As the climate begins to cool and winter swings into full force, the chill in the air marks the nearing of the NCAA softball season. And for the Oregon Ducks, they come into the season ranked as the No. 23 team nationally, one spot higher than they ended the 2024 season after sporting a 30-21 overall record and a 13-10 record in the since-departed Pac-12.
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This year, the Ducks are one of the four West Coast newcomers to the Big Ten. They are primed for more miles and similar on-field challenges with the Big Ten, clocking into the 2025 season with four other top-25 programs (the Pac-12 finished 2024 with four others as well).
UCLA also made the move to the Big Ten, which will preserve a thorn on the Ducks’ side, as the 2024 Pac-12 champions will provide top-5-worthy competition and thus an obstacle in the way of the top step of the conference. The Bruins swept the Ducks last year, going 2-0 in a late-March series in which the third game was canceled due to weather. The two former Pac-12 foes will meet again from April 18 to April 20 in a weekend series that will be sure to draw many fans and students alike to Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene, Ore.
Newcomers, Meet Veterans… and Play Like Them, Too
Part One: On the Bump
Another key aspect to Oregon’s upcoming season — and an ever-apparent aspect in any NCAA sport nowadays — is its newly acquired transfers. In the portal entering the 2025 season, Oregon made its moves by picking up two seniors, LHP Staci Chambers (Cal State Fullerton), infielder Dezianna Patmon (New Mexico State), and junior RHP Lyndsey Grein (Virginia Tech).
Seventh-year head coach Melyssa Lombardi spoke on the importance of the newest Ducks.
“When you have a young group like this, you can select one [transfer] or another to come in with the experience to help lead them and do the things that you need them to do,” head coach Lombardi said.
There is plenty of experience to go around in the three transfers Oregon nabbed — and all three of them are notably coming off of the undisputed best seasons of their careers. Additionally, they have all continuously improved as their collegiate careers have progressed, perhaps teasing that monstrous 2025 seasons are in store for them in Eugene.
Lombardi specifically raved about Grein, adding depth to an Oregon bullpen that featured just five arms in 2024. She highlighted Grein’s versatility:
“Her being a power pitcher and a strikeout pitcher, but then the ability to throw soft [is unique],” Lombardi said. “And people think of her as a riseball pitcher, but [also] her ability to throw down, I just think she gives a lot of different looks.”
Grein sported a 12-5 record last year at Virginia Tech, an ERA at 2.89 – which would have been the second-highest for the Ducks — and was top-100 in the nation for strikeouts with 134 on the year. She will certainly add a lift to a Ducks bullpen that is the deepest it has ever been in Lombardi’s tenure.
“The other pitchers are awesome. It’s super important to have a pitching staff and multiple people in that group. We’re all so different and everybody has their own specific talent,” Grein said about her fellow hurlers. “They’re super welcoming and we just want to make each other better, so it’s really cool to have a group that gets along and can help each other out.”
Chemistry will be a topic of focus for the rotation, as four of the six arms — two transfers and two freshmen — will suit up for the Ducks for the first time this season. Freshmen Rowan Thompson and Stefini Ma’ake will join Grein and Chambers in filling in for the losses of Morgan Scott, Stevie Hansen and Raegan Breedlove, who filled in the back end of the bullpen in 2024 and have since moved on by way of graduation and the transfer portal. Regardless, they will have two excellent top-of-the-line veterans to work with in Elise Sokolsky and Taylour Spencer, who both boasted sub-3 ERAs in their respective roles as starters and relievers.
Part Two: At the Dish
With almost an entire line shift in the bullpen, the Ducks’ offense is not too dissimilar. Merely two of their usual starting nine are returning, while the rest of the lineup is a bit of a question mark. Oregon will be without stars like Alyssa Daniell, who was one of two Ducks to slug 10-plus home runs along with Ariel Carlson, who ended the year with an OPS above 1.200 and a 15/15/15 (HR/SB/2B) season. Carlson has since taken a front-office role with the team, and she looks to aid the development of the new wave of freshmen on this squad.
There will be holes to fill, and the 2024 Gold Glover Award winner and senior Paige Sinicki is looking to be a leader among the youngins.
“It’s been really fun, honestly, to be able to work with the new group of girls,” Sinicki said. “Having a great group of seniors this year, it’s been easy to work together to get what we need done at practice and off the field as well.”
Her leadership will be key in an infield that could feature several freshmen like the exciting Kalynn Jones or the No. 2 nationally ranked first base recruit Rylee McCoy.
While the season for Oregon relies on many contributions from newcomers, it looks to make a run similar to last season where it reached the Norman Regional only to be knocked out by the eventual national champion Oklahoma Sooners.
Schedule Rundown
Oregon opens its season at the UNLV Desert Classic from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9, where it’ll then fly to Tempe, Ariz. to participate in the Littlewood Classic from Feb. 13 to Feb. 16. Then, tournament softball comes to the Jane, as the Ducks will host the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22, where they’ll take on a gauntlet of No. 21 Cal, No. 15 Missouri and No. 5 Tennessee. Finally, Oregon will host the Oregon Classic and the Jane Sanders Classic as it looks to capitalize on a long homestretch to open the season. A pivotal moment in the season comes in early April when the Ducks travel up north to face their rivals Oregon State and then return back home for a series against No. 22 Michigan.
In what should be a year of breakouts and high ceilings, the softball scene in Eugene will certainly be unpredictable. Can the Ducks return to being a top-50 offense? Will their added pitching depth baffle opposing bats? Will team chemistry be at the forefront?
All will be answered in the next few months. It is nearly time to hop in and enjoy the ride.