On the Beat With the Northwestern Wildcats Women's Softball Team

I interrupt your usual fall football watching and your joyous Chicago Cubs playoff run to bring you a little softball teaser. The great thing about freelance writing is I write about whatever I want and today, I want to write about softball.

After covering the Chicago Bandits for the last three seasons (including their two consecutive National Pro Fastpitch championships), I found recently myself suffering from softball withdrawal.

Fortunately, I heard about the Fall Classic series at Northwestern. I contacted NU Director of Digital and Social Communications Doug Meffley and I met Doug at the NIU’s Sharon J. Drysdale Softball Field. We walked over to Trienan’s Hall where I met NIU Women’s Softball Coach Kate Drohan.

I had previously done some research on Coach Drohan. Coach Drohan had a excellent playing career at Providence, being named three times to the All-Big East team. She started her coaching career as an assistant at Boston College for 2 seasons. She joined Northwestern's coaching staff in 1998, under the legendary Coach Drysdale. In 2002, Drohan was named head coach.

Coach Drohan’s career record is 507-297-1 (a .630 overall winning percentage). Under Coach Drohan, NU became the first private school in NCAA history to advance to the Women's College World Series. NU has made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, advancing to the Regional championship round six times.

I can fill several pages with her accomplishments, awards and records. You can find all of those statistics on her Northwestern Coaching page. Prepare to be impressed though.

Even more impressive is the person behind those numbers. When I met Coach Drohan, we talked about her playing career at Providence and her coaching career. I should write that I tried talking about her playing career, but being ever-humble, she downplayed her achievements, focusing more on the team. Similarly, she focuses on the Wildcats team now, more so than her coaching achievements. My interview can be found at On the Beat With Coach Kate Drohan.

Coach Drohan beams when discussing coaching with her twin sister Caryl (Associate Coach of the Wildcats). She gets a little emotional when bringing up seeing her players graduate. This isn’t just a job for Coach Drohan. This is a passion and her passion is palpable.

As the Wildcats started filing in for the batting practice, several greeted my photo and me. I include this, because they had no idea who we were, yet they were friendly and polite. It was a nice sign of respect from the young female athletes.

As I watched practice proceed, I saw the discipline, passion and fun in all of the young women (and the coaches, too). Practice was for practice. It wasn’t playtime, although the mood was light. It was a pleasure to watch. I learned a lot about the program during this small slice of time.

We were also pleased to see Assistant Coaches Michelle Gascoigne and Tammy Williams, both of whom we know from being on the Bandits beat. Tammy had an elite career playing for Northwestern, while Michelle starred at Oklahoma. Now both are helping guide the current crop of talented softballers. Because of our Bandits connections, I already had a ton of respect for these ladies.

After watching batting practice, we sauntered to Sharon J. Drysdale Field to enjoy the last bits of softball this year. The Wildcats were hosting the University Of Wisconsin Green Bay and Spoon River Community College.

The crowd was a sea of purple. We saw several people in the crowd who we knew from the Bandits games. The love of softball brought us together again! I felt right at home as we settled in to watch the last two games of the year.

It was a beautiful fall day for a softball doubleheader and the results were just as nice! The Wildcats beat Spoon River 14-2 and UW Green Bay 7-6.

As we walked away, I was happy to have started this path, but a bit sad that it would be several months before the next step. At least I have something good to anticipate throughout the upcoming winter.

Three years ago, I never expected to enjoy the Bandits as much as I have. I found myself loving the whole experience. I get the early feeling that it will be similar with the Wildcats.

The 2017 season will start in February and the Big Ten Conference play starts at the end of March. I plan on being there to immerse myself in Wildcats softball goodness. I also plan on reporting back here to spread the word and raise awareness for these deserving fine young athletes.