Big Ten Softball Review – Part 2

We continue our 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 review the other top eight teams in the B1G:

Wisconsin

2025 record: 33-21 (11-11 Big-10/T-8th)

2024: 21-31 (8-15 Big-10/11th)

Head coach Yvette Healy was in her 15th season leading the Badgers in 2025. Wisconsin has been to the NCAA tournament six times with Healy as the coach, but has not appeared since 2022.

The Badgers were not particularly challenged in their non-conference schedule, as they played no ranked teams. In their conference portion, Wisconsin swept Iowa and had series wins against Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota, but were swept by Michigan and Washington. They ended their season by being bounced out of the first round of the Big Ten tournament by Michigan.

Wisconsin’s offense was anemic in 2024, with a team batting average of .264 and three players hitting .300 or over. This year, the team average improved to .298, and five batters hit .313 and above. This was largely due to an influx of freshman talent, led by Kendra Lewis leading the team with a .408 average.

Pitching for the Badgers came from two players, both graduate seniors. Gabi Salo pitched 138.2 innings with a 2.93 ERA, and Molly Jacobsen pitched 117.1 innings with a 3.64 ERA.

Wisconsin is on a positive trajectory where their offensive production is concerned. Their pitching room, however, will be a major question mark in 2026

Michigan

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2025 record: 39-21 (11-11 Big-10/T-8th)

2024: 43-18 (18-5 Big-10/2nd)

Bonnie Thall was in her third season as head coach of the Wolverines in 2025. Her last two seasons have resulted in NCAA tournament appearances.

The Wolverines did not defeat any of the ranked teams that they faced last season, and suffered conference sweeps from Oregon, Ohio State, and UCLA. The Big Ten tournament was a different story, with Michigan defeating Oregon and UCLA en route to a tournament championship. That gave them an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, where they did not make it out of the Texas regional.

Michigan’s offense improved in 2025. 2024 saw a team batting average of .274, which improved to .309 in 2025. Six players hit .315 and above, led by Jr. Indiana Langford with .406.

Pitching saw the same tandem in both seasons. The #1 pitcher was Sr. Lauren Derkowski, who pitched 103.1 innings with a 2.75 ERA. So. Erin Hoehn pitched 130.2 innings with 1 2.89 ERA.

Michigan has a lot of younger contributors on offense and pitching, and I do not foresee a dropoff next season.

Washington

2025 record: 35-19 (12-9 Big-10/7th)

Heather Tarr was in her 21st season as head coach in 2025. Washington has appeared in the NCAA tournament in every complete season that she has led the Huskies. UW’s record was similar to their 2024 record of 32-15 (13-10, Pac-12).

In their non-conference schedule, the Huskies lost both of their games against #14 Alabama, and traded games with #18 Arizona. They swept Rutgers and Wisconsin, and had series wins over Michigan State and Penn State. The Huskies had series losses against Nebraska and Oregon, and were swept by UCLA. Washington lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament to Indiana and ended their season by being bounced out of the Lubbock Regional by Mississippi State.

Washington’s offensive output dropped in 2025, down to .291 from a batting average of .318 in 2024. ‘24 had all but one of their starting lineup hit .300 and above, while only five starters hit .302 and up last season. Runs, RBIs, and HRs, however, were all up in 2025.

The pitching room underwent a complete overhaul in 2025. Sophia Ramuno and Stevie Hansen were both transfers, and Morgan Reimer came in as a freshman. Ramuno pitched 116.2 innings with a 2.40 ERA, Reimer pitched 118 innings with a 3.26 ERA, and Hansen pitched 78.1 innings with a 3.13 ERA.

Iowa

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2025 record: 35-18 (15-7 Big-10/6th)

2024: 18-28 (6-17 Big-10/14th)

Renee Luers-Gillespie was the head coach in 2025, but took a medical leave of absence in December of 2024 and ultimately did not return as head coach. At the conclusion of the season, Iowa hired Stacy May-Johnson as their new head coach.

The Hawkeyes lost to all of the ranked teams that they faced in their non-conference schedule: #14 Alabama, #13 Arkansas, #2 Texas Tech, and #4 Tennessee. They swept Penn State and Maryland, had a series win against Michigan State, and split games with UCLA. The Hawkeyes were swept by Indiana and Wisconsin, and suffered a series loss to Nebraska.

Iowa’s offense improved somewhat in 2025 to a .268 average, up from .259 in 2024. They only had three players hitting above .300, led by So. Jenna Young with .359.

Hawks pitching was led by Jr. Jalen Adams, who pitched 198.2 innings with a 2.18 ERA. Fr. Talia Tretton pitched 122.2 innings with an ERA of 3.32

Iowa has respectable pitching. Their hitting is their weakness, and if they want to improve their standing then they have to improve on offense.

Ohio State

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2025 record: 45-14-1 (16-5 Big-10/T-4th)

2024: 31-20 (12-11 Big 10/T-6th)

In 2025, Kirin Kumar was in her first season as the head coach of the Buckeyes. OSU had parted ways with former coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly after 12 seasons.

The Buckeyes did not play a particularly challenging non-conference schedule, but they did split games with #17 Georgia. They swept MSU, Michigan, and Purdue, and had series wins against Penn State, Indiana, Illinois, and Nebraska. Their only series loss was a two-game sweep to UCLA. OSU picked up a bye in the Big Ten tournament, but was knocked out by Purdue. They went to the Knoxville Regional and lost to host Tennessee in the championship game.

OSU’s offense improved from a team batting average of .299 in ‘24 to .336 in ‘25. All of their starting lineup hit .300 and above, led by So. Jasmyn Burns’ .455 with 72 RBI and 25 HRs.

Their pitching was not as sharp as their hitting, but they were led by a promising freshman, Lorin Boutte, who pitched 152.1 innings with a 3.64 ERA. Their #2 was Jr. Kennedy Kay, who pitched 113 innings with an ERA of 4.83.

Like so many teams that we’ve seen get into the NCAA tournament and can’t advance – including Oregon in the past – OSU needs better pitching to go with those bats if they want to go deeper in the postseason.

Northwestern

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2025 record: 30-20-1 (16-5 Big-10/T-4th)

2024: 35- 13 (20-3 Big-10/1st)

Head coach Kate Drohan has been leading the Wildcats since 2002, and has led them to the NCAA tournament 18 times, including every season since 2018.

NU did not have any wins over ranked teams in their non-conference schedule except a win over #23 Mississippi State. The Cats swept Minnesota, MSU, Penn State, and Rutgers, and picked up a series win over Illinois, and Wisconsin. They were swept by Nebraska and had a series loss against UCLA. NU had a bye in the B1G tournament and lost in the second round to Purdue. They were not seeded in the NCAA tournament and lost their elimination game to Kentucky after playing a very close 0-1, nine inning game against host Clemson.

As a team, the Wildcats hit .285, very close to their 2024 .273 average. Four players hit .329 and above, led by So. Isabel Cunnea’s .360 average

NU’s #1 pitcher was Gr.-Sr. Lauren Boyd, who pitched 125 innings with a 2.30 ERA. Their #2 was So. Riley Grudzielanek, who pitched 87.2 innings with an ERA of 4.63.

Based on stats alone, I would be inclined to say that Northwestern overachieved in 2025; however, that would be unfairly dismissive of the talents of their coaching staff.

UCLA

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2025 record: 55-13 (17-5 Big-10/T-2nd)

Kelly Inouye-Perez has been coaching UCLA since 2007, and has led them to the NCAA tournament each season (19), including 11 WCWS appearances and two championships.

In spite of reaching the WCWS, UCLA appeared surprisingly vulnerable in the regular season, with losses to Virginia, Duke, LSU, and Arizona in the non-conference slate. They had a loss to Iowa and series losses to Northwestern and Oregon.

The Bruins’ offense improved from a batting average of .315 in 2024 to .340 in ‘25. They had nine players that batted .314 and above, and starters (Sr.) Savannal Pola and (Jr.) Jordan Woolery hit .428 and .424, respectively.

UCLA is outstanding at pitching, and team pitching dropped to a 2.47 ERA from 2024’s 2.70 ERA. UCLA had the luxury of three aces: So. Kaitlyn Terry (148.1 innings, 2.64 ERA), Jr. Taylor Tinsley (137.2 innings, 2.44 ERA), and Fr. Addisen Fisher (113.2innings, 2.59 ERA).

UCLA isn’t going anywhere, and we’ll probably see them in the WCWS again next year.

Nebraska

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2025 record: 43-15 (17-5 Big-10/T-2nd)

2024: 30-23 (12-9 Big-10/4th)

Rhonda Revelle was in her 33rd year leading the Huskers in 2025. After not appearing in the NCAA tournament in 2024, Nebraska had a late-season surge and lost to Tennessee in the Knoxville Super Regional this year.

Nebraska was ranked the entire season. In conference, they swept Minnesota, Northwestern, and Maryland, and had series wins against Washington, Iowa, and Purdue. Their only series loss was to Ohio State. The Huskers lost to UCLA in the Big Ten tournament and entered the NCAA unseeded, but beat host LSU in Baton Rouge to advance to the Super Regional.

The Huskers stepped up their offense this season, jumping from a team average of .296 in 2024 to .346 this year. They had 12 batters that hit .300 and above, including all of their starters, led by Sr. Ava Kusnak with .412 and star Sr. Jordy Bahl with .462.

Bahl was also their ace in the circle, pitching 206.1 innings with a 1.56 ERA. Their #2 was Sr. Hannah Camenzind, who pitched 63 innings with a 3.11 ERA.

Nebraska’s roster of 23 players had only 6 underclassmen. You can’t replace a generational player like Jordy Bahl. The Huskers have some work cut out for them if they have aspirations of going deep in the postseason again.