Nell helps Boston back to regionals

There’s a chance Danika Nell goes pitch for pitch with softball’s first million-dollar player this weekend.

The Boissevain native and her Boston University Terriers are off to NCAA Division I regionals in Lubbock, Texas, home of NiJaree Canady and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Regionals are the softball equivalent of the first weekend of basketball’s March Madness, with the top 16 ranked teams hosting a four-team double-elimination tournament for a spot at Super Regionals the following weekend.

The Terriers open the weekend against No. 6-seed Ole Miss on Friday at 1 p.m. CDT.

The road will most likely have to run through Canady, who signed a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal worth US$1,050,024 in 2025 — with the $50,000 negotiated for living expenses and the $24 to symbolically match her jersey number.

She led Texas Tech to the final at the Women’s College World Series last season, falling to the University of Texas.

“They’re a big name; everyone knows about the million-dollar contract,” Nell said.

“They’ve got all the transfers, and what they’ve done this season and the season prior is remarkable, so I think everyone’s just pumped to be in that environment.”

The winner of BU’s opener plays the winner of Texas Tech and Marist in the 1-vs-2 Page playoff game on Saturday at 2 p.m., with the losers dropping to the 3-vs.-4 game at 4:30.

The winner plays the loser of the 1-2 game at 7 o’clock, and the winner of that one has to beat the other finalist twice to advance.

Nell’s path from small-town Westman to some of college softball’s biggest stages may seem unlikely, but those involved in the sport knew she was special from the start.

Nell was a superstar growing up, one of the top AAA players in Manitoba and hands down the most dominant pitcher in Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association competition.

She led her hometown Boissevain Broncos to a provincial championship in Grade 10, pitching all three playoff games as her single-A school cruised to its first-ever championship.

Nell moved to Winnipeg for academic reasons the following two years and led the Vincent Massey Trojans to back-to-back golds.

The six-foot ace went on to start for Team Canada in the final of the under-18 Pan American Championship in Colombia.

At Boston University, she suddenly found herself in a different role.

The Terriers featured one of the best pitchers in Patriot League history in Kasey Ricard, who’s now in her senior year.

Ricard went 32-6 with a 2.81 earned-run average with 23 complete games and 230 strikeouts.

“What she’s done, it’s totally unheard of. She’s broken — I want to say — every BU pitching record now and most of the Patriot League records, so seeing that go down this season has been unreal,” Nell said.

“Words can’t describe how dominant she is on the mound. It’s cool to see and be right next to every day.”

While Nell saw a small dip in playing time this year, going 5-4 with a 5.67 ERA and 43 strikeouts, she felt it was a great developmental year, especially on the mental side of her game.

Nell learned a lot from the team’s ace to take into next season.

“She’s one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met. We do the same workouts, but she’s got that drive other teams just don’t have. She’ll step on that mound and do whatever it takes to beat the team she’s facing,” she said.

“If we’ve got questions or something’s not feeling right, she’ll definitely be there for us, and it goes both ways. She’ll also ask us to watch stuff for her. She totally makes us feel like we’re right there with her.”

Last year, Nell was named to the Patriot League all-tournament team. She pitched seven scoreless innings in relief of Ricard, who gave up an early two-run homer to Army in the final before Boston came back with three runs in the fifth inning to win 3-2.

This season, the No. 1-seed Terriers went down 3-0 early to the fourth-ranked Lafayette Leopards. Once again, Nell took over and tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, allowing just three hits as her team took a 4-3 lead before pulling away to win 7-3.

Ricard returned to her dominant form for the rest of the tournament, throwing all seven innings in a 3-1 win over Army to reach the final.

The senior racked up seven strikeouts in five innings as Boston invoked the run rule, up 12-1 on Colgate to secure the title.

So Nell makes her second trip to regionals, after her first meant playing at the world’s best softball stadium in 2025.

The Terriers visited Oklahoma University, the permanent site of the Women’s College World Series.

Nell stepped in for Ricard after 1 1/3 innings and got Boston out of a jam. It already trailed 5-0, though, and OU ended it in the fifth with an 8-0 mercy.

“Oklahoma did what Oklahoma does,” Nell said with a laugh.

She threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings against Omaha in their elimination game, but Boston was down 3-1 by then and never came back.

Once this Terriers’ season ends, Nell is heading to Brandon for the summer.

The pre-med student reached out to Dr. Erika Moller back in the fall and the family physician agreed to have Nell shadow her at the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre.

As the daughter of Dr. Meyer Nell in Boissevain, she has had a career in medicine on her mind for years, and is leaning towards oncology.

“Getting to see that up close will be pretty cool,” Nell said.

“This was a big academic year for me. Got through the organic chemistries and whatnot. It was fun to get into the nitty-gritty of the pre-med courses.

“I’m excited to lean into that in the next couple of years and looking forward to after college.”

She will also coach softball at Triple Crown Sports in Brandon, and said she has connected with the Westman Magic AAA program to help its teams throughout the season.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com