Oregon softball matched up against then-No. 19 Northwestern on Feb. 24. It came off a 5-0 shutout loss to unranked Cal State Fullerton earlier in the day. The Ducks desperately needed a win as they matched up against a handful of ranked opponents at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
The Ducks were not able to capitalize on their previous opportunities to score the opening runs of the game. It was Duke transfer Kyla Morris who ended up leading the Oregon offense to victory, going a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate. Morris scored the team’s first run in the top of the third inning off a Terra McGowan single to center field.
The 2-1 win against Northwestern was the first of Oregon’s three straight wins against top-25 teams.
Heading into conference play 16-4, transfers like Morris have proven to make a difference for Oregon.
Having the ability to bounce back after a tough loss or a difficult inning comes with the experience of having been in those situations before. In the offseason, the Ducks added a handful of players from programs that appeared in the NCAA Division I softball tournament last season.
Besides Morris, Oregon added junior Alyssa Daniell and veteran pitchers Morgan Scott and Elise Sokolsky from the transfer portal.
Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi believes the transfers add another level of experience to the program, which features many returners from the 2022 season.
Morris is a fifth-year senior who has had the opportunity to play in all types of situations in college softball.
“She played in a Super Regional last year, and she gets it,” Lombardi said. “She is at the end of her career, so to bring somebody like that to be a part of our team I think has been wonderful.”
Daniell is a junior from Loyola Marymount University. She is another player that has experience playing in high-level situations and has the ability to change the game with one hit.
Daniell credited her new teammates for setting the foundation of a culture that is easy for transfers to want to buy into.
“This team has a lot of passion, and immediately coming in I could see that,” Daniell said. “It has only encouraged me to want to feed into that passion and help my teammates accomplish what they’ve been working for. I’m so driven to become a part of that.”
She added that the level of competition within the team has made her a better player. Her preferred position is first base, but she is having to fight to earn a spot in the starting lineup.
“I feel like having that competition and not being given the starting position made me a better teammate, a harder worker, and I’ve improved tremendously throughout my time here,” Daniell said.
Sokolsky, who transferred from the University of Connecticut at the end of Nov. 2022, is the youngest of the transfer group. Lombardi believes her heavy load in the circle last season still makes her an incredible asset.
“Even though she’s a sophomore, I think she’s somebody that has pitched a lot of innings and will be able to make that transition quickly,” Lombardi said.
Like Sokolsky, Scott has plenty of experience on the mound, pitching in a variety of tough situations. The Ducks had the opportunity to play against both pitchers last season.
Oregon senior Allee Bunker mentioned earlier in the season that the team is approaching games with a one-through-17 mentality. This means that instead of relying heavily on batters one through nine, the team has the depth for players late in the batting order to make an impact on any given day. Lombardi agreed with the sentiment that the team’s depth will take them to the next level.
“I think that’s how we’re going to be successful this year, is having opportunities to use our squad in different ways and not just depending on a handful to get us where we need to go,” Lombardi said.
Adding these players from the transfer portal is a contributing factor in becoming what Lombardi called the deepest team since she has coached at Oregon. It has a roster full of players that have played in high-pressure moments. The question is how much this veteran group will be able to accomplish as it enters Pac-12 play.
