Softball: The final column of the season (2024)

In pro sports, I’m a big proponent of the philosophy that at the end of the season, there is one winner and everyone else is a loser.

In college sports, not so much.

In the NIL-era of college sports that has widened the wealth gap between the athletic superpowers and the rest of the field, it is absolutely possible to have a successful season while being one of the 295 Division I squads to not win the Women’s College World Series.

I’d qualify the 2024 Northwestern softball season as a rousing success.

For this week’s column, I’m shedding the usual “five things to know” format (as well as the usual Monday time slot) to just gab about this season. You all unfortunately already know the top “thing to know”: the Wildcats season is over. That said, I will still keep up the weekly awards and even throw some yearly ones in there for good measure.

This weekend went about as expected. Northwestern beat the teams they should have and looked overmatched against the top team in the country. None of the four games were particularly thrilling or gave us any late-game suspense.

Both wins against Saint Francis (PA) shouldn’t be brushed aside due to the weekend’s final result. The Red Flash are a really quality opponent who gave both Penn State and Nebraska tough games earlier this season. Northwestern’s wins are an indicator that it is still the class of the conference, especially on a weekend that ended the seasons of all four Big Ten squads in the tournament.

Texas, frankly, is ridiculous. Teagan Kavan is the best pitcher I’ve seen Northwestern face all season, and she doesn’t even lead the Longhorns in ERA. The Longhorns’ offense gives you almost no margin for error. The experience against Texas will be invaluable for this young team, especially pitchers Renae Cunningham and Riley Grudzielanek.

There’s still a long way to go, but I’ve thought this Texas team was winning the national title since they took the series from then-No. 1 Oklahoma at the beginning of April. This is not dissimilar to Northwestern men’s basketball drawing UConn in March Madness. Sometimes Goliath is just inevitable.

While this weekend had its disappointments, I will remember sweeping Michigan and clinching the Big Ten far more than getting pummeled by Texas. Similarly, my foremost memories of Ashley Miller will be of her lights-out pitching against her former team and complete game gems versus Illinois and Ohio State that earned her Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, not her late-season struggles with accuracy. Northwestern would not have been in the position it reached in the first place, and anyone who thinks otherwise is categorically wrong.

With all that out of the way, let’s get into some awards:

Weekly Awards:

Week MVP: For the final MVP of the year, I’m going with Kelsey Nader (4-for-11, HR, four RBI, one walk, one hit-by-pitch, two stolen bases) who’s second-year breakout was one of the biggest highlights of the whole season.

Final Weekly MVP Count: Ashley Miller (4), Kansas Robinson (2), Kelsey Nader (2), Angela Zedak (2), Emma Raye (2), Hannah Cady (1)

Best Play: Again, it’s Kelsey Nader, who, just to remind everyone, was criminally snubbed from the Big Ten’s All-Defense team.

Final Best Play Appearances Count: Angela Zedak (5), Kelsey Nader (4), Emma Raye (4), Hannah Cady (3), Bridget Donahey (2), Ayana Lindsey (2), Kansas Robinson (2), Ainsley Muno (2), Renae Cunningham (1), Riley Grudzielanek (1)

First-year shoutout: In the biggest games of her young career, Riley Grudzielanek (11.2 innings, seven earned runs, nine strikeouts) gave the ‘Cats some really impressive innings in the circle, including against the best offense in the nation.

Final first-year shoutout count: Emma Raye (6), Riley Grudzielanek (4), Izzy Cunnea (3), Ainsley Muno (3), Renae Cunningham (1), Signe Dohse (1)

Ethan’s favorite NU Softball thing he saw this week: You knew this was coming. I was going to talk about it somewhere. On the verge of being no-hit, Angela Zedak ended her career doing what she does best: smoking a ball to the outfield.

Zedak has been a joy to watch for a half-decade. With over 220 starts under her belt, she leaves Northwestern as a program legend, truly getting better each season in Evanston. There will not be another Angela Zedak in purple. I’m glad she was able to go out the right way.

Yearly Awards

Team MVP: Kelsey Nader made a late push, but it’s hard to say it’s anyone other than Kansas Robinson (.383 batting average [1st on team], 1.191 OPS [1st], 11 home runs [1st], 36 RBI [1st], 30 walks [2nd], 19 strikeouts [8th], .486 on-base percentage [1st]). Incredible stuff from the sophom*ore.

Rookie of the Year: There are lots of fun options, but I settled on Emma Raye thanks to her power (10 home runs — 2nd on team) and defense (13 runners caught stealing). I think she has a chance to be really, really special in the future.

Best Play: It may have been on the first day of the season, but I think this diving grab by Ayana Lindsey is still the play that took my breath away most all season.

Best Win: The wins over ranked Boston and South Carolina stick out as important, but in hindsight, the best win of the season was the 9-1 run-rule victory over eventual Big Ten Tournament champion Michigan. The ‘Cats sweeping the Wolverines gave the team the cushion it needed to win the Big Ten regular season title, and this Friday victory was the most impressive of the three.

To tie a bow on this season, where last year’s season-ending loss stung, this year’s, although disappointing, has left me excited. Based on the age of this roster, it feels like the team is already ahead of schedule. As much as I’m sad to see 2024 come to a close, as this team was so special for so many reasons, I’m already itching for 2025.

I can’t wait to see Lauren Boyd and Grace Nieto make their returns, all of the first-years make a sophom*ore leap and all of the superstar sophom*ores take another step in their development. Even with three new (very potent) teams joining the conference, this team, even before the roster is finalized, seems poised to compete for another crown next year.

As tough as it is to see the Zedak-Miller-Cady-Henry class depart, after what the team was able to accomplish following the exodus of talent last offseason, I’m confident Northwestern will find a new way to compete with the help of a new batch of first-years who I’m psyched to watch next spring.

And finally, it has been such a joy to write this column all season long. This team being so fun has been the main reason for that. I’m certainly not going anywhere. In fact I may write a little bit more about softball this week before we shift back into football mode. I also had such a great time following this team beat-by-beat that I could certainly see myself running this whole shtick back for next season. Thank you to anyone who’s clicked on one of these columns this season, and even greater thanks to those who read these all the way down to this deep in the article.

Have an awesome offseason. Go ‘Cats!