At 6:45 p.m. CT last night, a cold, riveting, bone-chilling sensation was felt by every fan, player, coach and alum of Northwestern softball.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the ‘Cats wouldn’t be playing late-May softball. They entered the night on the bubble and exited the night left on the bubble as part of the first four left out of the NCAA Tournament.
A team that had set the world on fire in the latter half of the regular season was “snubbed” from the biggest dance of the year — a dance they’d
been a staple of for years.
But what if I told you that despite the success this team had in the regular season, its fate had been sealed from the very start?
Would you believe me? Probably not. But I’ll change your mind in a heartbeat.
A early-season loss to a bubble team
When NU entered the night of Selection Sunday on the bubble, one of the many teams on the “hot seat” was Texas State.
Let’s travel all the way back to the first week of February. Beginning of the season, second game in.
Why are we here?
Good question.
We’re here because although the ‘Cats didn’t realize it, they had a chance to steal an important win over a Sun Belt squad that ended up ranking 31st nationally in RPI at the end of the regular season.
And that team was, indeed, the Bobcats.
This game was close down to the wire, give Texas State credit, but Caryl Drohan’s offense came up clutch as always in the top of the seventh. Tru Medina had just sent her first career bomb soaring out into the Arizona sky, Kelsey Nader scooted on via a fielder’s choice and Kaylie Avvisato walked to move her into scoring position. The game laid in the hands of Kansas Robinson, a pillar of the program in its past three seasons.
With the game on the line and the go-ahead run just 120 feet away, Robinson and Northwestern came up short — the theme of this year’s ‘Cats team — leaving the Bobcats to pounce. Just two pitches into the bottom of the seventh, Texas State had sent Northwestern packing with a walk-off homer from Aiyana Coleman.
A seemingly attainable win that turned out to be a painful loss in more ways than one. A hope killer. A dream killer. A postseason killer.
Northwestern had a lineage of those kinds of contests.
Letting great squads hang around too long
When NU traveled down to Clearwater to compete on national television, what I (and many of ‘Cats faithful) predicted was a win that would catapult the ‘Cats back into the nation’s top 25, heights that NU hasn’t seen in over a year.
It seemed as though Northwestern was ascending toward a convincing come-from-behind win over UCF in game two of the getaway trip, but the rally “got away” from the Wildcats in the fourth inning.
Runners on the corners. One out. Avvisato to the dish, Emma Raye on deck. Two of the best hitters in the country chomping at the bit to tie the game. Surely, Northwestern was going to even the score right here.
Nope.
Three-pitch strikeout. Four-pitch strikeout. Inning over. NU’s best chance at tying the game, extinguished by Isabella Vega and what ended up being her loud arrival as a top-10 arm in the Big 12.
But that came at the expense of what could have been NU’s biggest victory of the year.
Two days later, the ‘Cats found themselves up five on No. 8 Texas A&M. That five-run advantage came crumbling down, as each pitcher NU tossed in the circle allowed a run. Four arms gave up six total from the third inning onward, giving way to a 6-5 comeback loss.
As fate would have it, Northwestern ended up on the losing end of similar games. It failed to flip the tables on a prolific opponent, then got the tables flipped on itself by another prolific team just 48 hours later.
That is the brutal slippery slope within diamond sports: once the dominoes start to fall, all you can do is helplessly watch the scene spiral out of control.
The crack in the armor too great to be repaired
Pitching. The biggest issue for NU this season was its pitching.
Anyone not named Marina Mason seemed to bring about question marks for not only the college softball world but for Kate Drohan herself in making her lineup cards.
The first issues began to arise in Durham, where a day one rainout forced NU to pivot in its rotation, handing Signe Dohse a start against Boston University.
That start didn’t go well for the redshirt sophomore, as BU rocked her for six in the second to build a mountain too tall for the Wildcats to overcome.
That started a terrifying theme for this Northwestern team: if Mason doesn’t shove, this team doesn’t win.
Exhibit A (the first sign): a 13-2 run-rule loss to then-No. 22 Washington to open conference play. A game which Mason didn’t enter the circle in, but after just two frames, a game which was all but over with the Huskies up seven runs.
Exhibit B (the follow through): a 9-5 loss to a Michigan team that underachieved this year. Also an instance where Mason didn’t pitch, but a lackluster Riley Grudzielanek start gave the Wolverines the momentum they needed to take it to Emma Blea in relief, knocking the pair around all evening. Also of note, Northwestern’s offense was on fire in the series, combining for 10 hits through two games, but U-M was served up pitches to crush and posted more than the ‘Cats’ series total up to that point in game two alone.
Exhibit C (the great collapse): Mason’s first signs of vulnerability, giving up nine runs in her 4.1 innings of work. Ultimately, a nine-run Northwestern lead came crumbling down in the seventh, and most of the Wolverines’ success was seen against her. Dohse was called upon to bail her out but couldn’t do the job.
Exhibit D (the unfathomable result): a team that finished the year 200th in RPI somehow, someway, got hot at the right time to overcome an opponent that ranked 150 spots ahead. The goal was to save Mason for the weekend series, but Dohse, Blea and Renae Cunningham proved that to not be possible. The trio gave up eight of nine DePaul scores on Apr. 8, forcing Mason out from the bullpen in a last-ditch effort to keep the lid on the stove and prevent it from popping off. In reality, the lid wasn’t just already off, it had shot through the ceiling and into the stratosphere.
Exhibit E (the dagger): losing to Penn State was the game that bounced NU from the NCAA Tournament, in my eyes. It was a must-win, despite the 11-game win streak it just had and despite its 16-8 conference record. With their backs against the wall, the Wildcats handed Mason the ball one final time in hopes of getting the decisive win they needed to go dancing. But a season of fatigue finally caught up to her, and a combination of burnout and a prepared Nittany Lions squad shattered the optimism of ‘Cats faithful.
The straw that not only broke the camel’s back but broke an entire softball program, now in a place they haven’t been since 2017: out of the NCAA Tournament.
