Northwestern will play three games against ranked opponents in the Bayou.
Northwestern will be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the Purple & Gold Challenge this weekend where it will embark on a five-game slate that includes two games against No. 7 LSU and one against No. 18 Virginia Tech. The ‘Cats started their season strong with a 3-2 showing at the NFCA Leadoff Classic last weekend, highlighted by a 4-1 upset victory over No. 8 Duke behind a thunderous return to the mound from Lauren Boyd.
Here are three things to watch for as Northwestern heads to the Bayou:
NU bats vs. perfect pitchers
Northwestern is likely to face two pitchers who threw perfect games last weekend in Virginia Tech’s Emma Lemley and LSU’s Jayden Heavener.
Lemley, a senior for the Hokies who has made the All-ACC team in each of her previous three seasons, struck out eight batters on the way to a perfect game in her first start of the season against Charleston (SC).
Heavener has less experience but may be the more formidable arm. Last weekend, the true freshman became the first pitcher in LSU history to throw a perfect game in their collegiate debut as she posted a ridiculous 13-strikeout performance against Charlotte. Heavener came to Baton Rouge as the No. 4 ranked recruit in the Class of 2024 according to Perfect Game, and she boasted a 0.44 ERA during her senior year of high school while pitching in the highly competitive 6A division in Florida.
Northwestern had an up-and-down first weekend at the plate in Florida and struggled against elite pitching. The ‘Cats combined for just one run and six total hits in 12 innings against 2024 Consensus First Team All-American Karlyn Pickens from Tennessee and Missouri’s Cierra Harrison. As Inside NU’s Ethan Segall pointed out in his column, Northwestern had just three hitters leave Clearwater with a batting average over .250.
The ‘Cats will have their work cut out for them against Heavener and Lemley this weekend.
A bounce-back performance from Emma Blea
Kate Drohan did her true freshman pitcher a little dirty in Clearwater. Blea made her season debut in the fifth inning of Northwestern’s loss to No. 5 Tennessee with the ‘Cats trailing 9-1. Her inexperience showed against one of the better offenses in the country as Blea allowed three earned runs in just one inning of work.
I guess you could interpret Drohan’s decision as a sign of trust — the 24th-year head coach will need to find ways to replace the production lost from Ashley Miller — and the uber-talented Blea is a prime candidate to rise to the occasion. If Blea is to play a big role for Northwestern in her first year in Evanston, she will undoubtedly find herself in similarly difficult situations.
Blea, Extra Innings Softball’s No. 21 overall player in the class of 2024, is much better than her iffy debut suggests, and she will have the chance to show her potential against lesser competition this weekend.
Northwestern has two games against UT Arlington to break up its bouts with LSU and Virginia Tech. Arlington finished in the bottom half of the Western Athletic Conference in nearly every offensive statistic a year ago, and I’d like to see Drohan to give her talented first-year the chance to get her sea legs under her against the Mavericks.
A healthy portion of home runs
Northwestern hit just one home run in five games last weekend. While there was a lot to like from the first games of the year, you could forgive the more power-inclined Wildcat fans for getting a little antsy given the 61 home runs Kansas Robinson and Co. provided in 48 games last season.
That one home run came from an unlikely source in senior Ayana Lindsey, who went yard for just the fourth time in her collegiate career to give Northwestern the win over Kennesaw State.
Both LSU and Virginia Tech did a solid job limiting the long ball in 2024, but the same cannot be said for our friends in Texas. UT Arlington allowed the most home runs in the WAC in 2024 and lost two of its five leading arms in the offseason. Look for some combination of Robinson, Kelsey Nader, Angela Zedak, Emma Raye and Bridget Donahey to provide some real power in Baton Rouge.