The good news for the Northwestern softball team was that it cracked the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 for the first time in eight years before a 16-day layoff in mid-March.
The bad news? The Cats are expected to fall from the No. 22 position after four consecutive losses.
“Our success made us a little bit lazy,” coach Kate Drohan said. “And lazy is a horrible word.”
The Wildcats fell to 17-10 overall and 0-4 against Big Ten opponents. NU sits in last place in the Big Ten by two games heading into a nonconference battle with Illinois-Chicago in today’s home opener.
“To lose four in the beginning (of the Big Ten season) is a shock,” said sophomore outfielder Erin Mobley. “It will make us that much hungrier for every win. We didn’t keep pushing ourselves and work as hard as we needed to work.”
During an eight-game, seven-day stretch, the Cats won the first four games before losing twice to both Michigan and Michigan State. Drohan said she was most disappointed by her team’s play in 6-5 and 3-1 losses to the No. 15 Wolverines.
“We played very poorly,” Drohan said. “We didn’t pitch well, we didn’t hit well and we weren’t aggressive. It was the first time I saw the team play this way this season.”
After the 16-day hiatus, NU pounded Bradley 9-1, senior Brie Brown shut out Illinois State 2-0 and the Cats swept a doubleheader against Notre Dame.
But in East Lansing, Mich., the Cats stranded 10 baserunners — six in scoring position — against the Spartans in a 3-0 loss on March 28.
The Cats lost both games of a doubleheader in extra innnings to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich., on March 30. In the first game, Michigan senior Marissa Young , the 2002 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Young also drove in the game-winning run with a two-run single in the second game, leading Michigan to a 3-1 victory.
Mobley called the two loses to Michigan heartbreakers.
“We fought both games so hard,” Mobley said. “It’s a different feeling getting shut out and really feeling like you can’t do much to help yourself out versus knowing you are hitting the pitchers well. . . and really confident as though you will win. That’s why it hurt so bad when we lost.”
After the graduation of long-ball threats Erin Jancic and Gretchen Barnes, who combined for 12 of the team’s 27 home runs last season, the Cats have struggled to string together clutch hits.
“We have been working on swinging hard and taking our hacks up there, and it has been paying off. When you put all our hits and plays together…it’s never an individual that wins the game.”
After playing 27 games on the road, the Cats will host Illinois-Chicago (8-25) today at Drysdale Field. NU touts a 25-11 series lead over the Flames, who have lost six of their last seven games.
“It’s definitely not going to be a cake walk,” Drohan said. “We have to come out strong on the mound.”
The Cats will send freshman pitcher Courtnay Foster (8-5) to the hill. She has struck out 115 batters in 92.1 innings pitched, averaging almost nine strikeouts per game.
Although Drohan plans to experiment with changes in the field, she said the key to getting her young team back on track will be learning how to win.
“We are still in the process of really, really slamming the door on people,” she said.
