On April 1, Oregon senior All-American Janie Takeda was given the option of continuing her softball career in the National Pro Fastpitch after being drafted by the Dallas Charge with the 26th overall pick.
Even with the great opportunity, it wasn’t enough to sway Takeda from her original summer plans. Takeda has chosen to pass up the chance to play professionally to instead represent USA on the Women’s National Team.
“I’m super excited,” Takeda said. “It’s a crazy honor to play on that team.”
Since 2013, Takeda is one of eight players from the Oregon softball program who are currently playing professionally or on a national team. The Ducks have five players who are representing two countries on their respective national teams while three players play professionally.
“The girls see the bigger picture — there are opportunities past college softball, and that’s awesome,” said Oregon head coach Mike White.
Jessica Moore, a 2013 graduate, junior Janelle Lindvall and Takeda are current members on the USA senior national team while freshman Jenna Lilley is the lone member on the USA softball Women’s National Team.
Senior Karissa Hovinga is a member of the Canadian National Team. She’s the only player on the Oregon roster who’s playing for another country.
“It’s really cool to represent a piece of my mom’s country — my mom was born there,” Hovinga said. “It’s really cool to play on the national team, travel to all these places and experience that.”
Oregon’s transformation from middle-of-the-road Pac-12 squad to national championship contender over the past 10 years has been because of the players White and his staff have brought in.
“It’s not about quantity for us; it’s about quality,” White said. “One of the things we tell a lot of recruits is that ‘We can’t promise you a championship, although we will try — we can promise you that you’ll become a better player.’”
Departed seniors from last year’s Women’s College World Series squad Courtney Ceo, Alexa Peterson and Kailee Cuico are playing in the professional league.
Ceo, taken sixth, and Peterson, drafted with the 11th overall pick, were both drafted last year by the USSSA Pride. Cuico went undrafted but was later signed by the Akron Racers. All three players will play again this year but Peterson has since been signed by the Pennsylvania Rebellion.
“It’s crazy to think that I’m now getting paid to play the game that I love,” said Cuico. “Playing against Courtney and Alexa just makes the opportunity to keep playing even better.”
Now the Ducks, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the conference, are going for their third straight conference championship, something they’ve never done before.
What attributes to this “winning” mentality, according to Cuico, is the prospect of continuing to play past the college game.
“I definitely think it can be used as a recruiting tool,” Cuico said. “Because we are winning, and girls are playing professionally, others see that and want to become a Duck — they know Oregon can get them to where they want to go.”
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka