EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern swept Iowa in its final home series of the season. The Wildcats improved to 38-7 on the season and 18-2 in conference play to lead the Big Ten. After outscoring Iowa 22-5 on the weekend, the Wildcats now lead the Big Ten with 316 runs scored.
Standout Performances
Standout Performances
- Hannah Cady was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the first time in her career after posting a .625 average (5-for-8) and .727 on-base percentage (8-for-11) against Iowa. Cady hit two home runs, including her first career grand slam, and tallied six RBI in the series.
- This is the fourth consecutive week that a Wildcat has been named Big Ten Player of the Week, after Nikki Cuchran, Rachel Lewis, and Jordyn Rudd received the honor the past three weeks. It is the first time that a team has collected four consecutive Big Ten Player of the Week awards since Michigan did so in 2015.
- Cady is now hitting .291 with a .885 OPS on the season.
- In her past 30 games, Cady is hitting .385 (35-for-91) with eight home runs and 28 RBI.
- Against Big Ten opponents, Cady has posted a .393 average and 1.228 OPS, both second best on the team behind Rachel Lewis, and trails only Lewis on the conference leaderboards with seven home runs.
- The Clarkston, Mich. native has reached base in her past 12 games.
- Rachel Lewis hit her 20th home run of the season on Friday, most in the Big Ten and fourth most in Division I.
- Lewis's 20 home runs jumps Adrienne Monka's 2009 total of 19 for second place in program history. She is three short of Garland Cooper's program record of 23 home runs in 2007, and four shy of 24 homers, the Big Ten single season record.
- Lewis is the fourth player in Big Ten history to reach 60 career home runs. She is one home run away from moving into sole possession of second place in the Big Ten home run record book.
- Lewis's 1.380 OPS and .880 slugging percentage lead the Big Ten. She also closing in on Adrienne Monka's program record of a .900 slugging percentage in 2009.
- In 20 games against Big Ten opponents, Lewis leads the conference with 12 home runs, 1.069 slugging percentage, 29 runs scored, 33 RBI, and a 1.613 OPS.
- Sydney Supple threw a complete-game shutout, the first of her career, in Saturday's 4-0 victory.
- Supple joins Danielle Williams and Lauren Boyd as the third Wildcat with a seven-inning shutout this season.
- Skyler Shellmyer notched a hit in each game of the series, bringing her average to .354.
- Shellmyer leads the Wildcats with 16 multi-hit games this season.
- After hitting .360 last season, the Urbandale, Iowa native is on pace to become the first Wildcat to hit .350 or higher in consecutive seasons since Sabrina Rabin in 2017-18.
- Shellmyer has recorded a hit in 36 of Northwestern's 45 games this season.
- Grace Nieto hit .700 (7-for-10) in the past week against UIC and Iowa.
- Nieto is riding a seven game hitting streak, posting a .632 average (12-for-19) over that span.
- The Farmington Hills, Mich. native has raised her season average to .303 and is on pace to be the first NU first-year to hit .300+ since Jordyn Rudd and Nikki Cuchran did so in 2019.
- Danielle Williams struck out 12 batters in and posted a 0.67 ERA (one earned run) in 10.1 innings pitched over the weekend.
- Williams leads the Big Ten with a 1.28 ERA, 260 strikeouts, 24 wins, and 11 saves in 175.1 IP.
- Her 260 strikeouts are fourth-best in the country.
- This past weekend was the final regular season series for the senior class at Sharon J. Drysdale Field. The seniors have been a part of 126 wins and a NCAA Super Regional appearance over the past four years.
- Against Big Ten opponents, the Wildcats lead the conference with 7.6 runs per game, .421 on-base percentage, .597 slugging percentage, 38 home runs, 78 walks, and 178 hits.
- All eight of Northwestern's every-day starters have an OPS of over .800, joining Nebraska as the only Big Ten teams with eight players to reach that mark.
- The 'Cats close out the regular season with a three-game series at Minnesota starting on Friday. Northwestern can clinch the Big Ten regular season title with one win in the series OR one Nebraska loss in their series against Indiana. Fans can follow along on Twitter @NUSBcats.