Regular Season Closes With Visit to Wisconsin

5/3/2018 11:21:00 AM | Softball

NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL: Wisconsin Series
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	COVERAGE	LIVE STATS
Friday, May 4	Wisconsin	5 p.m.	Madison, Wis.	BTN Plus Stream	Live Stats
Saturday, May 5	Wisconsin	Noon	Madison, Wis.	BTN Plus Stream	Live Stats
Sunday, May 6	Wisconsin	Noon	Madison, Wis.	BTN Plus Stream	Live Stats
Social: Twitter (@NUSBCats and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (nusbcats) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| TICKETS

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The final weekend of the regular season has arrived, and for Northwestern it means a trip to Madison, Wisconsin, for an early preview of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament. The Wildcats and Badgers will do battle at Goodman Diamond this Friday through Sunday, May 4-6, before the facility hosts the conference tourney May 10-12 next week.

Northwestern and Wisconsin kick off the series at 5 p.m. Friday, May 4, before playing noon contests on Saturday and Sunday. All games will be streamed live on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.

The Wildcats enter this weekend tied for fourth place in the Big Ten with Ohio State at 13-6 while Wisconsin currently sits in seventh with a 9-8 record. If NU keeps itself in the top four in the standings, it would mean an opening round bye into Friday's quarterfinals for the B1G Tournament. OSU plays host to first-place Michigan this weekend while second-place Minnesota (15-3) and third-place Indiana (16-4) play the bottom two teams in the standings, Penn State and Rutgers, respectively.

In the larger NCAA Tournament picture, Northwestern is currently No. 35 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and in good position for an at-large berth into the field of 64. NU buoyed its hopes with a 7-3 road victory at DePaul (No. 67 RPI) on Wednesday night.

Offense has been the name of the game for the Wildcats this season, with NU currently ranking ninth nationally in scoring at 6.32 runs per game. Nobody is hotter at the plate right now than junior Morgan Nelson, who is batting .531 and slugging 1.188 with a .660 on-base percentage over Northwestern's last 12 games. She has driven in 22 runs over that period, good for 1.83 per game. Nelson's position in the lineup behind national Freshman of the Year candidate Rachel Lewis and senior leadoff wizard Sabrina Rabin has given her plenty of RBI opportunities.

Speaking of Rabin, the three-time All-Big Ten selection scored the 200th run of her career Sunday in a win against Iowa, making her just the second Wildcat to ever reach that threshold (she joined Tammy Williams, who scored 235 runs in her four-time All-America career). Rabin ranks sixth in Big Ten history in runs scored and third with 128 stolen bases. She is poised to move up both rankings even further this weekend.

In the circle, first-year Kenna Wilkey is a gamer's gamer. She is on a personal 10-game winning streak dating to April 1, improving her record to 17-4 this season. In B1G action, Wilkey is 9-1 with a save. Sophomore Morgan Newport has been a strong complement in recent weeks, picking up midweek non-conference victories over Loyola (Chicago) and DePaul to improve her own record on the year to 12-6.

The schedule and bracket for the 2018 Big Ten Tournament will be released Sunday afternoon after the completion of all games across the conference. Opening round action comprises four games on Thursday, May 10. The top four seeds are exempt into the quarterfinal round Friday, May 11. All games at the Big Ten Tournament will be televised live on Big Ten Network.

PROGRAMMING NOTE

Below is a coverage schedule for the remainder of the season. In addition to this coverage, EVERY GAME will have live stats and live tweets at NUsports.com and @NUSBCats on Twitter.

WISCONSIN SERIES (May 4-6)
All games will be streamed on BTN Plus on BTN2Go. For BTN Plus on BTN2Go, Cost is $9.95 for a monthly pass for Northwestern games.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT (May 10-12)
All games will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network and streamed via BTN2Go.

PLAY BALL!
For a complete season preview and notes on this weekend's Wisconsin series, download our Game Notes available here and in the chart at the top of this page.