Softball Preview

[oregontrack]

Since I spend most of my time here on the baseball board, figured I might do a quick 2016 softball rundown, too.

We return a lot from last year’s team, which went 51-8, won a third consecutive Pac-12 title, and made it to the CWS for the third time in four years.

UO returns its entire starting infield. 1B Hailey Decker (senior, .342/11/42), 2B Danica Mercado (junior, .345/4/21), SS Nikki Udria (junior, .367/5/32), 3B Jenna Lilley (sophomore, .427/6/44), and C Janelle Lindvall (senior, .333/7/51).

UO also returns Koral Costa (senior, .356/15/49) and Gwen Svekis (sophomore, .427/6/28) in the outfield, and DH Geri Ann Glasco (senior, .336/9/34).

I guess it would have been easier to just say the only position player lost was Janie Takeda.

Pitching wise, Cheridan Hawkins (senior, 30-6/1.64) is back for one final go-round. She’s a two-time defending Pac-12 pitcher of the year and a member of the USA national team. I believe everyone here is familiar.

PROS: Offensively, this team is going to go nuts again. They return eight starters from a team that blew away Pac-12 pitching last year. On the mound, no one out west is close to Hawkins, especially now that Ally Carda graduated from UCLA.

CONS: The offense can lead the world in runs in the regular season, but it will again be judged by how it does in the CWS. It has not been able to come up with the big hits in elimination games, and last year it got shut down by Carda in the opening game, too. With Karissa Hovinga’s graduation, the Ducks will need to establish a reliable #2 starter.

RECRUITING: Coach Mike White landed the #1 class in the nation, according to FloSoftball.com. RHP Miranda Elish was the #1 overall recruit, RHP Maggie Balint was the #4, INF Shannon Rhodes the #8, and 1B/OF Mia Camuso was #18. Elish and Balint were the top two high school pitchers in the country, and White got them both. Given that Hovinga was our only consistent arm outside of Hawkins last year, I think it’s a good bet our #2 will be one of the freshmen.

OUTLOOK: I mean, they’ve won three straight conference championships, been to six straight Super Regionals, and three of the last four CWS. AND WE HAVE A NEW STADIUM! Outlook is positive, to say the least.

I differ from many Oregon fans, I think, because I didn’t consider last year a failure, despite getting swept out of the CWS. Obviously it was disappointing, but I can’t get behind the national championship-or-bust mindset. The CWS, men or women’s, is a total crapshoot. You get there, and then you hope for the best. Florida is a step above everybody else lately, but there really isn’t much difference between teams #2-8 anymore. Softball has exploded (especially in the SEC), and it’s gotten seriously competitive. Used to be the Pac-10 champion could automatically crown itself national champion. Not so anymore.

I 100% think Mike White will a national championship in his tenure here. In short order, he’s built us from a team that had to pull some upsets to get to the Super Regional, to a host who was expected to get there, to a team that can bank on qualifying for the CWS each year. It’s a process, and we keep getting better. Landing the #1 recruiting class isn’t going to hurt our future efforts.

[thomas time]

I'm the opposite and follow softball a little more then baseball, looking forward to the season starting next week. Should be another great season with all the seniors, and also the #1 recruiting class for second time in the last three years.

[thomas time]

ducks go 5-1 over the weekend, Alyssa Gillespie had a couple 3 hit games and Nikki hit three home runs