March 18, 2009
Northwestern's Michigan Weekend Game Notes (PDF Format) 
Check Out Northwestern's 2009 Softball Promotions!
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 14 Northwestern and No. 8 Michigan have battled atop the Big Ten standings for the last half decade, and the pair waste little time coming together in 2009. The Wildcats and Wolverines open the conference season this weekend, March 21-22, with a two-game series at Sharon J. Drysdale Field to be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
Game one starts at noon CT Saturday, March 21, while game two is at 1 p.m. CT Sunday, March 22. The Saturday start time was moved from the originally publicized time of 1 p.m. CT to accomodate the live television broadcast.
NU has won two of the last three Big Ten titles, finishing one spot ahead of Michigan in 2006 and sharing the title with UM in 2008. The Wolverines topped the 'Cats for the league crown in 2005.
Northwestern has led the Big Ten in total conference victories in each of the last four years, besting Michigan's total win tally in the same time span by five games. In addition, the Wildcats have won 12 Big Ten superlatives since 2004, four more than the second-place Wolverines' total of eight.
NU is excited to return home to Sharon J. Drysdale Field, which was named the 2008 Stabilizer Solutions/NFCA Field Maintenance award winner as the nation's best playing surface. The best place to play softball in the Big Ten and the country was the worst for opponents last year; NU went a perfect 13-0 in the regular season at home before winning both the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Regional crowns in Evanston.
Northwestern returns to action following a weekend off for finals, but the Wildcats entered that break red-hot. NU won The Preview presented by Worth March 7-8 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium -- site of the Women's College World Series -- by putting together a 3-1 record versus top-10 foes Tennessee and Oklahoma. NU swept No. 8 Tennessee, including an 11-3 run-rule win, while splitting with No. 6 Oklahoma. Senior Tammy Williams (Roscoe, Mo./Osceola) won both national player of the week awards following the 'Cats' successful weekend.
Also available to return to action this weekend is left fielder Jordan Wheeler (Garden Grove, Calif./Los Alamitos), who missed The Preview following a tonsillectomy procedure.
National Television
Both of this weekend's Big Ten-opening games against Michigan will be broadcast in high definition live to a national audience on the Big Ten Network. Leah Secondo has drawn play-by-play duties while 2007 Northwestern graduate, two-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Eileen Canney is your color commentator.
Including its 2009 schedule, the Big Ten Network will have broadcast more than 50 softball games in HD since its inception in August of 2007, making the Big Ten the most nationally televised softball conference in the country. With its six currently scheduled games this year, Northwestern will have played at least 13 games on the Big Ten Network -- most in the conference.
During the Kate Drohan era at Northwestern, the Wildcats have played 24 nationally televised games, including 13 on the ESPN family of networks. Combined with NU's six games currently on the 2009 schedule, the NU senior class will play at least 27 games on national TV during their careers.
What's Next
Northwestern embarks on its annual Spring Break trip next week, heading to Washington D.C. for a little history and a lot of softball. NU will play a single game at Maryland on Wednesday, March 25 and a doubleheader at Georgetown on Thursday, March 26, before swinging through Penn State for a weekend series on the way home.
This Weekend's Promotions!
This weekend kicks off the home season with Ashley Lafever Day on March 21 against No. 8 Michigan at noon CT. Be sure to pick up your free limited edition Ashley Lafever trading card as part of our senior tribute this season. Collect all four softball senior trading cards for your chance to win great prizes on May 2.
The 'Cats also take on Michigan Sunday at 1 p.m. CT with both games this weekend being televised on the Big Ten Network so paint yourself purple to be on TV!
For Northwestern's complete game notes package for the weekend, download the .pdf located at the top of this page.