Looks like Northwestern found a standout at shortstop.
Note: To optimally view the visualizations used below, access this article on a computer.
After five games in the Sunshine State, it seems like Northwestern coach Kate Drohan has a budding star at shortstop.
For as much of Northwestern’s 3-2 weekend was about notching a top 10 win over Duke, Lauren Boyd’s return to the circle and Ayana Lindsey’s home run heroics against Southern Miss, the Wildcats’ stop in Clearwater was Kaylie Avvisato’s grand entrance to Northwestern softball. The first-year led Northwestern’s offense with a team-high nine hits, .563 batting average and three multi-hit games during the Wildcats’ five game weekend slate.
With her hot start to the season, accounting for 30% of Northwestern’s total hits, she’s already making an early appearance on the Big Ten’s hit leaderboard.
You’ll notice there’s a lot of Oregon representation in the top 10, but that’s what happens when the Ducks’ offense scores 73 runs on 70 hits in its first five games, beating UNLV and sweeping a pair of matchups against Buffalo and Southern Utah. However, as one of just three Big Ten first-years (Emma Cox and Stefini Ma’ake) top 10 in the conference in hits, Avvisato is showing she has the capability to be one of Northwestern’s most important hitters from the get-go.
Starting Friday off batting sixth, Avvisato shot up to the three hole Saturday after notching Northwestern’s only three hits in its 3-0 loss to then-No. 15 Missouri. She didn’t disappoint, immediately racking up another 3-for-3 performance in Northwestern’s 4-1 upset over then-No. 8 Duke. From her last at-bat against Kennesaw State through her three-hit game against the Blue Devils, Avvisato visited the batter’s box seven times, racking up seven hits, two doubles, a triple and an RBI in that span.
Avvisato looked slightly more human with a three strikeout game against Tennessee. To be fair, Karlyn Pickens, the Lady Volunteers’ hard-throwing ace and 2024 Consensus First Team All-American poured molasses all over Northwestern’s offense. Pickens struck out seven, allowing just three hits and one earned run in Tennessee’s 12-1 five-inning victory.
But Avvisato bounced back on Sunday against the Golden Eagles with her third multi-hit game, smacking a pair of singles and getting hit by a pitch to reach base safely three times in four plate appearances. For reference, Northwestern right fielder Kelsey Nader led the Wildcats with 22 multi-hit games last season as a sophomore. It took Nader six games to tally a trio of multi-hit efforts in 2024, one more game than it has taken Avvisato to reach that mark as a first-year.
As you compare Avvisato’s nine hits in her first five career appearances to some recent and former Northwestern greats, her magical weekend in Clearwater really starts to pop off the page.
Beating Rachel Lewis to anything in a Northwestern jersey should be a reason to celebrate, not to mention the other seven names up there. Kansas Robinson, who isn’t listed, knocked her ninth hit in her 25th career appearance, although she didn’t see consistent at bats until the second half of her first season in Evanston.
The last Wildcat to start a season as hot as Avvisato has been out of the gates was Angela Zedak last season. Zedak tallied 10 hits in Northwestern’s first five games in 2024, including two home runs, five RBIs and a pair of four-hit games at the Kajikawa Classic.
Defensively, although Avvisato picked up an error on an awkward chopper against Southern Miss Sunday, she showcased her capable arm and high-softball IQ all weekend, even helping spark a 6-5-3 double play in the sixth inning of NU’s win over the Blue Devils. With the question heading into the season being whether Avvisato would slide into the lineup at shortstop or third base, the first-year showed she’s a capable defender at short, leaving Bridget Donahey to man the hot corner.
As Northwestern’s lineup struggled to find consistent production, especially with relatively quiet weekends from Robinson and Nader in the one and two spots and Donahey in the middle of the order, Avvisato proved early on that she’s more than capable of contributing offensively.
She’ll be tested next weekend against a strong 5-0 Virginia Tech team and in two meetings against a 5-0 LSU team. The Tigers will surely trot out freshman hurler Jayden Heavener, who in her first career outing against Charlotte, threw a six-inning, 13-strikeout perfect game. If Avvisato can handle that kind of heat, Northwestern might have just struck gold with Extra Inning Softball’s No. 9 overall recruit.
The hype was always there, but after proving herself this weekend against elite competition, don’t be surprised to continue seeing the first-year bat third for Kate Drohan’s squad.