Flash back a few months, and you’d have had a heck of a time convincing Northwestern’s softball team it would ever be where it is now.
With one weekend left in the regular season, the Wildcats are sitting far from pretty in a seventh-place tie with Purdue in the Big Ten. They have just two games to climb into sixth – the last spot in the standings that qualifies for the conference tournament.
For a team that expected to be closer to the top of the tournament than the basement of the conference – and rightfully so – this comes as a shocking disappointment. But surprisingly enough, the Cats’ position in the pack is the least of their concerns right now.
It’s not enough that NU has battled injury after injury all year long. Not bad enough that rightfielder Brett Nakabayashi will miss the weekend’s two games with mononucleosis. Nor is it troubling enough that the team’s best hitter, Erin Jancic, can’t play the field because of a shoulder injury, pushing a second backup into the starting outfield.
What makes the aches and pains of this long season all the more hurtful is that NU coach Sharon Drysdale is in her 23rd and final season. If the Cats can’t squeeze into the tournament, they’ll have to live with sending their coach off into the sunset with a subpar season. And that thought has NU shaking in its cleats.
“It breaks my heart. We go out there every day and we want to win every game for her,” sophomore Alyson Schulz said. “It’s so hard. Sitting in class I’m thinking about at-bats. It’s crazy.”
Unfortunately for them, the Cats also have to travel to Iowa for their final two games. Pearl Field, the Hawkeyes’ home, proved deadly for NU batters last season in the Big Ten tournament. With a conference title and home-field advantage for the Big Ten tournament on the line, Iowa won’t be taking the series lightly.
But the problems keep piling up for NU. In order to make it to the tournament, the Cats will have to sweep the Hawkeyes and get help from two, maybe three teams. NU also has the misfortune of losing two of the three tiebreakers that could factor into its tourney chances.
To say the least, the team is fighting an uphill battle.
Drysdale has done a good job deflecting attention from herself this season. Her players are quick to say that the coach has made sure the players win for themselves, not her. Still, they can’t stand to face the thought that a 700-win coaching career could close with a seventh-place – or worse – finish.
The Cats don’t have much reason to hold back against Iowa. They can take the field knowing that almost all of their contributors on the field from this season will be back next year. They can take the field knowing that current associate head coach Kate Drohan will be stepping into Drysdale’s shoes next year. They can also take the field knowing that they beat Iowa once last year and lost two other close contests.
But never again will these players have so much pain and pressure come together in a single two-game series.
Funny how a team can have nothing to lose and everything to lose all at once.
