The Oregon Ducks Softball team have apparently found their new Head Coach and she comes from a school with Championship ties.
Last month Oregon Softball lost again in Omaha in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. Then Head Coach Mike White seemed primed for another offseason with the Ducks, but Oregon was not able to come up with the money to keep White comfortable in Eugene. They lost one of their longest tenured and successful Head Coaches to Texas.
On Saturday night, Oregon appeared to be closer to finding their next Softball Head Coach and they found one with winning experience. Oklahoma Assistant Coach Melyssa Lombardi has been tapped to replace White according to The Oklahoman. Lombardi has a lot of experience behind Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Glasso. She played for Glasso from 1995-1996 and is one of the Sooners longest tenured assistants.
She now has the opportunity to make a team her own and continue to build on the foundation already set in Eugene by Mike White with the Oregon Softball program. Her primary focus was to work with pitchers and catchers and helped put together some pretty solid tandems in her time at Oklahoma.
The Oregon Pitching Staff is still young. Megan Kleist is entering her Senior Season and Maggie Balint and Miranda Elish still have several seasons ahead of them. With the departure of Gwen Svekis it is likely that Sophomore Mary Iakopo will take the full-time position behind the plate.
In her Freshman season, Iakopo was a key player in the team’s success with Mike White using her abilities throughout the infield with Svekis at Catcher.
Lombardi is big on details and the little things. She will have a young pitching staff to work with. Miranda Elish was a key player in 2018 for Oregon and she will be entering her Sophomore season next year.
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Melyssa Lombardi brings with her the experience of 12 NCAA Tournament Appearance and 4 National Titles with the Oklahoma Sooners.