Jordyn Rudd-Lee

Personal: On August 8, 2023, Rudd-Lee was named an assistant softball coach at Purdue University. She is the daughter of James and Michelle Rudd and participated in competitive gymnastics for eight years. She also competed in basketball and track and field as a child. Rudd-Lee names Northwestern Head Softball Coach Kate Drohan as a significant influence in her life and models her game after former St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. She has a German shepherd named Elsi, whom she rescued just before marrying her husband, Zach. She lists spending a weekend with the Cincinnati Reds when she won the Johnny Bench Award and meeting Johnny Bench as a time when she felt starstruck. She enjoys collecting hotel room keys from her travels and wears No. 36 in honor of her father.

2024 AUX Season: Rudd-Lee earned 15th place in the final league standings after making her Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball debut. She amassed 988 leaderboard points, including 750 win points and 178 stat points. Rudd-Lee was a starter in 10-of-11 games and batted .345 with 10 hits, including a home run. She drove in three runs while scoring four times. Rudd-Lee tied the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball AUX single-game record with a four-hit performance against Team Mazon on June 22, earning MVP 2 honors and 200 leaderboard points. She also received MVP 3 plaudits with a 2-for-3 outing against Team Leach on June 13, including her first Athletes Unlimited home run. Rudd-Lee closed the season with a 2-for-4 performance against Team Alo while collecting 130 leaderboard points.

2023 Championship Season: Rudd-Lee was one of the 14 players selected in the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball College Draft.

Other Professional Experience: Rudd-Lee was selected by the USSSA Pride with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2023 Women’s Professional Fastpitch Draft. During her rookie season, she appeared in 30 games and posted a .203 batting average. She registered 11 hits, including five doubles and two home runs, driving in 12 runs and scoring five times. She had two-hit games against Texas Smoke on June 27 and SIS Vipers on August 2. Additionally, she added five hits in 13 at-bats over four playoff games, including two two-hit performances.

At Northwestern: Rudd-Lee was a five-year letter-winner at Northwestern, starting all 243 games of her career from 2019 to 2023. She finished her college career with a .332 batting average, 30 home runs, and 201 runs batted in. She also recorded 247 hits, including 50 doubles and five triples, hitting .300 or better in all four full seasons. She is one of only two players in Northwestern's history to achieve 50 or more career doubles and one of only two, along with Garland Cooper, to amass 200 or more career runs batted in. She ranks second on the Wildcats’ career list with 745 at-bats. In 2022, she became the first recipient of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award by the NFCA and was named the National Defensive Player of the Year by Softball America. She also won the 2022 Johnny Bench Award as the best female catcher in the nation. Rudd-Lee was a four-time All-Big Ten honoree, earning First-Team distinction as a freshman, junior, and senior, and was the first catcher in conference history to earn First-Team All-Big Ten honors in each of her first three full seasons. She received three Big Ten All-Defensive Team commendations and was named to the NFCA All-Great Lakes Region team four times, including three First-Team selections. She led the Wildcats to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a berth in the 2022 Women’s College World Series. She also guided Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten regular-season titles in 2021 and 2022 and to the Big Ten Conference Tournament crown in her final season, marking the first time Northwestern won both the regular season and tournament titles in the same season. As the Wildcats’ catcher in 2022, she started all 58 games and batted a team-high .370 with 52 runs batted in. She led all Big Ten catchers in batting average (.329) as a junior and earned starting assignments in 47 contests, ranking eighth in the league with 29 runs batted in. During the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, she led the Wildcats with 19 hits and 22 runs batted in over 23 games. As a freshman in 2019, she earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors after leading the Wildcats in batting average (.328), hits (57), runs batted in (51), and doubles, becoming the fourth freshman in program history to drive in 50 or more runs. Over her five seasons, she achieved an outstanding .995 career fielding percentage with just nine errors in 1,788 chances.