Northwestern softball coach Sharon Drysdale has watched it happen many times over the years: A senior leaves the practice field for the final time or plays in the last game of her college career.
But this season, Drysdale will be the one saying the goodbyes. She announced in February that she will resign as coach at the end of the season.
“Our seniors go through that every year,” Drysdale said. “They know it’s their last games or season, and I have to deal with it, too.”
After this season, Drysdale may start a school for softball coaches or try coaching in the Women’s Pro Softball League.
Either way, Drysdale will no longer be a part of NU.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” Drysdale said. “I love Northwestern. I just felt it was time to do something else.”
This year’s team will do its best to make Drysdale’s farewell tour interesting. But the Cats will have to do so without last year’s Big Ten player of the year, Brooke Siebel.
Siebel will have to sit out her senior season because of a stress fracture in her ankle. She played on the injured ankle last year, which led to the fracture.
“I played all last year hurt, and I don’t think I could do it again,” Siebel said. “Softball has been a big part of my life. It’s not fun sitting and watching. It’s hard to see them doing stuff out there that I can’t do.”
Siebel’s teammates will miss her great play as much as Siebel will miss playing.
She played an important part in the Cats’ NCAA regional appearance last year. Siebel hit .362 with six home runs.
“That is a big disappointment,” Drysdale said. “She won a lot of games for us. She contributed so much over three years.”
Without Siebel, NU (6-3) has had to rely on its younger players to win ball games. Thus far, the Cats have been able to come through in the clutch.
In San Diego, at the Cats’ most recent tournament, freshman Carri Leto drove in sophomore Brett Nakabayashi to give NU a 1-0 win over California State, Northridge. And against San Diego State, sophomore Alyson Schulz singled in the winning run in a 2-1 victory. NU finished the tournament with a 4-1 record.
“We played phenomenal in San Diego,” Leto said. “We’re going to take the way we played in San Diego and run with it.”
The Cats will also need a lot of help from their pitching staff, which currently consists of Brie Brown and Gretchen Barnes. Brown, a sophomore, has pitched all but three innings in NU’s nine games.
But Brown hasn’t suffered in the least from the heavy workload. She threw three shutouts and recorded four wins in San Diego.
“I’ve been very impressed with Brie Brown,” Drysdale said. “You can’t really ask anything more from an individual against the competition we’ve had to face.”
Brown will get a break once sophomore Lauren Schwendimann gets healthy. Schwendimann, who went 20-11 last year with a 1.76 ERA, has been recovering from shoulder surgery.
The Cats hope that with a healthy pitching staff and a quality group of young players, they can return to regionals.
And give Drysdale a proper send-off.
“Our team wants to play the best it can for Coach Drysdale,” Leto said.
