The Northwestern women’s softball season has picked up its intensity. The Red Raider women played seven games in five days over Easter break and tallied a record of three wins and four losses in that stretch.
On March 28, NW faced off against Bellevue and lost the first match 7-0. The game was scoreless through five innings until the Raiders gave up seven runs in the bottom of the sixth, which ultimately sealed the game. In the second matchup of the day, the Raiders lost a closer contest against Bellevue 2-1.
“Defensively, we want to be very sound,” said head coach Chris Nachtigall. “We want to be there mentally all the time. We want to be rock solid and not crumble under tough circumstances. Defensively, we’ve seen flashes of it, but we haven’t been consistent in that.”
The next day, NW went to Sioux City to play in the Morningside Invite. The first game of the day was played against Valley City State, which the Raiders won 7-1. The game was fairly close as NW went ahead 2-0 after the fifth inning. They scored five runs in the seventh, which closed the game for good.
The second game was against Dickinson State, which the Raiders lost 6-0. The Raiders gave up runs in all but two innings of play.
The final game was against Jamestown, and the Raiders lost 9-3. Northwestern gave up four runs in the first inning and could never rally back as they dropped their fourth in five games.
“We are bringing a good effort, but we have to come together and win as a team,” said junior Jordan Biehle.
Nachtigall said that the quality of opponents has also been a factor.
“We’re playing a tougher pre-season schedule than last year,” Nachtigall said. “These games will help us prepare for GPAC play and we will see a lot of improvement from our team.”
The Raiders opened GPAC play with a double-header homestand against Dakota Wesleyan. NW won both games: 10-2 in the first, and 6-0 in the second.
NW is off to a good start in conference play and will play on Saturday at Concordia and at home on Tuesday against Dordt.
