Author Archives: Ari Levin

What Can Advanced Metrics Tell Us About Big Ten Softball?

By Ari Levin Baseball is famous for sabermetrics – advanced calculations that combine statistics and use multiple parts of the box score to analyze the value of players. They’re far more common in MLB than in college baseball, both because of the availability of data and because of the closed circle of competition between teams and aren’t mainstream in softball.

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Danielle Williams Wins National Freshman of the Year, But She Couldn’t Have Done it Without Her Teammates

By Ari Levin The 2019 college softball season was the year of the dominant freshman pitcher. Shealyn O’Leary of Texas allowed nine earned runs all year, only three in Big 12 play. Her ERA led all qualified pitchers. UCLA’s Megan Faraimo stepped in alongside the national player of the year and contributed enough to win 16 games and hold opponents

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After Game 1 Disappointment, Softball Fights Fog to Beat SIU

By Ari Levin After 11 hours of softball, the Wildcats stay alive for another day. Northwestern (45-11) rebounded from an early 2-1 loss against Louisville (35-21) to stave off elimination with an 8-1 win over Southern Illinois (34-15). Now, in order to advance to the Super Regionals, they must defeat Louisville twice on Sunday. “We just wanted to fight hard, get another chance to

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Big Ten Softball Tournament Preview: Analyzing Northwestern’s Path

By Ari Levin Coming off a disappointing conclusion to the regular season against Minnesota and the end of a 20-game win streak, the Northwestern Wildcats softball team begins postseason play. Still nationally ranked, Northwestern heads to the Big Ten Tournament looking to improve their national standing. There’s a strong chance that Northwestern needs to win the tournament, or at least

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First-Year Shellmyer a Leader for NU Softball

By Ari Levin Just a first year, Skyler Shellmyer is already an emotional team leader for Northwestern softball. “Lightning in a bottle at all times,” is how assistant coach Caryl Drohan described the energetic center fielder and leader of dugout cheers. Shellmyer was ranked as the No. 25 recruit nationally, according to her Northwestern bio, based on her combination of

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Weather Delay, Venue Change Haunt Northwestern Lacrosse in Loss to Maryland

By Ari Levin The theme for Northwestern lacrosse this season has been an inability to beat the nation’s elite teams. This year, the Wildcats have had four chances against top-six teams. They’re now 0-4 in those games. They’re 9-0 against everyone else. On Thursday, the fifth-ranked Wildcats dropped another top opportunity against No. 2 Maryland by a score of 17-13.

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Big Ten Women’s Basketball Power Rankings: April Edition

By Ari Levin Well, here it is. The last Big Ten Women’s Basketball Power Rankings of the year. This is the last power rankings article I will write for WNUR Sports. It has been an amazing experience breaking down the entire conference all season long. First off, a huge thanks to HerHoopStats. They do absolutely incredible work. This column would

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Northwestern Nearly Won a National Championship in a Way I Never Expected

By Ari Levin Northwestern is a national runner-up. I’ve thought to myself at times how cool it would be for Northwestern to win a national championship in my time here. In any sport. Olivia Rosendahl did that. And she’s amazing. Two years ago, Northwestern women’s golf lost in the match play championships and finished as the national runner-up. And I’m

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