next Monday.