Northwestern
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#19 Mississippi State
'Cats Return Home for Three-Game Series vs. No. 19 Mississippi State
3/20/2025 3:19:00 PM | Softball
EVANSTON, Ill. – After 22 games on the road to open the season, Northwestern returns home to Sharon J. Drysdale Field riding a seven-game winning streak for a three-game series against SEC foe, No. 19 Mississippi State.
The Wildcats face off against the Bulldogs at 2:30 pm CT on Friday, action will be televised live on Big Ten Network with Kylen Mills (play-by-play) and Elise Menaker (analyst) on the call. The teams then wrap up the series the following day with a doubleheader beginning at 12 pm CT, both Saturday games will be streamed live on B1G+ with Noah Coffman (play-by-play) and Wildcat alum Sydney Supple (analyst) on the call.
Over the last three seasons, Northwestern is 44-2 (.957 win%) in home games at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, going 15-1 in both 2022 and 2024 while winning all 14 of its contests in 2023. Mississippi State enters as the first top-25 opponent at 'The J' since the 2023 NCAA Evanston Regional, when Northwestern took down then-No. 22 Kentucky, 10-8, on day two. This will be the first-ever meeting between Northwestern and Mississippi State.
Most recently, Northwestern opened Big Ten play by sweeping four games against Penn State and Michigan State at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, the site of the Women's College World Series. The 'Cats were the only Big Ten team to amass four wins on the opening weekend of conference action, and improved to 62-10 (.861) in conference play dating back to the start of the 2023 season–the most wins in the Big Ten over that stretch.
The Wildcats combined to outscore Penn State and Michigan State 40-18 over four games in Oklahoma City, scoring runs in 20-of-26 innings including a stretch of 14-consecutive innings spanning from game one through the middle of game three on the weekend.
On Thursday, the Wildcats opened with a 13-7 win over Penn State powered by a career-high three hits and five RBI from Emma Raye. The 'Cats followed that up with a 10-2 run-rule victory over the Nittany Lions on Saturday which saw three different Wildcats register multi-hit performances in the five-inning game, led by Kaylie Avvisato who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a home run. In the twinbill of Saturday's doubleheader, the 'Cats rallied from a 7-4 deficit to earn an 8-7 extra-innings win over Michigan State thanks to a go-ahead homer from Kelsey Nader in the eighth inning. In the weekend finale vs. the Spartans, NU earned a wire-to-wire 9-2 victory with the help of a 4-for-4 game from Avery Garden, as well as Avvisato's second three-hit/four RBI performance of the weekend.
Northwestern is currently riding a seven-game winning streak, the second-longest streak among Big Ten teams, behind only UCLA. During the streak, the Wildcats are averaging 9.1 runs as a team while holding opponents to an average of 3.6 runs. Northwestern has had winning streaks of at least 10+ games in each of the last five traditionally structured seasons (2018-19, 2022-24).
Riley Grudzielanek led the Wildcats in the circle last weekend, going 3-0 in three appearances with a 1.66 ERA (3 ER/12.2 IP) and a .190 opposing batting average while adding 10 strikeouts. Lauren Boyd earned a save in Northwestern's final two games and is now 4-0 with 29 strikeouts and a 2.21 ERA (8 ER/25.1 IP) in her last six outings, limiting hitters to a .223 opposing batting average.
Avvisato enters the weekend on a team-high 16 game reached base streak. Last weekend, the first-year from Leesburg, Virginia finished with eight hits, four stolen bases and nine RBI in four games. Avvisato currently leads the team in batting average (.392), hits (29), RBI (18), total bases (43) and stolen bases (10). Avvisato's 10 stolen bases have already surpassed the total from any NU player from the 2024 season, and she is the first Wildcat first-year to reach double-digit stolen bases in their rookie campaign since Ayana Lindsey had 13 during the 2022 season.
Nader led the Wildcats at the plate for a second-straight weekend, reaching base in 13-of-19 plate appearances (.722 on-base percentage) while recording a double, a triple and a homer across three separate games on her way to a team-best 1.100 slugging percentage. Nader enters this weekend on an 8-game hitting streak, during which she has raised her batting average by .133 points, up to .318 on the season (third on the team). After the start of Big Ten play last season, Nader raised her batting average on the season from .266 up to .377 on her way to earning Third-Team NFCA All-American honors.
Prior to its three-game set against the 19th-ranked Bulldogs, Northwestern has already surpassed its number of ranked opponents from the 2024 season (5) with six ranked matchups to date this year. Northwestern currently holds a strength of schedule of 32nd in the nation among 309 total D1 programs, including the third-highest in the Big Ten behind UCLA (20th) and Washington (30th).
Following this weekend, Northwestern wraps up its homestand with a midweek showdown vs. Northern Illiniois on Wednesday, March 26 at 4 pm CT before resuming conference play next weekend with a three-game series at Minnesota beginning on March 28.
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