2026 NUSB Thread

[Faran_Brygo]

SEC Tourney Update

Missouri lost to Auburn in the first round of the SEC tournament today, 6-2. That's a bad loss and, more important to NU, probably opens up a spot in the NCAA tourney field because Missouri now has a sub .500 overall record. If Missouri ends up STILL making it, then we can definitely say about the tournament selection committee: the SEC BIAS is strong in this one...

 

[Faran_Brygo]

Sorry to clog the thread, but I checked the rules and if you have a sub .500 overall record, you are officially eliminated from postseason consideration. So Missouri is now definitely out.

Ole Miss, however, beat South Carolina today (#25 in D1 Softball poll) which probably assures them of being selected as the 12th team from the SEC.

 

[Faran_Brygo]

Cats fall 11-5 to Penn State in a very disappointing game tonight. While it remains within the realm of possibility that NU still could sneak into the NCAA tourney, it seems more likely that today’s loss marks the end. If that is true, I will pass on more extensive season post mortems at a later date.

Today never felt right. Both yesterday and today, too many underdog teams were winning first round games. Or continued winning today in the 2nd round, like Auburn. And into this atmosphere, PSU came into this game as the underdog, a considerable underdog because NU had blasted PSU in 3 games earlier this season, outscoring them 38-9. Most people were already assuming the NU-UCLA 2nd round game.

It started very promising. Mason looked strong in the first inning and then Donahey cracked a 3-run homer in the bottom of the inning to give the Cats a 3-0 lead. That lead was extended to 4-0 in the 2nd inning on a solo homerun by Cunnea. Mason had 3 K’s in the first 2 innings and hadn’t allowed a hit. It seemed like the question would be, could we run-rule them. Again. But then the bottom began to fall out.

Penn State quickly got back 2 on a 2-run homerun in the top of the 3rd. Now, extra base hits had been Mason’s bugaboo and often led to her undoing earlier in the season, but she had really improved upon that aspect of her game over the past 2 to 3 weeks, to the point I thought she had turned the corner. But that first homerun by PSU in the 3rd was not the last. They had another 2-run homerun in the 4th to tie the game. NU’s last lead of the game, perhaps season, came in the bottom of the inning when they scored a 5th run to take a 5-4 lead. But that was short lived as Penn St hit another 2-run homer in the 5th inning.

Trailing for the first time now, 6-5, the Cats couldn’t score in the bottom of the inning, so Drohan was faced with the decision, send Mason back out for the 6th, or go to someone else. Well, she went with Mason and out went another 2-run homerun, the 4th allowed of the game. That was it for Mason and, by extension, the Cats. Cunningham came in down 3 runs but even though there was no one of base, it really didn’t go well for her either. By the end of the inning, another 3 runs (2 earned) had scored.

Down 6, a miracle did not happen. Dohse pitched a scoreless, and decent, 7th inning and the Cats did put 2 runners on with 2 outs before Cunnea flied out to end it. Raye, the Cats’s likely MVP for the season, did not have a good game, going hitless. As did Avvisato although she did drive in the 5th run via an rbi groundout. It had been a long time since both Avvisato and Raye went hitless in the same game but, unfortunately, it happened tonight in the tournament.

If this is it for the season, thank you Cats for an enjoyable season, and best to all of the departing players!

 

[Catreporter]

Drohan needs to fix the pitching situation, You can't just rely on one pitcher. Mason must be gassed after all the innings she has thrown. At least it looked that way in this game,.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Drohan needs to fix the pitching situation, You can't just rely on one pitcher. Mason must be gassed after all the innings she has thrown. At least it looked that way in this game,.

Good pitchers are rare. A lot of teams have this problem.

If this is false, I’ll defer to our resident expert Brygo to correct me. His updates cover all the bases.

 

[Amcat]

Cats hopefully have pitching help on the way as next year’s class includes 3 pitchers, including Goose Goodwin, ranked #3 overall player by Softball America. No question we were short on pitching this year. Mason was a very pleasant surprise. Hopefully she will continue to improve, and if someone else steps up, Mason will get a little more rest. By the middle of the season, Mason was pitching Friday and Sunday B1G conference series games, and I have to believe that wore her down. I have high hopes pitching wise for next year. Go Cats!

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Drohan needs to fix the pitching situation, You can't just rely on one pitcher. Mason must be gassed after all the innings she has thrown. At least it looked that way in this game,.

I’m surprised they didn’t bring in a transfer to help the pitching staff. Didn’t they bring one in from Sparty that pitched quite well for NU? Were we hit by the injury bug this year?

 

[Faran_Brygo]

I’m surprised they didn’t bring in a transfer to help the pitching staff. Didn’t they bring one in from Sparty that pitched quite well for NU? Were we hit by the injury bug this year?

Yes, that was Ashley Miller who pitched for NU in 2024. She was having a tremendous season, really better than all expectations, until right near the end when she broke down and lost the ability to throw strikes. Whether that was due to overuse (she was really the only viable starter and had thrown a lot of innings) or had an undisclosed injury, we'll never know. But, unfortunately, she became completely unusable at the end and NU had to use Grudzielanek to start and relieve in all 4 games of that year's NCAA regional (Texas was host). It's too bad because that team was probably stronger than either the 2025 or 2026 team.

My readings of last year's portal possibilities suggest there was not much to be had that would have fit with NU, but I have not read or seen any information that NU was actively seeking anyone in the portal either.

 

[Faran_Brygo]

Good pitchers are rare. A lot of teams have this problem.

If this is false, I’ll defer to our resident expert Brygo to correct me. His updates cover all the bases.

You do need a great pitcher if you want to win consistently at the national level. Mason was a very good one this year, and her performance is even more impressive considering she was a true freshman. Her long ball problems, however, will keep her from being truly elite unless she can improve upon them next year. I would surmise she will.

But since you don't always have a team full of ace pitchers, what do you do? Look at our game against Penn State and who pitched against us.

Penn State used 3 pitchers. They started their "#3" pitcher, but after she struggled and gave up the 2nd home run to Cunnea, they pulled her immediately. The 2nd PSU pitcher of the day was their worst (statistically), her numbers being along the line of Cunningham's for the season. But she "overperformed" her numbers yesterday. She held NU to only 1 run over 3 innings while stranding 4 other NU runners. Maybe she was having a good day (true) or maybe NU batters weren't having the best day either (also true), but it ended up being the better option to go to her than stay with the starter.

In the 5th, PSU changed pitchers again and brought in their "best" pitcher on the season, McKenna Young. The Cats almost got to her in the bottom of the 5th, but a baserunning miscue greatly contributed to the Cats blowing an opportunity to tie the game at 6. After that, the PSU pitcher held the Cats scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Compare the pitcher handling with what NU did. They rode Mason too long, especially after it was obvious it was not her day. Cunningham struggled again when she came into the game in the 6th (perhaps that fear is why they didn't want to try her earlier), but by the time she came in, it was already too late. Still, both Dohse and Cunningham had numbers comparable or even better than the first 2 pitchers PSU used and perhaps if either had come in earlier, maybe the outcome yesterday would have been different.

Pitcher utilization for NU this year was poor. The pitcher for NU who statistically was the worst pitcher out of the 5 available, nominally pitched the 2nd highest number of innings on the team. Suffice to say that's probably not what you want to have happen, but the fact that it did is on the coaches.

Tournament Note - Auburn lost to (well, blew) a chance to upset Florida today, so they are now out, and a spot is freed up in the field by that. Wisconsin just beat Oregon, however, which might take the spot away again, but it's possible they were already in. Michigan lost to Nebraska also, but I suspect they still make it in over NU. That might not have been the case if NU had managed not to lose the game they had the 9-0 lead over Michigan, another game where Mason was left in too long... I just wish NU had finished with 30 wins. I think that could have done it.

 

[Faran_Brygo]

Congratulations to Marina Mason and Emma Raye for making 1st Team, All-Big 10! Mason was a unanimous selection and also a unanimous selection for the Big 10 All-Freshman team!

Full list: https://bigten.org/sb/article/59996/

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Congratulations to Marina Mason and Emma Raye for making 1st Team, All-Big 10! Mason was a unanimous selection and also a unanimous selection for the Big 10 All-Freshman team!

Full list: https://bigten.org/sb/article/59996/

 

[Faran_Brygo]

Perhaps to no great surprise, but still no less disappointing, the Cats fail to make the NCAA softball tournament this year. This marks the first time that the Cats will not be going to the tournament since missing in 2017.

This year’s team ultimately went as far as Mason could carry them and, to her credit, she often toted the burden like Atlas. In the end, however, the burden was too great for just one person, a true freshman no less, to bear.

As we look ahead towards next year, this point stands out. While this wasn’t one of NU’s best teams, it was filled with proven, senior players. The core that will be departing (Nieto, Donahey, Robinson, and Nader) were all full-time starters. As a whole, those players were strong both defensively and offensively.

Without them, next year is likely to be a rebuild. A very exciting freshman class is incoming for next season, but the numbers from the departing core will be extremely hard to replace. They also will have to contend with other problem areas from this year.

For the 3rd straight year, NU struggled to find someone to give them consistent production from the DP spot. Several players were tried this year, even Muno, but none were able to lock it away. The other spot is 3rd base. Medina was put there (although she had never been a 3rd baseman before), and her defensive struggles might have impacted her offensive game. You can tell Drohan expected a lot from Medina because she started the year batting 5th or 6th, but her offensive struggles led her to being dropped to the 9th spot. She finished the year batting only .200.

I would expect a rebound, possibly a big one, from Medina next year, but it will be interesting to see if she switches positions. I hope she does if it leads her to find her offensive game again. Cunnea went from batting .213 as a freshman to batting .360 as a sophomore, so big jumps like that are not that unrealistic.

Even though the Cats aren’t playing, there will be a lot of great softball going on this next weekend. Catch some if you can.

 

[EagerFan]

Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed from a fan perspective!

 

[Catdude]

Is it fair to say that blowing a 9-0 lead to Michigan and losing that one game put them in the tournament and kept NU out?

 

[Faran_Brygo]

Is it fair to say that blowing a 9-0 lead to Michigan and losing that one game put them in the tournament and kept NU out?

It would have been closer, but they still probably would not have made it. Final RPI numbers (available from the NCAA here: https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d1/ncaa-womens-softball-rpi) had Michigan at 40 and NU at 49. For comparison from the Big 10, Wisconsin and Indiana, who both made it, were at 34 and 36 respectively.

A win over Michigan probably moves NU up 2 or 3 RPI spots and might drop Michigan 1 or 2, but there are still teams with likely higher RPI’s that did not make it, e.g., North Carolina at 43. NU needed to do what Wisconsin did to be sure: win 2 games in the Big 10 tourney which would mean a quality win over a ranked team.

Perhaps if NU had beaten Michigan, NOT loss to DePaul (a horrible loss, DePaul’s RPI is even lower than Illinois who had to fire the coach, that team was so bad), not lose that middle game to Minnesota last weekend (another low RPI team that ALSO fired the coach!) and then beat whoever they played in the first round of the Big 10 tourney. They would have had 33 wins if all that had happened, even if they lost the 2nd round tourney game, and their RPI would have been closer to 40. That might have done if depending on who got the small conference automatic bids.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Perhaps to no great surprise, but still no less disappointing, the Cats fail to make the NCAA softball tournament this year. This marks the first time that the Cats will not be going to the tournament since missing in 2017.

This year’s team ultimately went as far as Mason could carry them and, to her credit, she often toted the burden like Atlas. In the end, however, the burden was too great for just one person, a true freshman no less, to bear.

As we look ahead towards next year, this point stands out. While this wasn’t one of NU’s best teams, it was filled with proven, senior players. The core that will be departing (Nieto, Donahey, Robinson, and Nader) were all full-time starters. As a whole, those players were strong both defensively and offensively.

Without them, next year is likely to be a rebuild. A very exciting freshman class is incoming for next season, but the numbers from the departing core will be extremely hard to replace. They also will have to contend with other problem areas from this year.

For the 3rd straight year, NU struggled to find someone to give them consistent production from the DP spot. Several players were tried this year, even Muno, but none were able to lock it away. The other spot is 3rd base. Medina was put there (although she had never been a 3rd baseman before), and her defensive struggles might have impacted her offensive game. You can tell Drohan expected a lot from Medina because she started the year batting 5th or 6th, but her offensive struggles led her to being dropped to the 9th spot. She finished the year batting only .200.

I would expect a rebound, possibly a big one, from Medina next year, but it will be interesting to see if she switches positions. I hope she does if it leads her to find her offensive game again. Cunnea went from batting .213 as a freshman to batting .360 as a sophomore, so big jumps like that are not that unrealistic.

Even though the Cats aren’t playing, there will be a lot of great softball going on this next weekend. Catch some if you can.

Why was there such a big drop off on the mound after Marina Mason? Was there an injury? Who were they counting on as their #2? Who do we have for that spot next season? I thought I heard about another incoming frosh that might be able to make an immediate impact.

 

[Amcat]

No idea about injuries or anything else, but there was a very definite drop off. Goose Goodwin is the very highly touted incoming first year pitcher. We have two other incoming first year pitchers as well. Go Cats!

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

No idea about injuries or anything else, but there was a very definite drop off. Goose Goodwin is the very highly touted incoming first year pitcher. We have two other incoming first year pitchers as well. Go Cats!

Incredible. And she’s a lefy! Looking forward to seeing her in Purple. I expect her to make an immediate impact. We should have a heck of a 1-2 punch next season.

Lilly "Goose" Goodwin - USA Softball

REGION 10 world championship experience Get to Know … What are you most excited for with Team USA? “To travel and play competition from all around the world.” What […]

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