May 6, 2008

Northwestern's Big Ten Tournament Notes (PDF Format)

2008 Big Ten Tournament Page

EVANSTON, Ill. -- For the second time in the last three years, Northwestern won the Big Ten championship and will play host to the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The 2008 edition runs May 8-10 at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, with five of the seven games being televised live on the Big Ten Network.

The Wildcats grabbed a share of the 2008 conference crown with an 18-2 record, their most league wins since going 19-9 in 1995 -- back when teams played four-game sets against each other. NU tied with Michigan for the title this year after the Wolverines also went 18-2. Because the two teams split their season series at Michigan and their only other losses came to the same team (Iowa), an official coin flip performed by the Big Ten office determined the site of the conference tournament.

Northwestern faces No. 8 seed Ohio State at 4:30 p.m. CT Thursday, May 8, in its opening round game. Prior to that, No. 2 seed Michigan opens the tournament against No. 7 seed Michigan State at 2 p.m. CT. The other two first round games and the two semifinal games will be played Friday, with the championship game scheduled for a noon CT first pitch on Saturday.

All of Friday and Saturday's games will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. A Northwestern softball postseason tradition, student radio WNUR 89.3 FM will broadcast all of the Wildcats' games live both over the air and online at sports.wnur.org.

The Wildcats have advanced to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament in three of the last five seasons, but have not won a title since claiming the crown in 1982. That year, the tournament was used to determine what is now the conference's regular-season championship.

Sophomore Nicole Pauly (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) enters the Big Ten Tournament as perhaps the conference's hottest hitter, earning two of the last three Big Ten Player of the Week honors while batting .500 with eight home runs, 17 RBIs, 18 runs and a 1.190 slugging percentage in the Wildcats' last 14 games.

Sophomore Lauren Delaney (Jefferson City, Mo./Helias) dominated like no other pitcher in Big Ten play, leading the league in wins (18), opponents' batting average (.151) and strikeouts (188).

For Northwestern's complete notes package for the 2008 Big Ten Tournament, click on the .pdf link at the top of this page. Also, check out the official 2008 Big Ten Tournament page link at the top of this release for more information, a complete bracket, game times and ticket prices.