Ducks Attack Message Board Forum

With the 2018 softball season now over, never too early to look ahead to next season.

Let's start with the pitching. Oregon returns 2 All-Americans in Megan Kleist and Miranda Elish. They'll also be returning Maggie Balint, who was hampered for much of the season with a bad back. Should she fully recover over the off-season, Oregon would be back to having 3 high-quality starting pitchers available every game.

The infield is where Oregon loses the most. Gone will be Jenna Lilley, DJ Sanders, Lauren Lindvall, and Gwen Svekis. Only Mia Camuso will be returning. Svekis will likely be replaced at C by Mary Iakopo, who spent most of the season as the team's DH. From there, Oregon will likely be a work-in-progress early in the season since there aren't clear replacements and not much experience. I'd look for returners Lauren Burke and Shaye Bowden being the initial options to start in the infield. Incoming FR who could see PT in the infield are top-100 recruits Rachel Cid, Jasmine Sievers, and Allee Bunker. Hannah Galey is the other potential INF recruit they signed. I could also see White try to bring in a transfer to have some experience in the INF.

Oregon should have their entire starting outfield back, as Haley Cruse, Alexis Mack, and Shannon Rhodes return. Burke and Bowden may get some time in the OF should they not win an INF spot or players need a game off. Cherish Burks also returns as a contributor here, mainly as a pinch runner and hitter. The Ducks add top-100 OF recruits Alyssa Pinto and Lexi Wagner.

As for hitting, they'll need to replace their top 2 HR hitters in Svekis and Sanders. They'll also need a new leadoff hitter with Lilley leaving. Iakopo showed decent power this season while Rhodes was 3rd on the team with 11 HRs. It'll be interesting to see if Burke or any of the other new starters has some power. If not, they likely return to being sort of a small ball team like some of White's earlier teams.

They'll probably have to rely on their strong pitching early on as Oregon will need time to figure out its INF and batting order.

Very curious to see how the power hitting ends up next year. Maybe another transfer will come about lol.

I think Alexis Mack will lead off, and maybe a vers player in the second slot. So sad to reconstruct the team right now, it felt like the pieces were there for a national title this year.

I really feel the urge to beat oregonfan4life to the punch........ only to meltdown in Oklahoma City! Lol just kidding. I have only follow Oregon softball for a couple of years and I love it, I seems to be faster and have more action then baseball, looking forward to next season! They kind of remind me of the Blazers years ago with Drexler but never pushed past the Bulls........ people didn't stop to remember they got there, lots of softball teams sitting a home last week. Looking forward to following the ladies of spring next season.

Good season, high hopes, WCWS, pffft!!! Wash rinse repeat.

On one hand its great to look back and say "what a wonderful year, ladies." On the other hand, they are competitors who want to win and they know even more acutely than we do how much this hurts that they once again can't break through. In that sense its important that they be held to high standards so that they can achieve those goals they want so badly. When they do win it, it's going to be a great feeling and accomplishment.

i'd bank on a transfer or two as well. we've got the pitching for another deep postseason run and that'll entice some talent. i don't think dj sanders was announced until november so it may be awhile until we know anything there.

always difficult to project incoming freshmen this far out, but white absolutely raved about jasmine sievers (shortstop, #10 overall player in the class of 2019). white started nikki udria as a frosh at short, wouldn't surprise me to see sievers win the job outright if she's the real deal. rachel cid (#11 overall player) may also win a spot, she played shortstop as well in high school but she could slide over to replace lilley or lindvall. her bat is supposed to be ready-made for the pac-12.