Oregon softball stormed the diamond in joy when it defeated No. 11 Arkansas for the second time last May. After several seasons full of hard work, it finally advanced to a Super Regional. At the center of the celebration was the player who hit the walk-off grand slam — senior outfielder Ariel Carlson.
Carlson has been a key contributor for the Ducks in each of the last few seasons. She may not garner as much recognition as former stars Allee Bunker and Terra McGowan did, but she’s been just as important to the team’s identity in the past five years.
Carlson entered the program in 2020 following a successful high school career. The hometown athlete quickly became a fan favorite. Carlson came from Marist High School in Eugene where she won the Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year award twice. Carlson was part of the first recruiting class that came in under head coach Melyssa Lombardi, who took over in 2018.
Now in her fifth season with the Ducks, Carlson’s play is just as important as ever. Her leadership and hot bat are both needed on a young team that’s now without Bunker and McGowan.
“She just takes a big swing at the plate and makes it look so effortless,” Lombardi said during preseason media day. “It’s been really, really awesome to watch her come in as a freshman and then be here as a super senior, as a leader.”
Every season Carlson manages to raise her batting average and improve her game all around. In her junior season, she recorded a career-high 42 RBIs and made one of the biggest jumps in home run production in the nation.
And she’s only gotten better. Carlson finished the 2023 season with a massive showing in the Ducks’ Fayetteville Regional. She hit .636 with two homers and 10 RBIs. In the Regional Final against the Razorbacks, she tied the program record for RBIs in an NCAA Tournament game with seven and hit the walk-off grand slam.
“I grew up watching Oregon softball. I grew up watching [former assistant coach Nikki] Ragin play, all of my favorite players and it was a dream to be able to come here,” Carlson said after advancing to the Super Regional. “I wanted to be able to do it for the girls after me and then for my girls that I’m playing around every single day.”
Oregon ended up falling to Oklahoma State in the Super Regional, but it went further than it ever had under Lombardi. Carlson’s clutch postseason performance was a big part of that.
Carlson is having a strong start to the season once again for the Ducks. Through the first conference series against Cal, she already has six home runs and 25 RBIs on a .369 batting average. She was named Pac-12 Player of the Week after a 10 RBI weekend in the NFCA Leadoff Classic at the start of the season.
It hasn’t been an ideal start for the Ducks as a whole, however. They lost multiple games in each of their first three tournaments and went 12-8 in non-conference play. They won their first series against Cal, but the road ahead doesn’t get any easier.
“When you look at the Pac-12 as a whole it can be very daunting,” Carlson said prior to the start of conference play. “But when you break it up into small, manageable chunks it’s a lot easier.”
Regardless of whether or not Oregon is able to successfully build on its 2023 season, Carlson’s exit from the program signifies the end of an era. The Ducks have nine seniors on the roster, including Carlson. The upcoming years will be a changing of the guard for the program.
“Half our team is old and half our team is young,” Lombardi said in the preseason. “I think our seniors have done a great job of bridging that gap with the young ones. They’re forcing our young athletes to play at a high level, regardless of whether they like to or not, and that’s going to go a long way for us.”
Before long, Oregon will send off another one of its all-time greats. First, it has its eyes set on another deep postseason run and potentially winning the final Pac-12 Tournament.