Northwestern Softball vs. Wisconsin May 5, 2018 in Madison, Wisc.

Photo by: S. J. Carrera, Inc.

Northwestern Finishes Year Ranked In ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25

6/12/2018 2:16:00 PM | Softball

EVANSTON, Ill. – Buoyed by a run to the championship games of both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Athens Regional, Northwestern concluded the 2018 season ranked 24^th in the final ESPN.com/USA Softball top-25 poll that was released Tuesday.

The ranking marks NU's first appearance in one of the two main national polls since the Wildcats spent seven weeks in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll during the 2014 season. Northwestern was ranked in 76-straight editions of the NFCA poll from 2005-10.

BRIEF SEASON RECAP FOLLOWS; DOWNLOAD NU'S FINAL 2018 SEASON NOTES AND STATS PACKAGE HERE!

Northwestern took a huge step on its road back to remarkable in 2018, riding the leadership of a seven-member senior class to a 38-19 record and a berth in the NCAA Athens Regional championship round. The Wildcats' 38 wins were the program's most since winning 40 during a Super Regional season in 2008, and their Regional title appearance was the seventh in the tenure of Kate and Caryl Drohan.

After winning 34 games during the regular season, Northwestern first made a run to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game for the first time since 2008. That taste of postseason fight carried over into a gritty team performance in the NCAA Tournament that included a pair of nail-biting victories over the Pac-12's California Golden Bears. NU's performance in the postseason earned it a No. 24 national ranking in the final ESPN.com/USA Softball of the year.

Northwestern created a team identity that was fiercely no-quit. NU won five games during the year in which it entered the seventh inning trailing by two-or-more runs, and went a stellar 5-1 in extra-inning contests. Overall, the Wildcats trailed at some point in a whopping 15 of their eventual victories, but outscored their opponents by a massive 47-11 margin in the seventh inning and after. Most importantly, when Northwestern held a lead, it did not give it up: the Wildcats were 21-1 on the year when leading after five innings. Credit goes to seniors Renee Ariola, Nicole Bond, Abbey Boyd, Brooke Marquez, Sammy Nettling, Marissa Panko and Sabrina Rabin for creating the will to win.

Nettling led the senior class and the entire team from behind the plate, putting together by far the best offensive season of her career while deftly handling a pitching staff that fought its way through adversity all season. What started a five-member group in the circle was quickly whittled down to three, with first-year Kenna Wilkey stepping up in a major way to become NU's first 20-game winner since 2009. Sophomore Morgan Newport won 14 games including a shutout of No. 11 Alabama and a no-hitter over Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament. In the NCAA Regional, those two hurlers GUTTED their way through every at-bat they threw and willed NU into the championship round.

Sabrina Rabin concluded her career among Northwestern and the Big Ten's all-time best in runs scored and stolen bases. She led a five-member All-Big Ten class that also included first-team choices Rachel Lewis and Morgan Nelson, second-team selection Wilkey and Defensive-Team honoree Lily Novak. Rabin's second-team nod made her the 12th four-time All-Big Ten award winner in school history; she later picked up an NFCA All-Region accolade to become the fifth Wildcat to win that award four times.

Nobody made a bigger splash on the year than the first-year Lewis, who became the fifth Wildcat in program history to be named an NFCA All-American in her debut season when she was elected to the second team. Lewis also was one of 10 finalists for the NFCA National Freshman of the Year after anchoring NU's resurgent offense. She and Nelson formed an incredible tandem in the lineup; they smashed back-to-back homers four times on the year, and Nelson ended the season batting .459 and slugging .852 over NU's final 22 games of the year.

The offense on the whole earned a spot among NU's all-time best. The Wildcats' 338 runs scored are third-most all-time in program history, as are their 114 stolen bases on the year. The 212 walks Northwestern drew rank second all-time.

Though the 2018 team had a sizeable senior class, three first-years broke through as everyday starters in Lewis, Wilkey and Mac Dunlap, a defensive stalwart at third base. Overall, six regular starters will return for 2019, and they will be joined by the nation's ninth-ranked recruiting class according to FloSoftball.