EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern swept Minnesota at Sharon J. Drysdale Field to kick-off the Big Ten season. The Wildcats improved to 17-8 on the season and are now 4-0 at home. The 'Cats are riding a seven-game winning streak, last falling by a score of 2-1 to No. 1 Oklahoma on March 17th.
Standout Performances
Standout Performances
- Hannah Cady crushed a walk-off homer in the ninth inning to give the 'Cats an 8-7 game one victory.
- Cady posted a .500 batting average (3-for-6) and 1.727 OPS on the weekend.
- The Clarkston, Mich. native is now hitting .271 with a .907 OPS on the season.
- Cady was hit by an astounding five pitches in the three-game series, giving her seven HBPs on the year. She led the team with 11 last season.
- In her past 13 games, Cady is hitting .351 (13-for-37) with a .467 on-base percentage, three home runs, and 12 runs scored.
- Last season against Big Ten opponents, Cady has posted a .393 average and 1.228 OPS, both second best on the team behind Rachel Lewis, and trailed only Lewis on the conference leaderboards with seven home runs.
- Skyler Shellmyer tallied three hits in both game one and game two, hitting .583 (7-for-12) on the weekend.
- Shellmyer set a new career-high with four RBI in Friday's win.
- It is the second time in Shellmyer's career that she has tallied 3+ hits in back-to-back games, with the last time coming in a two-game series with McNeese last season (5/21-5/22/22).
- Shellmyer leads the Wildcats with a .343 (24-for-70) batting average this season.
- Nikki Cuchran went 6-for-8 with a team-high 11 total bases in the three-game series.
- Cuchran posted a .750 batting average and 2.175 OPS to lead the team.
- Cuchran raised her batting average from .203 to .269 over the weekend.
- She blasted her first home run of the season in the fifth inning of Sunday's series finale.
- Lauren Boyd did not allow an earned run in eight innings on the weekend, picking up the win in games one and three.
- Boyd pitched three innings of scoreless relief on Friday before tossing five strong innings in a start on Sunday.
- Boyd leads the team with a 2.03 ERA (15 earned runs in 51.2 innings).
- Since allowing five earned runs in her first appearance against Texas, Boyd has compiled a 1.41 ERA in her last 49.2 innings pitched.
- Ayana Lindsey went 5-for-8 on the weekend with four runs scored.
- Lindsey had a huge game in Friday's series opener, going 3-for-3 with a triple, walk, RBI, two stolen bases, and three runs scored.
- She stayed hot in game two with a double and RBI-single.
- The sophomore now has five career multi-hit games.
- Northwestern heads to DePaul on Tuesday, March 28 for a midweek showdown vs. the Blue Demons in Chicago, beginning at 4 pm CT.
- The Wildcats travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes next weekend. The 'Cats were dominant on the road in conference play last season, tallying an 8-3 record. The Wildcats swept Iowa in a three-game series in Evanston last season and took three-of-four in Iowa City in 2021.
- Last season against Big Ten opponents, the Wildcats led the conference with 7.6 runs per game, .421 on-base percentage, .597 slugging percentage, 38 home runs, 78 walks, and 178 hits.
- The Wildcats are looking to repeat as Big Ten champions for the first time since the 1986-87 season.
- Fans can follow along with every game on Twitter @NUSBcats.