'Cats Look Toward Indiana After Midweek Split

Wednesday, April 20

Champaign, IL

12 p.m. CT

Northwestern

31-6, 0

Illinois

26-15, 0

Northwestern

Illinois

'Cats Look Toward Indiana After Midweek Split

4/20/2022 5:42:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

NORTHWESTERN SOFTBALL: GAME INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	WATCH	LIVE STATS
Friday, April 22	Indiana	5 pm CT	Bloomington, Ind.	B1G+	Live Stats
Saturday, April 23	Indiana	5 pm CT	Bloomington, Ind.	Big Ten Network	Live Stats
Sunday, April 24	Indiana	12 pm CT	Bloomington, Ind.	B1G+	Live Stats
Social: Twitter: @NUSBcats \| Instagram: @NUSBcats

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No.10 Northwestern continues its five-game road trip this week with a weekend series at Indiana.

The Wildcats are coming off a Wednesday doubleheader split downstate at Illinois. The 'Cats took game one of the doubleheader, 3-0, behind a complete game shutout from Danielle Williams before falling in game two, 8-0, in five innings.

Northwestern sits at 31-7 on the season and 12-2 in Big Ten play, placing them second in the conference standings just 1.5 games behind Nebraska (13-0, on the road at Wisconsin this weekend).

On Wednesday vs. the Illini, Williams tossed her eighth complete game shutout of the season, tied for the most in the Big Ten. She allowed just two hits in 7.0 innings while striking out 12, marking her ninth double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Prior to Wednesday's game, Williams was named a Top-25 finalist for USA Softball's National Player of the Year award, one of two Big Ten players and 10 pitchers in the nation to be a finalist for the award.

Nikki Cuchran and Rachel Lewis each led the Wildcats with two hits over the Wildcats' two games on Wednesday. Cuchran drove in the eventual deciding run with a sacrifice fly to bring around Lewis in the fourth inning. Two batters later, Hannah Cady extended the lead with a two-RBI double to put NU up 3-0 on the Illini. Cady has now reached base in five-consecutive games and is hitting .538 (7-of-13) with RBI in that five-game span dating back to the start of last weekend's series against Purdue.

Lewis is the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week after taking home the conference honors for a third time this season. She was also named the National Player of the Week by D1Softball after hitting four home runs and scoring a run in all 10 of her plate appearances over the Wildcats' series vs. Purdue. Lewis is one of just four players in Big Ten softball history to hit 60 career homers, she enters this weekend just three homers away from moving in to sole possesion of second place in the conference record book.

Northwestern is 71-38 all-time against Indiana and the Wildcats are currently riding an 11-game winning streak over the Hoosiers dating back to 2012. Friday and Sunday's games will be broadcast on B1G+, while Saturday's game will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network with first pitch at 5 pm CT.