Big Ten Softball Review – Part 1

We now look at how Big Ten softball fared in 2025. Because USC does not field a softball team and we already know about Oregon, we’ll first review the bottom eight teams in the B1G: Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, Penn State, and Indiana.

Of these teams, only Indiana saw NCAA tournament play in 2025.

Rutgers

Robert Killips | Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

2025 record: 20-23 (3-19 Big-10/T-16th)

2024: 33-22 (14-9 Big-10/3rd)

Head coach Kristen Butler has been running the Rutgers program for seven seasons. After posting back-to-back 30-win seasons, Rutgers fell off in 2025. They were swept in all of their series except against Maryland, and miraculously managed a series win against Illinois.

There are two reasons for this dropoff. First, the 2024 class was virtually all upperclassmen; out of the roster of 19 players, there were only four Fr. or R-Fr., and no sophomores. 11 players were seniors. Second, pitching disappeared, because their primary pitchers were (of course) seniors. The pitching room had an overall ERA of 3.04 in 2024, and two pitchers carried the load. In 2025, the pitching room had an ERA of 4.32. Freshman Ella Harrison carried the load with 177 innings with an ERA of 2.61, but the rest of the pitchers had an ERA of 5.07 or higher.

2025 was going to be a rebuilding year anyway. The 2025 roster was nearly a mirror image of 2024 – with a roster of 20, only 5 were upperclassmen, and 11 were true freshmen. 2026 is certain to continue the rebuilding for the Scarlet Knights.

Maryland

Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

2025 record: 18-31 (3-19 Big-10/T-16th)

2024: 24-30 (8-15 Big 10/T-10th )

Lauren Kern was in her third season heading the Terps in 2025. Maryland was 38-19 (11-11, B1G) in 2023, so they have been decidedly on a slide under Kern.

Looking over hitting and pitching stats, we run into what we might expect. Hitting as a team dropped from .277 to .267, and all other significant stats also dropped. Pitching posted a 4.56 ERA in 2024, and that rose to 5.59 in 2025.

When I looked at former Pac-12 teams entering the league as being a factor, I found that Maryland only had UCLA on their conference slate. Not a factor- this team was just bad in 2025.

Minnesota

2025 record: 20-30 (5-17 Big-10/15th)

2024: 28-25 (13-11 Big-10/5th)

Head coach Piper Ritter was in her fifth season leading the Golden Gophers in 2025. Minnesota’s record has a curious trend to it, where they’ll have an up year, followed by a down year, then an up year, and a down year. 2025 followed this pattern. The Gophers had no series wins this year.

Minnesota lost their best hitter from 2024, sophomore Jessica Oakland (.452), who transferred to Duke. Their next best hittier, Morgan DeBord, was a Gr.-Sr. The Gophers had only three players that hit over .300 in 2025, and all of their numbers dropped significantly.

The stats show an overall improvement in pitching, but that’s misleading. In 2024, Minnesota’s two most-used pitchers had an ERA of 3.16 (110 innings) and 4.83 (100 innings, respectively. In 2025, Jr. Sydney Schwartz pitched 158 innings with a 2.84 ERA, but the rest of the room pitched 5.08 and above.

We shall see if recent trends continue for the Gophers and they improve this coming season.

Michigan State

2025 record: 16-29 (6-16 Big-10/14th)

2024: 21-30 (7-16 Big-10/13th)

Sharonda McDonald-Kelley was in her third year leading the Spartans in 2025. 2024 and 2025 have only modestly improved on 2023’s 14-32 record.

Michigan State doesn’t hit very well. They only had one player that hit over .300 in ‘24, Hannah Hawley at .349. (She drops to .295 in ‘25). In 2025, they had one player hit .375 and another hit .308, and that was it.

Pitching hurt MSU this last season.In 2024, the room had a 3.96 ERA. In 2025, that was 5.74, with their most-used pitcher throwing a 3.99 ERA – worse than the combined room in 2024.

MSU’s roster is fairly evenly divided between youngsters and veterans. It looks like the Spartans need to attract some talent if they care about rising in the conference standing.

Illinois

2025 record: 22-28 (6-15 Big 10/13th)

2024: 21-31 (7-15 Big-10/12th)

Head coach Tyra Perry entered her 10th season leading the Fighting Illini in 2025. Illinois last saw NCAA postseason action in 2022, but they’ve been 12th or 13th in the conference since then. Their roster jumped from 22 in 2024 (with 5 true freshmen) to 27 in 2025 (with 10 true freshmen).

Their hitting dropped from a team average of .296 in ‘24 to .271 in ‘25, even as their home run production increased by 69%. Six players hit .305 and above, led by Delaney Mosley (who was not a starter) with .379.

The pitching room improved in 2025. The #1 and #2 pitchers had a 3.45 and 4.83 ERA in ‘24. The #1 and #2 pitchers (both were transfers in) had a 4.01 and 3.31 ERA in ‘25.

The Fighting Illini might be underperforming given their talent. I mean, they did lose a series to Rutgers.

Purdue

2025 record: 30-23 (9-13 Big-10/12th)

2024: 25-27 (11-12 Big-10/9th)

Magali Frezzotti was in her second season as head coach of the Boilermakers in 2025. While Purdue’s overall record went down in 2025, their conference record went up. Purdue has a series win over Minnesota and swept Illinois. They also did well in the Big Ten tournament; as a 12-seed, they beat #5 Northwestern and #4 Ohio State before falling to #8 Michigan in the semifinals.

Purdue’s offense took a jump in ‘25, going from a .254 team average to .290. So. OF Moriah Polar shot up from a .297 average to lead the team with .444 hitting. She was also the stolen bases leader, going 30-34. Two other players hit .301 and above, and all three return in 2026.

Pitching stayed about the same, even as they went from three primary pitchers in 2024 to two in 2025.

Purdue showed in 2025 that they’re on track to stay in the middle of the pack in 2026. In order to improve, they need power hitting that doesn’t presently exist, and they need improvement in the pitching room.

Penn State

2025 record: 25-27 (10-12 Big-10/T-10th)

2024: 35-20 (12-11 Big 10/T-6th)

Head coach Clarisa Crowell was in her fifth season leading the Nittany Lions in 2025. PSU had 30+ wins in the previous three seasons, but their record dropped in 2025.

PSU’s offense took a tremendous jump in 2025, going from .279 hitting with three players hitting .333 and up, to .329 hitting with seven players hitting .321 and up, led by So. infielder Brooke Klosowicz hitting .422 with 13 HRs.

Pitching is where Penn St. took a hit. So. Bridget Nemeth was a freshman phenom, pitching 210 innings with a 1.77 ERA, who only faced four batters before being pulled, and was lost due to injury for the rest of the season. PSU was not prepared in any way for that, and their pitching was, shall we say, not very good. They went from a 3.48 ERA to a 5.67 ERA.

If PSU can fix their pitching room, expect a bounce back in 2026.

Indiana

Brett Rojo-Imagn Images

2025 record: 34-20 (10-12 Big-10/T-10th)

2024: 40-20 (12-11 Big 10/T-6th)

Shonda Stanton was in her 8th season as head coach of the Hoosiers. Coming off consecutive 40+ win seasons in 2023 and 2024, could Indiana keep it up? The answer was: Not quite; however, Indiana did earn a third trip in a row to the NCAA tournament.

The Hoosiers did not play a particularly challenging non-conference schedule, and the only team of note that they faced was Texas Tech. They lost both of their games to the eventual NCAA Championship runners-up. In Big Ten play, Indiana swept Penn State and Maryland, and picked up a series win against Purdue. They were a #10 seed in the Big Ten tournament and won their first-round match against #7 Washington before falling to #2 UCLA. Indiana ended their season with their elimination at the hands of Oklahoma State in the Fayetteville Regional.

The Hoosiers’ offense in 2025 was very good. In 2024, the team batting average was .311, with nine batters hitting .304 and up. That went up to a .365 average this last season, and all of their batters except one (that would be 13 batters) hit .311 and up. Starters Madalyn Strader hit .413, and Taylor Minnick hit .484 and led the team in HRs and RBIs.

But then we get to the pitching, and like Penn State, Indiana’s pitching dramatically worsened in 2025. The pitching room had an ERA of 3.09 in ‘24, but that rose to 4.60 in ‘25. The pitching completely collapsed in the first game of the postseason, where they held a 2-1 lead in the second inning against OK St., only to give up 12 runs in the third inning. Then, in the second (elimination) game, Indiana held a 3-2 lead after three innings, but the Cowboys then scored nine unanswered runs to put Indiana’s season to bed.

The Hoosiers have already lost one of their pitchers to the transfer portal, and will need serious help in the pitching room if they want to overcome their 2025 problems.