After three consecutive conference regular season titles, Northwestern softball seemed to stall out in 2025. What happened? Where does the program go from here?
Despite a 30+ win season for a fifth straight year, Northwestern softball looks to be at its weakest in quite some time. The team finished fifth in the Big Ten, only to be bounced in the first round of the conference tournament by 12th-seeded Purdue.
Despite that, the ‘Cats went dancing on to Clemson for the NCAA Regionals. But after an upset over Kentucky, the host school would sneak its way by NU before its Wildcat counterparts in blue seized its revenge on the women in purple, sending the ‘Cats home for the spring.
So, what happened? Why did Northwestern fall so far from their No. 20 preseason ranking?
This year’s squad really felt the losses of the 2024 graduating class, one in particular being Ashley Miller in the pitching circle. Lauren Boyd did a tremendous job stepping into the role of the No. 1 starter, but after Boyd, it became a sandstorm in the circle.
The No. 2? Riley Grudzielanek, who really showed great flashes of potential in 2024 with stellar outings against St. Francis, Ohio State, and Indiana. However, she started to crack under greater responsibility, especially against ranked teams where she went winless.
As a matter of fact, all four ranked wins Northwestern grinded out this season were courtesy of Boyd in the circle — a huge problem considering the fact that she’s out of eligibility. That means Signe Dohse and Emma Blea will be pivotal for the foreseeable future.
Based on this past season, Dohse will most likely undertake a starting role come next spring, while Blea joins Renae Cunningham in the bullpen.
Much like Grudzielanek in her first-year campaign, Dohse found her footing towards the end of the year, as three of her final four regular season appearances were scoreless outings. Following two tough outings against No. 8 UCLA, where she gave up three, and Purdue, where she loaded the bases in each of the first three innings, she pitched a solid 4.1 innings of one-run ball in NU’s season ending loss to Kentucky.
A very up-and-down season, but the potential to be a future ace lies in Dohse’s future.
Blea has been highly restricted in terms of innings this past season. She had only 20.1 on the year, less than half of the second lowest total on the team, making a 5.51 ERA a bit more concerning for ‘Cats faithful. However, from a visual perspective, Blea could make for a great closer for Northwestern, mainly because the change-of-pace in her pitch arsenal has room to grow into a lethal weapon.
Another point to make is that her outings often go awry after two innings of work — hence why the closer role would work best for her.
The transfer portal will be crucial for the Drohans in bolstering up the starting rotation. One or two proven arms coming to Evanston would take a world of pressure of Grudzielanek, who seems to be on an island of her own as the only guaranteed starter for next year.
The bats for the ‘Cats lit up the Chicago sky after a rather quiet month of February, and the the bulk of the lineup returns in 2026. Ayana Lindsey will leave Northwestern lacking in the speed department, but Kelsey Nader will be enough to fill that role out in center field. Izzy Cunnea and Avery Garden bring copious amounts of power to an already loaded lineup with Kansas Robinson and Bridget Dohaney, and will create nightmares for pitching coaches in searching for weaknesses in the order.
And leading the way will be none other than Kaylie Avvisato, who had one of the best seasons ever from a Northwestern first-year. The All-Big Ten First Team honoree seems comfortable in the three spot of the order, terrorizing pitchers with her ability to hit for power, hit for contact, and swipe bags on the base paths.
However, she is one half of Northwestern’s biggest question mark. The other half? Bridget Donahey.
Let’s discuss the shortstop dilemma.
Coming into the year, Avvisato was expected to replace the graduated Hannah Cady at third base, leaving the rest of the infield untouched.
Kate Drohan then thew us all a curveball by putting her at short, sliding Dohaney to third for the first time in her career.
This did not pan out well. By any means.
Avvisato led the team in errors with 18, while Donahey followed up with 16. A very scary sight considering the fact that the junior was a sure-handed glove at shortstop a year ago with a .970 fielding percentage. In 2025, that number dipped down to .911.
The question here is this: does Dohaney go back to her native position, or should NU continue to develop Avvisato’s glove at short.
Range for the speedy Avvisato wasn’t an issue. It was her ‘internal clock’ that gave her trouble in the infield, as she’d tend to rush throws to first — especially on the run.
A very likely solution is to enter Dohse into the infield at third base, move Dohaney to short, and have Avvisato slot in as the designated player, allowing her to invest all her energy at the plate, where she was best this season. Dohse started at third against Loyola Chicago this year and took to the position smoothly, showing she possesses the reaction time needed for the hot corner.
Can Northwestern once again crack the top 25 next year? I’ll give it a maybe — when a team shares a conference with Nebraska, UCLA, and Oregon, it’s pretty difficult to do so. However, it’s not impossible.
Every year, the ‘Cats always find some Drohan magic deep in the shadows of The J. But with their championship window closing, as Robinson, Nader, Dohaney, and Grace Nieto are quickly running out of time in purple, Northwestern softball may need to dig for a bit more of it in 2026.