Softball was back in Evanston this past week, and the Wildcats brought the heat even through the freezing temperature. After taking the last three games of the OMNI Hall of Fame Classic, the ‘Cats returned to Mary J. Drysdale field to take on UIC. Northwestern jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second and never looked back, cruising to a 6-3 victory in the home opener.
Following the final tune-up, NU welcomed the Golden Gophers for a three-game set to open its Big Ten schedule. In the series' first game, the Wildcats erased a four-run deficit to take a 6-4 lead, but once again, they fell behind 7-6 before Skyler Shellmyer’s RBI single knotted the game up at seven.