Never the flashiest. Certainly the fiercest.
Over the past decade, Northwestern softball has seen a slew of program icons. Lauren Boyd certainly isn’t the flashiest from a crop of Danielle Williams or Rachel Lewis, and more recently Kansas Robinson, Ashley Miller and Kelsey Nader, but she’s certainly just as important to Kate Drohan’s program than any of those Wildcats.
And the worst part is I think we took her for granted.
Sitting the entire 2024 season out with injury, Boyd’s 2025 season was one of incredible resilience, guts and a slightly unhealthy dose of putting her team on her back. For a player that since February was unavailable to start consecutive days until the NCAA Tournament, her 2.30 ERA and 15-5 record over 125.0 innings of work muddy the fact that Boyd almost single-handedly kept Northwestern clawing. The 30-win Wildcats went 18-6 in games Boyd pitched compared to the 12-14-1 record where the burden fell on the shoulders of an unreliable supporting cast.
After Nebraska swept the Wildcats in Evanston in mid-April, Boyd tossed 52.2 innings the rest of the way, racking up a 7-1 record that included six complete games and two wins over then-No. 8 UCLA in Los Angeles. That weekend performance at Easton Stadium earned Boyd D1Softball National Pitcher of the Week honors and Northwestern an NCAA postseason berth.
The only loss on her record during that stretch: a nine-inning masterclass in the Clemson Regional against the hosting Tigers last weekend, where her lone earned run came off a safety squeeze in extra innings. If I were her, I’d probably feel pretty similar to whatever Paul Skenes must be feeling of late with how the Pittsburgh Pirates offense continues to be MIA. It’s certainly a tough way to end a season where she gave it everything she had — especially when she pitched her arm off just for Northwestern’s offense to limp lifelessly in the biggest game of the year.
And now, she’s simply a part of Northwestern history. Sure, she didn’t win Big Ten Pitcher of the Year like Miller did last year or First Team All-American honors like Williams garnered in 2022. However, alongside 2025 All-Big Ten Second Team Honors, Boyd is a First Team All-Wildcat.
For a program that preaches of being remarkable, of being the purple cow in the field of the ordinary, Boyd, more than anyone on Northwestern’s 2025 roster, met that challenge. Like Grace Nieto, another lasting member of Northwestern’s 2022 Women’s College World Series roster, there was a certain fight, fury and winning belief that emanated from her in the circle.
Boyd never pitched in Oklahoma City with that roster, but played well complementing Williams during Northwestern’s run to the Tuscaloosa Super Regional in 2023. Her confidence mixed with her competitive spirit are the defining characteristics of her impact on this Northwestern team.
It’s hard not to think about what could’ve been if Boyd was never hurt last year or if the Wildcats had another consistently capable arm next to her this season. But as she’s no longer an option for Northwestern moving forward, the hole she leaves is a glaring symbol of her legacy on Northwestern softball — a beacon that wasn’t as vastly obvious until the month she just had. On the flip side, the need for pitching has to be Kate Drohan’s top priority in the offseason. Drohan will have to utilize the transfer portal to bolster a staff that looked inconsistent and ineffective next to Boyd.
Yes, we understood Boyd’s importance to the program as a vocal leader and model example for a younger generation of Wildcats. But she was rarely consistently dominant enough to give you the same gut feeling as when Williams or Miller took to the circle. And maybe that’s because she was almost never as flashy with the strikeouts as the two former Big Ten Pitchers of the Year.
But her last month of the season was stellar. There was the nine-game stretch mentioned above, paired with a huge top-10 complete-game takedown over Duke back in February and complete game wins against Louisville, Mississippi State, Minnesota and Illinois that saw a combined four earned runs allowed. Boyd’s downright dominance and importance to Northwestern’s program won’t be forgotten.
And I think perhaps we realized that a little late. But at the same time, maybe it was just Boyd saving her best for last.