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‘Cats Earn Statement Series Win at No. 8 UCLA to Close Regular Season
5/4/2025 8:47:00 PM | Softball
LOS ANGELES – Northwestern wrapped up its regular season in thrilling fashion, earning a come-from-behind 5-3 victory at No. 8 UCLA to secure a secure a three-game series victory over the Bruins.
Trailing 3-1 entering the sixth inning, Northwestern rallied with four runs in the top of the frame (all with two outs), headlined by a bases-clearing RBI-single from Lauren Sciborski to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead. From there, Lauren Boyd delivered her second complete game performance of the weekend to secure the pivotal series victory. Northwestern has now secured three Top-10 victories this season–two over No. 8 UCLA and a win over No. 8 Duke on February 8.
This marks Northwestern's first regular season series victory over a Top-10 opponent in the Drohan era (2002-present), and the first time a team has taken a series off UCLA at home since No. 6 Arizona in 2019. The Wildcats also snapped a 24-game home winning streak for UCLA with their win on Friday, and on Saturday became the first team to score eight runs in back-to-back games against the Bruins since Oregon in 2014.
Northwestern closes the regular season with a 29-17-1 record and a 16-6 mark in the Big Ten, tied for fourth place in the Big Ten standings in what marks the Wildcats' seventh-consecutive Top-4 finish in the Big Ten. Northwestern and Ohio State finished tied for the fourth place in the conference standings, with the Buckeyes securing a tiebreak (winning percentage against the 12 Big Ten Tournament qualifiers) to earn a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament. As the No. 5 seed, the Wildcats will kick off their stay in West Lafayette on Wednesday, May 7 with a showdown against the host No. 12 seed Purdue at 6 pm CT.
The Wildcats opened the weekend on Friday with an 8-0 run-rule victory over the eighth-ranked Bruins in six innings. It marked Northwestern's first run-rule win over a Top-10 opponent since March 8, 2009 vs. No. 8 Tennessee. The 'Cats jumped out to an early lead in the second inning thanks to back-to-back home runs with two outs, courtesy of Avery Garden and Grace Nieto. In the third inning, Northwestern opened up its lead to 7-0 with another series of clutch two-out hits, headlined by a bases-clearing triple from Ayana Lindsey.
The 'Cats dropped game two of the series, 15-8, on Saturday. UCLA jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but Northwestern surged back with eight-straight runs (four in the fourth, four more in the fifth) to cut the deficit to just three heading into the bottom of the fifth. One day after hitting back-to-back home runs, the Wildcats hit three-straight home runs in the top of the fifth inning off the bats of Kansas Robinson, Isabel Cunnea and Sciborski, tying an NCAA record.
Lauren Boyd turned in two gems in the circle for the Wildcats over the weekend, going 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA (3 ER/13.0 IP) while striking out seven and limiting a potent UCLA lineup to just a .156 opponent batting average. Boyd went the distance in both of her starts, throwing her second complete game shutout of the season in Friday's victory while allowing just three hits and no walks across 21 batters faced. On Sunday, Boyd allowed just four hits while stranding six Bruins on base and retiring 14 of the final 16 batters she faced.
Boyd improves to 14-4 on the season while lowering her ERA to 2.54 (39 ER/107.1 IP) and her opponent batting average to just .216. Boyd has now thrown 107.1 innings this season and struck out 100 batters, both of which are single-season career highs. In her last six starts, Boyd is 6-0 with a 1.60 ERA (8 ER/35.0 IP) with four complete game performances. As a team Northwestern is 17-4 in games that Boyd has pitched in.
At the plate, Northwestern finished the weekend hitting .295 (26-for-88) with eight extra-base hits to power a .534 team slugging percentage. Seven of the Wildcats' nine batters over the weekend recorded an extra-base hit, while eight finished the weekend scoring multiple runs. Over half of the Wildcats' RBI in the series (11-of-20) came with two outs, as the 'Cats combined for a .300 average (9-for-30) as a team with two outs.
Nieto reached base multiple times in all three games this weekend and finished the series hitting .600 (6-for-10) to go along with a .667 on-base percentage. On Friday, Nieto reached base in all four of her plate appearances, and matched her career high with three hits while hitting a solo home run in the second inning. It marked the fifth-career home run for Nieto, and the third of which that was hit in the state of California (Feb. 23, 2025 vs. Cal at the Mary Nutter Classic, Feb. 27, 2022 vs. Texas Tech at the Nutter Classic). Nieto turned in two-hit performance on Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Garden blasted towering home runs in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, bringing her total to five long balls on the season. Garden finished the weekend with a team-high six RBI, driving in three RBI (a single-game career high) in back-to-back games. The first-year from Allen Park, Michigan is hitting .326 (15-for-46) with 14 RBI and a .543 slugging percentage in Big Ten play this season.
Kelsey Nader (4-for-9) and Isabel Cunnea (4-for-10) each finished the weekend with four hits. On Sunday, Nader turned in her team-leading 16th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Cunnea went 2-for-3 with two RBI for her 11th multi-hit game and sixth multi-RBI effort on the year. Cunnea is now hitting .357 (40-for-112) this season and .368 (21-for-57) in conference play, both of which lead the team.
In Northwestern's last three weeks of the regular season, the Wildcats are 9-2 with five run-rule victories while outscoring their opponents 83-34 in that span. In those 11 games, the 'Cats are hitting .330 (99-for-300) as a team while limiting their opponents to a .210 (51-for-243) combined average.
Northwestern's Big Ten Tournament opener at Purdue will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network on Wednesday evening, with Lisa Byington (play-by-play) and Jennie Ritter (analyst) on the call. The winner will advance to play the No. 4 seed, Ohio State on Thursday at 6 pm CT.
Trailing 3-1 entering the sixth inning, Northwestern rallied with four runs in the top of the frame (all with two outs), headlined by a bases-clearing RBI-single from Lauren Sciborski to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead. From there, Lauren Boyd delivered her second complete game performance of the weekend to secure the pivotal series victory. Northwestern has now secured three Top-10 victories this season–two over No. 8 UCLA and a win over No. 8 Duke on February 8.
This marks Northwestern's first regular season series victory over a Top-10 opponent in the Drohan era (2002-present), and the first time a team has taken a series off UCLA at home since No. 6 Arizona in 2019. The Wildcats also snapped a 24-game home winning streak for UCLA with their win on Friday, and on Saturday became the first team to score eight runs in back-to-back games against the Bruins since Oregon in 2014.
Northwestern closes the regular season with a 29-17-1 record and a 16-6 mark in the Big Ten, tied for fourth place in the Big Ten standings in what marks the Wildcats' seventh-consecutive Top-4 finish in the Big Ten. Northwestern and Ohio State finished tied for the fourth place in the conference standings, with the Buckeyes securing a tiebreak (winning percentage against the 12 Big Ten Tournament qualifiers) to earn a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament. As the No. 5 seed, the Wildcats will kick off their stay in West Lafayette on Wednesday, May 7 with a showdown against the host No. 12 seed Purdue at 6 pm CT.
The Wildcats opened the weekend on Friday with an 8-0 run-rule victory over the eighth-ranked Bruins in six innings. It marked Northwestern's first run-rule win over a Top-10 opponent since March 8, 2009 vs. No. 8 Tennessee. The 'Cats jumped out to an early lead in the second inning thanks to back-to-back home runs with two outs, courtesy of Avery Garden and Grace Nieto. In the third inning, Northwestern opened up its lead to 7-0 with another series of clutch two-out hits, headlined by a bases-clearing triple from Ayana Lindsey.
The 'Cats dropped game two of the series, 15-8, on Saturday. UCLA jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but Northwestern surged back with eight-straight runs (four in the fourth, four more in the fifth) to cut the deficit to just three heading into the bottom of the fifth. One day after hitting back-to-back home runs, the Wildcats hit three-straight home runs in the top of the fifth inning off the bats of Kansas Robinson, Isabel Cunnea and Sciborski, tying an NCAA record.
Lauren Boyd turned in two gems in the circle for the Wildcats over the weekend, going 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA (3 ER/13.0 IP) while striking out seven and limiting a potent UCLA lineup to just a .156 opponent batting average. Boyd went the distance in both of her starts, throwing her second complete game shutout of the season in Friday's victory while allowing just three hits and no walks across 21 batters faced. On Sunday, Boyd allowed just four hits while stranding six Bruins on base and retiring 14 of the final 16 batters she faced.
Boyd improves to 14-4 on the season while lowering her ERA to 2.54 (39 ER/107.1 IP) and her opponent batting average to just .216. Boyd has now thrown 107.1 innings this season and struck out 100 batters, both of which are single-season career highs. In her last six starts, Boyd is 6-0 with a 1.60 ERA (8 ER/35.0 IP) with four complete game performances. As a team Northwestern is 17-4 in games that Boyd has pitched in.
At the plate, Northwestern finished the weekend hitting .295 (26-for-88) with eight extra-base hits to power a .534 team slugging percentage. Seven of the Wildcats' nine batters over the weekend recorded an extra-base hit, while eight finished the weekend scoring multiple runs. Over half of the Wildcats' RBI in the series (11-of-20) came with two outs, as the 'Cats combined for a .300 average (9-for-30) as a team with two outs.
Nieto reached base multiple times in all three games this weekend and finished the series hitting .600 (6-for-10) to go along with a .667 on-base percentage. On Friday, Nieto reached base in all four of her plate appearances, and matched her career high with three hits while hitting a solo home run in the second inning. It marked the fifth-career home run for Nieto, and the third of which that was hit in the state of California (Feb. 23, 2025 vs. Cal at the Mary Nutter Classic, Feb. 27, 2022 vs. Texas Tech at the Nutter Classic). Nieto turned in two-hit performance on Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
THE BACK-TO-BACK 'CATS ????@NUSBcats take a three-run lead over No. 6 UCLA with back-to-back HR ??#B1GSoftball on BTN ?? pic.twitter.com/CP3LnnEczm
— Big Ten Softball (@B1Gsoftball) May 2, 2025
Garden blasted towering home runs in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, bringing her total to five long balls on the season. Garden finished the weekend with a team-high six RBI, driving in three RBI (a single-game career high) in back-to-back games. The first-year from Allen Park, Michigan is hitting .326 (15-for-46) with 14 RBI and a .543 slugging percentage in Big Ten play this season.
Kelsey Nader (4-for-9) and Isabel Cunnea (4-for-10) each finished the weekend with four hits. On Sunday, Nader turned in her team-leading 16th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Cunnea went 2-for-3 with two RBI for her 11th multi-hit game and sixth multi-RBI effort on the year. Cunnea is now hitting .357 (40-for-112) this season and .368 (21-for-57) in conference play, both of which lead the team.
In Northwestern's last three weeks of the regular season, the Wildcats are 9-2 with five run-rule victories while outscoring their opponents 83-34 in that span. In those 11 games, the 'Cats are hitting .330 (99-for-300) as a team while limiting their opponents to a .210 (51-for-243) combined average.
Northwestern's Big Ten Tournament opener at Purdue will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network on Wednesday evening, with Lisa Byington (play-by-play) and Jennie Ritter (analyst) on the call. The winner will advance to play the No. 4 seed, Ohio State on Thursday at 6 pm CT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Boyd, Lauren (14-4)
L: Fisher, Addisen (16-1)
Batting:
RBI: Cunnea, Isabel 2 ; Sciborski, Lauren 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Nieto, Grace 1 ; Avvisato, Kaylie 1 ; Nader, Kelsey 1 ; Cunnea, Isabel 1 ; Donahey, Bridget 1
CS: Donahey, Bridget 1
Batting:
2B: Clements, Jessica 1
RBI: Woolery, Jordan 1 ; Ramirez, Alexis 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Clements, Jessica 1 ; Pola, Savannah 1 ; Hatch, Lauren 1
HBP: Grant, Megan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
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H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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/ SoftballSoftball - Lauren Boyd Tosses Complete Game Shutout, 'Cats Blank Kentucky in NCAA Regional (5/16/25)
Friday, May 16
Softball - 'Cats Storm Back, Secure Series Victory at No. 8 UCLA (5/4/25)
Sunday, May 04
Softball - 'Cats Earn 8-0 Run-Rule Win at No. 8 UCLA (5/2/25)
Saturday, May 03
Softball - Kaylie Avvisato Hits Walk-Off Home Run, 'Cats Take Series vs. Wisconsin (4/27/25)
Sunday, April 27
