Neena Bryant immediately influenced the softball program when she walked through the Oregon doors four years ago.
Now looking back through her time, Bryant has seen everything the game could throw at her — every high and low that comes with playing in the most dominant conference in all of Division I softball.
Yet in four seasons spent in the mecca of college softball, her approach has never dwindled. She’s a silent assassin who worked her way deep into the Oregon record books and forever shaped the face of Duck softball.
“I’ve said this before to other players, you can’t take anything for granted,” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “You may never get to this opportunity again.”
Bryant clearly took White’s advice to heart in her final collegiate game in Super Regional play against No. 8 Missouri this past weekend, going 3 for 4 in Oregon’s losing effort. But going out on anything less than a positive note would have seemed unfitting for one of the most decorated Oregon players of all time.
While Bryant has been a rock up the middle as she roamed center field throughout her career, only committing four errors total in all four seasons, most of her damage has come from inside the batter’s box. At season’s end, Bryant ranked in the top 10 in Oregon history in almost every major offensive category worth noting. She sits second in home runs (35), second in RBI (144), third in doubles (38), third in stolen bases (71), fourth in games played (233), fourth in at-bats (694), sixth in runs (122), and 10th in career batting average (.313).
But even in the days leading up to Oregon’s season-ending trip to Missouri, Bryant still hadn’t quite gotten a grasp on where her career ultimately ranks in school history.
“Maybe it’s something I can brag to my kids about,” Bryant said. “But right now, you know, I just haven’t really had time to sit back and really recap on these past four years.”
The 2010 season, after all, was the longest of Bryant’s four years, having only reached the regional round once before as a sophomore in 2008. That 2008 campaign was arguably the best year of Bryant’s career on paper with career-bests in average (.330), hits (64), home runs (10), and RBI (46).
Despite putting up some of her best numbers during her rookie and sophomore season, there was still one thing noticeably lacking from year to year — the postseason.
Following Oregon’s 44-win season in 2007, the Ducks’ next two teams combined to go 51-63 overall with an 8-34 mark in Pac-10 play. And after last season’s 16-34 mark — the worst in 25 years — Oregon got a swift kick in another direction. The winningest coach in Oregon history, Kathy Arendsen, was fired after seven years at the Oregon helm, and in came another very different leader in White.
A standout in the men’s fast-pitch game, White brought with him a new sense of expectations for the program and certain level of play he demanded his athletes to be ready for. And as the season progressed, the similarities between White’s coaching style and his players’, none more apparent than Bryant, began showing through on the field.
It’s a quite demeanor and sense of confidence that shows through in Bryant, though you couldn’t verbally get it out of her if you tried.
“She leads by example,” freshman right fielder Samantha Pappas said. “Not really loud.
“That helps me a lot because I’m not very loud either, so I just learn from her by watching her more instead of her like telling me what to do. It’s cool learning from her ability.”
Learning and teaching through actions instead of words is something Bryant has always been known for, and in her mind it comes down to much more than softball.
“I’ve just never really been one of those people to get in your face,” Bryant said. “I feel that most people should just be accountable for themselves, and I just don’t really like to dip my hand into other people’s business.”
Whether she’s wanted to or not, Bryant has dipped her hand into a talented freshmen class, particularly Pappas and Allie Burger, who spent more than 50 games playing along both sides of Bryant in the outfield this season.
Pappas, a Las Flores, Calif., native, said even before coming to Oregon she had her eye on Bryant, having watched her play in UCLA and other California schools near Pappas’ home town.
“I watched her from when she was younger, and she’s just always been an inspiration to me,” Pappas said. “I always want to play like her. And now playing with her this year was incredible.”
It’s players like Pappas, Burger, and the 14 remaining Duck women that make the transition of leaving a program so near to Bryant’s heart a little less painful.
“I think (the future) is definitely bright within anyone’s hands,” Bryant said. “I guess it’s reassuring to know that you’re leaving something that’s so special to you in the hands of really great and talented people.”
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