With the loss of three starters from last season, there may have been concern about Northwestern returning to the NCAA Super Regionals this May.

Of course, there are always new fish to pull out of the talent pool, but NU’s early season schedule didn’t make it particularly easy to start swimming.

“That’s a tough time for our freshmen to develop,” coach Kate Drohan said. “You’re going against the top-five teams in the country.”

If the opening weekend of the Big Ten season is any indication, those concerns may have been unnecessary. At least they certainly were to anyone who watched NU’s dismantling of Wisconsin on Friday.

Freshmen Erin Dyer clocked a grand slam in her first-ever at-bat at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, setting off a 16-0 drubbing of the Badgers.

“I just expected to get in here and there,” said Dyer, who spent the drizzly conference opener manning right field. “But I am starting, and it’s huge and it’s really exciting.”

Don’t be distracted by the exuberance and awe of youth. Dyer is an offensive force to be reckoned with, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and with a team-record eight RBIs Friday.

Not bad for the first home game of her career.

Dyer is hardly alone in her offensive prowess. Freshman Erin Hampshire hit a round-tripper of her own in her first collegiate at-bat Friday, and fellow rookie Tammy Williams might be making people forget about a departed All-American.

Williams has the task of filling the considerable void left by shortstop Stephanie Churchwell, who took her .406 batting average and nine homeruns back home to California when she essentially retired from college softball in the offseason.

“They lost an amazing shortstop last year,” Williams said. “That’s kind of my role this year is to just step up and take over her position.

“It’s working out so far.”

It certainly is, to the tune of a .385 batting average and six homeruns, tying her for first on the roster. She also sports a .677 slugging percentage, a .464 on-base percentage and eight stolen bases in 11 attempts – all numbers that should go up with the Cats’ brutal non-conference schedule behind them.

Her 37 hits are tops on the team, a remarkable feat considering she plays with junior first baseman Garland Cooper who is perhaps the best hitter in the conference.

If the opening weekend of the conference season is any indication, these two youngsters will feast on their competition.

By the time NU had finished thumping another Big Ten opponent, cruising past Iowa 12-2 on the back end of a doubleheader Sunday, Williams added six hits, seven RBIs and three homeruns to her season totals while Dyer had tacked on three hits and two RBIs of her own.

The success may come as a surprise to the players or to the rest of us, but not to Drohan.

“I think they’re both ballplayers,” Drohan said. “Their numbers are great, but they play hard every day in the fall and every day in the winter, so I’m not really surprised.”

Dyer and Williams have made the transition to a top-flight Division I program seem easy.

Still, the change hasn’t come without help.

“It’s also easy to be a freshman and be a starter because of the kind of camaraderie we have on our team,” Dyer said. “They don’t look at us as freshmen. We’re all a part of the team.”

Things will probably not always be easy for the Cats’ freshman class. As Williams readily noted, “I’m sure there will be obstacles.” But for the time being it seems that the pain of losing three starters is being dulled.

NU looks like it’s in good hands for the 2006 season, and probably for the next four years as well.

Deputy sports editor David Kalan is a Weinberg junior. He can be reached at [email protected].