Friday, February 17
Tallahassee, Fla.
5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET
Northwestern
at
Florida State
#B1GCats Travel to Tallahassee for Second-Annual B1G/ACC Challenge
2/15/2017 10:47:00 AM | Softball
| NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL: B1G/ACC Challenge | ||||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | STREAM | LIVE STATS | |
| Friday, Feb. 17 | #3 Florida State | 5:30 p.m. CT/ 6:30 p.m. ET |
JoAnne Graf Field | ACC Network Extra | Live Stats | |
| Saturday, Feb. 18 | #3 Florida State | 12:30 p.m. CT/ 1:30 p.m. ET |
JoAnne Graf Field | ACC Network Extra | Live Stats | |
| Saturday, Feb. 18 | #24 Pittsburgh | 5:30 p.m. CT/ 6:30 p.m. ET |
JoAnne Graf Field | No Stream | Live Stats | |
| Sunday, Feb. 19 | #24 Pittsburgh | 8:30 a.m. CT/ 9:30 a.m. ET |
JoAnne Graf Field | No Stream | Live Stats | |
| Social: Twitter (@NUSBCats and @NU_SportsLive) | Instagram (nusbcats) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern | Official Tournament Website |
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern travels to Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend, February 17-19, to take part in the second-annual B1G/ACC Challenge with four games against a pair of ACC foes.
Two of the Big Ten's top programs, NU and Nebraska, will take on two of the ACC's best squads, No. 3 Florida State and No. 24 Pittsburgh at JoAnne Graf Field, one of four sites across ACC country hosting this year's event. Eight teams from each conference are participating.
Both FSU and Pittsburgh are undefeated after the season's opening weekend. Florida State was the preseason No. 3 team in the country according to the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll and remains there this weekend. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh had an incredible start to the year with two wins over ranked Kentucky and two victories against UCF to jump from receiving zero votes in the preseason to No. 24 in the country in week two.
Conversely, both NU and Nebraska had tough starts to the year recordwise, with the Wildcats coming in at 1-4 and the Huskers at 0-4 after facing stellar opposition. The two teams combined for five games against ranked teams last week and fell in each, though Northwestern took No. 21 Baylor to extra frames.
Speaking of the Wildcats' opening tournament, Northwestern kicked off 2017 with a victory over Tulsa that marked a return to form for senior Nicole Bond in the circle. Bond was undefeated as a freshman in 2014, but injuries kept her out of all but 14.0 innings in 2015-16. She tossed a complete game against Tulsa, blanking the Golden Hurricane over the final six innings.
From there, NU fell to Baylor in the aforementioned extra-inning affair and to No. 10 Arizona. A comeback against Fordham (which defeated Baylor earlier in the weekend) fell 60 feet short in a 4-3 decision before Cal State Northridge overcame an early Morgan Nelson grand slam.
In spite of the record, Northwestern displayed plenty of great things for the coming season. In addition to Bond's performance, Nelson ranks eighth in the country with 10 RBIs through five games and senior Krista Williams compiled a terrific .571 on-base percentage. Junior Sabrina Rabin reached base in 13 of her 19 plate appearances, using her speed to force four plays that were called errors on the infield.
With this weekend's four games against ranked foes and the current state of the coaches poll, Northwestern is likely in the midst of starting 2017 with eight of its first 11 games against ranked teams. It's a bread-and-butter slate for a program that values strength of schedule early in the year.
NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL HOME TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW!
Full season passes, single game tickets and group tickets to all 14 Northwestern home games are available NOW at NUsports.com. NU welcomes Big Ten foes Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland and Purdue to The J this year while also hosting nonconference games against UIC, Notre Dame and DePaul. Don't miss the FUN! Get yours today!
PROGRAMMING NOTE
In 2017, NU communications contact Doug Meffley will be on the road less, but the Wildcats will still be streamed multiple times at every tournament of the year. Below is a *tentative coverage schedule that should help in planning how you follow the 'Cats from here forward. All streams are free unless otherwise noted; subscription information for pay-per-view streams will be disseminated the week before those events. Also, EVERY GAME this year will have live stats and live tweets at NUsports.com and @NUSBCats.
A full home stream and television schedule will be finalized and available in the coming weeks.
B1G/ACC CHALLENGE: NU's two games against Florida State will be stream on ACC Network Extra.
MARY NUTTER CLASSIC: All games will be covered live by FloSoftball ($)
JUDI GARMAN CLASSIC: All games will be covered live by FloSoftball ($)
SANTA CLARA TOURNAMENT: Doug Meffley will return to the road to have an audio broadcast of all six games in Santa Clara ($)
PLAY BALL!
For a complete season preview and notes on this weekend's B1G/ACC Challenge, download our Game Notes available here and in the chart at the top of this page.
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Players Mentioned
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