Ex-Trojan Rudd off to strong start at Northwestern

<p>Three and a half hours away from the softball fields that she grew up playing on, Jordyn Rudd finally feels at home again.</p><p>Rudd started at four different positions during a stellar high school career at Center Grove. So Northwestern coach Kate Drohan stating definitively that &quot;Jordyn Rudd is a catcher&quot; — Rudd’s natural position — has provided a nice sense of security for the freshman.</p><p>&quot;It’s been a great feeling to be catching full-time again,&quot; said Rudd, who has caught every pitch through the Wildcats’ first 29 games this season.</p><p>That added comfort has helped Rudd get her college softball career off to an impressive start. The former Trojan star headed into this weekend’s series at Iowa batting .349 while leading the Wildcats in doubles, runs batted in, total bases and slugging percentage.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>More important to Rudd is the fact that Northwestern is winning. The Wildcats, currently sitting just one vote outside of the top 25 in the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll, went into Iowa with a 22-7 record. Two of those losses came at second-ranked Oklahoma, with another against No. 7 Washington.</p><p>Accustomed to success at Center Grove, where her teams were a combined 111-10 with a state championship and three regional titles, Rudd finds her competitive fire getting fueled even more at the collegiate level.</p><p>&quot;The game is so much more intense,&quot; she said. &quot;Everyone wants to win. Everyone is there because they want to play at that top level. … Everyone wants it, but only so many can have it.&quot;</p><p>Northwestern has certainly had it before. The Wildcats have made five Women’s College World Series appearances, including back-to-back trips under Drohan in 2006 and 2007.</p><p>After falling to Georgia in a regional final last season, the team hopes to make a deeper run this spring.</p><p>&quot;Our goal year in and year out is to make it to Oklahoma City,&quot; Drohan said. &quot;I think Jordyn Rudd came in with those same expectations.&quot;</p><p>Rudd’s expectations have always been high, both for her team and for herself. Though she says the college game is a little different, the freshman notes that &quot;it’s still the same game I’ve been playing my whole life,&quot; so nothing she’s accomplished so far this season has really surprised her.</p><p>Nothing has come as a shock to Drohan, either.</p><p>&quot;We knew she was a great high school ball player,&quot; the coach said, &quot;and when she came in here we saw how well prepared she was.&quot;</p><p>Rudd will have an opportunity to play in front of friends, family and former teammates when the Big Ten tournament is played at Indiana University in May. Northwestern won a pair of games in Bloomington earlier this month, beating Toledo and blanking the then-No. 19 Hoosiers, and Rudd had three hits that day.</p><p>She’s eager to come back and play those tournament games close to home, but Rudd has been thoroughly enjoying her first season with the Wildcats regardless of where it takes her.</p><p>&quot;Overall, it’s been one of the best experiences of my whole life, if not the best,&quot; she said.</p>