Northwestern Opens Big Ten Tournament in Friday Quarterfinal

Friday, May 13

University Park, Pa.

11 a.m. CT/Noon ET

Northwestern

Ohio State

Northwestern Opens Big Ten Tournament in Friday Quarterfinal

5/11/2016 8:41:00 PM | Softball

NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL: Big Ten Tournament
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	WATCH	LISTEN ($)	LIVE STATS
Friday, May 13	Ohio State	11 a.m. CT/ Noon ET	Beard Field University Park, Pa.	BTN	Studio N	Live Stats
Saturday, May 14	Semifinal	Noon CT/ 1 p.m. ET	Beard Field University Park, Pa.	BTN	Studio N	Live Stats
Saturday, May 14	Championship	5 p.m. CT/ 6 p.m. ET	Beard Field University Park, Pa.	BTN	Studio N	Live Stats
Social: Twitter (@NUSBCats and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (nusbcats) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Tournament Central

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The 2016 Postseason has arrived!

Northwestern travels to University Park, Pa., this weekend, May 13-14, for the Big Ten Tournament hosted by Penn State as the No. 3 overall seed. NU has a bye through to the quarterfinal round and will face No. 6 Ohio State at 11 a.m. CT/noon ET on Friday, May 13, after the Buckeyes beat the Scarlet Knights, 5-0, in Thursday's opening round.

The Wildcats had a strong Big Ten season, recording a 15-8 record to finish solo third. It was NU's sixth top-3 result and 10th top-4 standing under head coach Kate Drohan and associate head coach Caryl Drohan. That number includes two Big Ten Championships.

Northwestern carries a 22-15 all-time Big Ten Tournament record into this weekend's event, winning the inaugural edition in 1982—when it was used to determine the B1G's first overall conference champion—and again in 2008. The Wildcats served as hosts two years ago, bringing in lights to stage the first-ever night game in Sharon J. Drysdale Field history—a 10-4 victory over Michigan State.

Last season the Wildcats also had a bye through to the quarterfinal, where they defeated Purdue before falling to No. 1 Michigan in a semifinal matchup.

Despite defeating No. 2 Michigan in Ann Arbor to start Big Ten play, Nothwestern began 2016 struggling to a 10-20 overall mark over the first 30 games of the season. NU 's recovery began with a run-ruling of then-No. 21 Minnesota on April 3, a contest that kick-started a 15-5 sprint to the regular-season finish line and a .500 mark at 25-25.

While the winner of the Big Ten Tournament receives the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament field, the league tourney also holds serious NCAA Championship at-large implications for Northwestern. The Wildcats sits firmly in the conversation for an at-large berth due to its incredibly difficult nonconference schedule, but needs to finish at or above .500 to be eligible. There is recent precedent for this exact situation; in 2012 Northwestern won eight of its final nine games of the year to finish 27-27, picking up an at-large berth into the NCAA Austin Regional by virtue of a top-10 national strength of schedule. NU upset overall No. 6 seed Texas in the opening game before advancing to the Regional title round that season.

Four Wildcats picked up All-Big Ten accolades prior to the start of the Big Ten Tournament. Seniors Andrea Filler and Amy Letourneau each nabbed the second first-team honors of their careers. Sophomore Sabrina Rabin, the 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, earned her second All-Big Ten award with a second-team selection, and freshman Morgan Nelson won a second-team choice in her debut conference season. Senior Aubrie May was chosen as Northwestern's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.

Letourneau won the Big Ten RBI title this year with 29 in conference games. In addition to her B1G batting title and strikeout crown in the circle in 2013, Letourneau won three of the league's six hitting and pitching "Triple Crown" categories during her career.

PROGRAMMING NOTE

LIVE TELEVISION: All game at the 2016 Big Ten Tournament will be televised live on BTN.

LIVE AUDIO: Longtime NU SID Doug Meffley will have live audio for all of NU's games at the Big Ten Tournament via Studio N at NUsports.com.

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

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