This is a list of Northwestern Wildcats softball seasons. The Northwestern Wildcats softball program is a college softball team that represents Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. [1]
The Wildcats have won ten conference regular season championships, ten conference tournaments, and have appeared in the NCAA Division I softball tournament 28 times, advancing to the Women's College World Series eight times, and the title game in 1985. [2]
| National Champions | Women's College World Series berth | NCAA Tournament berth | Conference Tournament Champions | Conference Regular Season Champions |
| Season | Head coach | Conference | Season results | Tournament results | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Conference | Conference [a] | Postseason | ||||||||||
| Wins | Losses | Ties | % | Wins | Losses | Ties | % | Finish | |||||
| Northwestern Wildcats | |||||||||||||
| 1976 | Mary Conway | Independent | 1 | 6 | 0 | .143 | N/A | — | |||||
| 1977 | Big Ten | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | N/A | — | ||
| 1978 | 6 | 12 | 0 | .333 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | ||||
| 1979 | Sharon Drysdale | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | |||
| 1980 | 16 | 17 | 0 | .485 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | ||||
| 1981 | 19 | 27 | 0 | .413 | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | — | ||||
| 1982 | 31 | 9 | 1 | .768 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1st | champions | — | ||
| 1983 | 34 | 16 | 0 | .680 | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | 2nd | N/A | |||
| 1984 | 41 | 17 | 0 | .707 | 17 | 4 | 0 | .810 | 1st | WCWS | |||
| 1985 | 40 | 12 | 1 | .764 | 20 | 4 | 0 | .833 | 1st | WCWS | |||
| 1986 | 33 | 17 | 0 | .660 | 15 | 9 | 0 | .625 | 1st | WCWS | |||
| 1987 | 43 | 13 | 0 | .768 | 18 | 6 | 0 | .750 | 1st | NCAA Regional | |||
| 1988 | 25 | 23 | 0 | .521 | 14 | 10 | 0 | .583 | 3rd | — | |||
| 1989 | 26 | 25 | 0 | .929 | 14 | 10 | 0 | .583 | 3rd | — | |||
| 1990 | 16 | 35 | 0 | .314 | 5 | 19 | 0 | .208 | 6th | — | |||
| 1991 | 21 | 33 | 0 | .389 | 9 | 15 | 0 | .375 | 5th | — | |||
| 1992 | 33 | 25 | 1 | .568 | 18 | 10 | 0 | .643 | 3rd | — | |||
| 1993 | 34 | 25 | 0 | .576 | 17 | 11 | 0 | .607 | 4th | — | |||
| 1994 | 35 | 21 | 0 | .625 | 17 | 11 | 0 | .607 | 4th | — | |||
| 1995 | 38 | 19 | 0 | .667 | 19 | 9 | 0 | .679 | 2nd | 3rd | — | ||
| 1996 | 19 | 33 | 0 | .365 | 8 | 16 | 0 | .333 | 7th | — | — | ||
| 1997 | 19 | 31 | 0 | .380 | 9 | 14 | 0 | .391 | 8th | — | — | ||
| 1998 | 34 | 19 | 0 | .642 | 15 | 9 | 0 | .625 | 2nd | 4th | — | ||
| 1999 | 30 | 31 | 0 | .492 | 11 | 13 | 0 | .458 | 7th | — | — | ||
| 2000 | 30 | 26 | 0 | .536 | 12 | 6 | 0 | .667 | 4th | 4th | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2001 | 20 | 25 | 0 | .444 | 8 | 12 | 0 | .400 | 8th | — | — | ||
| 2002 | Kate Drohan | 24 | 18 | 1 | .570 | 10 | 9 | 0 | .526 | T-5th | — | — | |
| 2003 | 36 | 19 | 0 | .655 | 11 | 9 | 0 | .550 | 6th | 2nd | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2004 | 34 | 20 | 0 | .630 | 12 | 8 | 0 | .600 | 4th | 3rd | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2005 | 42 | 18 | 0 | .700 | 15 | 3 | 0 | .833 | 2nd | 3rd | NCAA Super Regional | ||
| 2006 | 50 | 15 | 0 | .769 | 16 | 3 | 0 | .842 | 1st | 2nd | WCWS runner-up | ||
| 2007 | 52 | 13 | 0 | .800 | 15 | 3 | 0 | .833 | 2nd | 2nd | WCWS | ||
| 2008 | 40 | 16 | 0 | .714 | 18 | 2 | 0 | .900 | T-1st | champions | NCAA Super Regional | ||
| 2009 | 31 | 15 | 0 | .674 | 14 | 6 | 0 | .700 | 3rd | N/A | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2010 | 25 | 23 | 0 | .521 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 4th | — | |||
| 2011 | 23 | 20 | 0 | .535 | 5 | 13 | 0 | .278 | 10th | — | |||
| 2012 | 29 | 29 | 0 | .500 | 14 | 10 | 0 | .583 | 4th | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2013 | 31 | 22 | 0 | .585 | 12 | 10 | 0 | .545 | 5th | 5th | — | ||
| 2014 | 35 | 18 | 0 | .660 | 14 | 9 | 0 | .609 | 5th | 5th | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2015 | 28 | 23 | 0 | .549 | 14 | 8 | 0 | .636 | 4th | 3rd | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2016 | 27 | 28 | 0 | .491 | 15 | 8 | 0 | .652 | 3rd | 3rd | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2017 | 25 | 29 | 0 | .463 | 10 | 13 | 0 | .435 | 8th | 5th | — | ||
| 2018 | 38 | 19 | 0 | .667 | 14 | 8 | 0 | .636 | 4th | 2nd | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2019 | 47 | 13 | 0 | .783 | 21 | 2 | 0 | .913 | 2nd | 3rd | NCAA Super Regional | ||
| 2020 | 11 | 12 | 0 | .478 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||||
| 2021 | 30 | 17 | 0 | .638 | 29 | 15 | 0 | .659 | 3rd | N/A | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2022 | 45 | 13 | 0 | .776 | 19 | 4 | 0 | .826 | 1st | 3rd | WCWS | ||
| 2023 | 42 | 13 | 0 | .764 | 20 | 3 | 0 | .870 | 1st | champions | NCAA Super Regional | ||
| 2024 | 35 | 13 | 0 | .729 | 19 | 3 | 0 | .864 | 1st | 5th | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2025 | 30 | 20 | 1 | .598 | 16 | 6 | 0 | .727 | T-4th | 9th | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2026 | Upcoming | ||||||||||||