Northwestern Opens Big Ten Play at No. 2 Michigan

NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL: at No. 2 Michigan
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	LISTEN ($)	WATCH ($)	LIVE STATS
Friday, March 25	No. 2 Michigan	3 p.m. CT/ 4 p.m. ET	Wilpon Complex	Studio N	BTN Plus	Live Stats
Saturday, March 26	No. 2 Michigan	1 p.m. CT/ 2 p.m. ET	Wilpon Complex	Studio N	BTN Plus	Live Stats
Sunday, March 27	No. 2 Michigan	Noon CT/ 1 p.m. ET	Wilpon Complex	Studio N	No Video	Live Stats
Social: Twitter (@NUSBCats and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (nusbcats) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern begins Big Ten play this weekend, March 25-27, at second-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Wildcats are heading to the Wilpon Complex at the tail end of their Spring Break trip to Florida where they competed in the USF Clearwater Spring Break Tournament and in a single game at USF.

Game one Friday at Michigan is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET with Saturday's contest slated for 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET and Sunday at noon CT/1 p.m. ET.

The Wildcats are making just their third visit to Ann Arbor in the last seven years, having previously played a three-game series there in 2013 and a two-game set in 2010. The two teams faced off in a semifinal of the Big Ten Tournament in 2015 at Ohio State.

Michigan is coming off its second-ever appearance in the Women's College World Series championship final, where it lost last year to Florida. The Wolverines (2005, 2015) and the Wildcats (2006) remain the lone Big Ten schools to make the final series of competition at the WCWS.

Northwestern has had a rough stretch of results during the preconference schedule, playing quite well against its annual slate of tough opponents but not getting the victories. NU has outscored its foes this year, 127-106, but currently sits seven games under .500 entering the Big Ten season after dropping 10 of its 12 contests decided by two runs or less. With seniors Kristen Wood and Amy Letourneau having resurgent seasons in the circle, the Wildcats have been right in the vast majority of their games and are on the doorstep of breaking through in a big way.

Following the opening of conferenc play away from The J, Northwestern will return to Sharon J. Drysdale Field April 1-3 to host Minnesota, beginning of stretch of four-consecutive Big Ten weekends in Evanston. NU will host a Women's College World Series reunion April 15-17 against Nebraska, welcoming back all five of the Wildcats WCWS teams from 1984-86 and 2006-07. Senior Weekend this year is April 22-24 against Michigan State, with the annual Purple Auction scheduled for April 23.

Also debuting at The J next week is a brand new LED scoreboard mounted high on the wall of McGaw Hall.

PROGRAMMING NOTE

LIVE VIDEO: Friday and Saturday games at Michigan will be covered on BTN Plus on BTN2Go, available with a monthly subscription. Sunday's game will have no video coverage. Subscribe to BTN Plus here.

LIVE AUDIO: All three games at Michigan will feature live streaming audio broadcasts by longtime SID Doug Meffley. The broadcasts are available with a subscription to Studio N. To access the broadcasts, find the links on the softball schedule page at NUsports.com or click "Stream the 'Cats" at the top of the NUsports.com schedule page. Or click here.

LIVE STATS: Live stats for every game can be found on the schedule page at NUsports.com, or by clicking here.

For more information on how to subscribe to Northwestern softball broadcasts, including a handy chart of stream availability, link to this release.

SINGLE-GAME AND SEASON PASSES ON SALE NOW!
For the first time ever, full season passes to all 13 Northwestern home games are available now at NUsports.com. Single-game and group tickets also are on sale now. With Big Ten road trips bookending the conference season, Northwestern has a massive homestand comprising the entire month of April. Support the #B1GCats by becoming an original Northwestern season-pass holder today!

PLAY BALL!
For Northwestern's complete game notes package for the Michigan series, download the .pdf in the chart at the top of this release or click here.

Northwestern Opens Big Ten Play at No. 2 Michigan

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Players Mentioned

Amy Letourneau

Kristen Wood

Northwestern University Athletics