Oregon Softball: Reloaded Ducks Open Spring Practice
It is hard to believe that Oregon Softball season is less than a month away and Melyssa Lombardi has been busy filling needs this offseason in hopes of a better 2020 season.
Last year was rough. Jordan Dail did her best as the staff ace after the defection of talent that left the team at the start of the season with barely enough players to play the field. Now, Head Coach Melyssa Lombardi is looking to a handful of key transfers and fresh talent to take the Oregon Ducks to higher heights this season.
Last season Catcher was a key spot in the lineup. The Ducks had hoped to have Terra McGowan, but she was not eligible. The Ducks went with utility player April Utecht who did a solid job. McGowan is eligible this season. Both Utecht and Cherish Burks were lost to graduation, but the Ducks have talent to spare this season.
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Starting with several pitchers to join Dail in Brooke Yanez and Makenna Kleithermes. Oregon could go with a three pitcher rotation if the need to. Of course, the Ducks can now play the matchup game if they choose to. I expect Dail to still be the ace of this club to start the season.
One name that everyone should know is Haley Cruse. Cruse is entering her senior season and was one player who stayed with the team last season after several former Ducks left for Texas to join former Head Coach Mike White.
On Tuesday, the first USA Softball poll came out and Oregon will start the season 24th. The Pac-12 is well represented to start the season with the Washington Huskies ranked 1st. UCLA is 4th with Arizona 5th, and Arizona State ranked 22nd.
Oregon will certainly have an opportunity during the Pac-12 slate to make some noise after a challenging non-conference slate that has the team playing away from home for the first month of the season, which seems to be the standard in the game.
The Ducks open the season in the Puerto Vallarta Challenge against Utah Valley on Thursday, February 6th.