On the Beat With Jordyn Rudd of NU Softball

About a week ago, the Women's Professional Fastpitch USSSA Pride selected Northwestern catcher Jordyn Rudd with the fourth pick in the sixth round. Last weekend, the Northwestern Wildcats clinched a second straight Big Ten championship. This morning, I talked to Jordyn about these two big events and a lot more.

A native of Greenwood, Indiana, Rudd excelled at Center Grove, before entering Northwestern. Rudd immediately won the starting job and held it all five seasons. Proving her durability, Jordyn played and started all 231 games during her career.

During her NU career, Jordyn hit .328, with 28 home runs, 193 RBI's, 107 runs scored and a .526 slugging percentage. She also has a .995 fielding percentage, making only nine errors in her career.

Among her many awards and accolades, Jordyn won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award presented by NFCA at catcher, becoming the first ever recipient of the award. She also won the 2022 Johnny Bench Award, presented by the Hall of Fame catcher to the best female catcher in the nation. Those two achievements alone are amazing, yet Jordyn has earned many more.

Jordyn discussed all of this in our interview. She also talked about hitting home runs in batting practice. Sharon J. Drysdale Field has Welsh Ryan Arena beyond the left field wall. Rudd discussed the possibility of hitting homers over the roof. For a slugger like Rudd, who is second on the team in home runs with seven (Angela Zedak leads with nine), it has to be tempting to have some fun and shoot for the roof at times.

Jordyn talked about her start in softball, her gymnastics background, meeting legendary Coach Drysdale, life outside of softball and life after softball. She spoke of her happiness with being drafted by the Pride, but didn't know much else because of NCAA rules. I do know the Pride plays a series in Peoria in July and I really hope to see her behind the plate for one of the games.

With a record of 15-2, the Wildcats clinched first place in the Big Ten. They finish the regular season this weekend at Rutgers (8-12). While NU has nothing to prove, I am sure Coach Kate Drohan will take the games seriously. She might give role players a bit more playing time, but she will still go for the wins.

After the regular season, NCAA Regionals are held May 19-21, Super Regionals May 26-28 and the Women's College World Series June 1-8. Jordyn, the Wildcats and Team Purple fans are ready!

I have had the pleasure of covering NU softball for Jordyn's entire career. She is an outstanding player on and off the field. It has been a real joy watching her career develop and I wish her well going forward.