University of Minnesota Athletics
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Minnesota Softball Readies for Home Opening Series Against Northwestern
3/27/2025 12:03:00 PM | Softball
MINNEAPOLIS, MN ---The 'U' plays at home this week for the first time all season. Minnesota will take on Northwestern at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium on the campus of Minnesota. The Gophers will take on the Wildcats 3 times March 28-29. Minnesota will stay in the central time zone for the rest of the season after traveling to each time zone in the United States to start the season. Minnesota will face Northwestern in a doubleheader Friday starting at 3pm. First pitch for Game 2 will be 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1. Saturday is still a 2pm start time.
GAME ONE
Minnesota (13-18, 2-5 B1G) vs. Northwestern (15-11, 4-0 B1G)
Date: Friday, March 28
Time: 3:00PM (CT)
GAME TWO
Minnesota (13-18, 2-5 B1G) vs. Northwestern (15-11, 4-0 B1G)
Date: Friday, March 28
Time: 5:00PM (CT) or 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game One
GAME THREE
Minnesota (13-18, 2-5 B1G) vs. Northwestern (15-11, 4-0 B1G)
Date: Saturday, March 29
Time: 2:00PM (CT)
Northwestern
The Gophers continue their 51st season of competition against Northwestern. The Wildcats are 15-11 on the year and come into the matchup with the 'U' ranked #44 in the NCAA RPI rankings. Northwestern comes into Jane Sage Cowles Stadium riding a 1 game win streak after defeating Northern Illinois on Wednesday. Last weekend they went 1-2 against #19 Mississippi State. The Wildcats are 4-0 in B1G play and sit in second place behind Michigan in the conference standings to begin B1G play. The Gophers and Wildcats have faced a number of similar opponents during non-conference play and to begin B1G play. Both teams have taken highly ranked opponents Tennessee, LSU, Missouri, and Duke. Minnesota went 1-4 against those teams having faced LSU twice and defeating #22 Missouri. Northwestern also went 1-4 against these teams also having faced LSU twice. The Wildcats win came against Duke 4-1 in Clearwater to start the season. Each team has competed against Utah, California, and Louisville. Neither team fared too well against these opponents with only Northwestern picking up a win against Utah and one against Louisville. In conference play, both teams started out against Penn State and Michigan State. These games were part of the B1G Devon Park series in Oklahoma City. The Gophers went 2-2 on the weekend having defeated both teams once and fell to both teams once. Northwestern won all four matchups against the Nittany Lions and Spartans.
History
The Gophers and Wildcats will meet again this weekend for the first time since Northwestern won 2-5 in a single game in Columbia, S.C. last season. This series dates back to 1980 when Minnesota won 6-0. The all-time series record has the 'U' on top 61-56 and the teams are dead even in conference play at 51-51. The Wildcats have currently won five straight against the Gophers dating back to May 2022. The last time Northwestern traveled to Minneapolis and played the Gophers at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium was in May off 2022 when the Gophers took 2-3 against the Wildcats having won both games 8-0 in five innings. Minnesota and Northwestern are even in the last 10 games against each other with both teams winning 5 times.
Stats Highlights From Last Weekend
Taylor Krapf had a standout weekend for the Gophers against Nebraska. Krapf hit .400 with 4 hits in 10 at-bats. Three of her hits were doubles and her other hit was a solo homerun to right center. Taylor had 1 RBI, 1 walk, and 10 total bases over 3 games. She produced a slugging% of 1.000 and an on-base% of .455. Both of those numbers led the Gophers on the weekend. She also started and played every inning at catcher. She put together a 1.000 fielding% and accumulated 9 putouts. Another standout Gopher from this past weekend was Kayla Chavez. She produced 3 hits in 9 ABs for a .333 average. She had 1 double and drove in a run while slugging .444. Chavez ended her weekend with a .333 on-base% and a .933 fielding% at the hot corner. Margaret Tobias also notched 3 hits over the weekend. She had 3 singles and recorded the only hit in Minnesota's loss in Game 1 of the weekend. She slugged and had an on-base% of .300 over 3 games. In the circle, the 'U' was led by Macy Richardson. The Nebraska native was a standout pitching in her home state. She had a 4.20 ERA having appeared in all three games over the weekend. She was tied for the team high in innings pitched with five. She only allowed 7 hits and 3 earned runs. She also led the team in strikeouts with 4 and Richardson held opponents to a .304 batting average.
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