Stevie Hansen was standing in the middle of the circle, spinning the ball in her hand, while waiting for the next pitch call.
With an 0-2 count on the ninth batter of Utah Valley’s lineup, Hansen raises her arms above her head before she starts her motion. Catcher Terra McGowan caught the batter’s foul tip, and strike three was called. She had just struck out the seventh straight batter.
Oregon’s powerful offense, which included two home runs that game, took the pressure off of her shoulders. But, it didn’t seem to matter anyways. Hansen was in the zone as she struck out nine and walked one for her first collegiate no-hitter.
“I had no clue,” Hansen said, unaware she was throwing a no-hitter. “It was kind of one of those things where you just get into the groove of the game, and you’re just focused on getting outs and getting your job done.”
Following the strong performance, Hansen led the Ducks to three straight wins over top-25 ranked opponents including a one-hit complete game against the then No.3 Florida Gators. She didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning, and no runner advanced past first base, and she was just as effective against all of the other teams she faced, which resulted in 11 decisions in a row.
A week before conference play is scheduled to begin, Hansen has already been named D1 Softball and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week. After a substantial freshman campaign where she was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, NFCA All-Pacific Region team and had a win in the 2021 NCAA Fayetteville Regional, she continues to set the bar higher for herself and the Ducks after each game.
During the first game of the season against Maryland in the Puerto Vallarta College Classic in Mexico, Hansen was handed the ball and started out rough. By the end of the first inning, the Ducks were down 5-0. Once they loaded the bases, Maryland continued to score, and Hansen was taken out by the end of the inning.
After spending a week in Mexico, the team headed to San Diego for the Campbell/Cartier Classic, and Hansen was handed the ball in the circle to kick it all off. She was nearly untouchable in the early innings of the games after striking out eight of the first 10 batters she faced who all swung on third strikes. Throughout the first four innings, she faced 12 batters, the minimum amount. Hansen lost the perfect game in the fifth inning after a full-count walk, but she only faced one batter over the minimum and threw 87 pitches in her first-collegiate no-hitter.
“She had a rough start coming out, but we all know what she’s capable of,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “She’s starting to settle in and do her thing.”
The first game of the season is always an emotional one. It’s full of excitement and nerves, and no matter how many games you’ve played in, it will never go away. It’s an adjustment that every athlete has to deal with, but it’s what you’re able to do with those feelings that matters.
After getting the first game out of the way, Hansen settled down. She picked up her first win during the last game in Mexico against North Dakota State with six strikeouts and no runs allowed. Succeeding the no-hitter, all she could think about was winning.
“I was able to set my own pace,” Hansen said after the game against Utah Valley. “It was one of those things where I was just getting into the groove of the game, and I was so focused on getting my job done.”
With conference play right around the corner, she quickly becoming one of the best pitchers in the Pac-12. Last season, she led Oregon’s pitching staff with the lowest conference ERA of 4.14 in 74.1 innings which includes an opponent batting average of .249.
The Pac-12 is one of the best places to watch college softball. This year, they have seven nationally ranked teams, which is the second highest in the country behind the SEC. It’s the first time since 2013 that the conference has had so many ranked teams, and it’s tied for the second most ever.
During Hansen’s freshman season, one of the biggest highlights was a career-high of 12 strikeouts against in-season rival, Oregon State. Then, held Stanford scoreless on five hits in seven innings during the next series. Even though she was facing some of the best hitters in the country and succeeding, she still took lessons away from those games and is ready to apply them to this season.
“I didn’t expect that I was going to get as many innings as I did,” Hansen said. “I really had to learn to trust my gut, and as a freshman that’s a hard thing to do.”
Entering this season, the Ducks were written into the fourth spot in the Pac-12 preseason rankings behind UCLA, Stanford, and Washington, all teams that made a playoff appearance last season. With Hansen in the leaderboard in most of the conference pitching categories such as opposing batting average, strikeouts, wins and complete games, the Ducks will be a hard team to beat with her in the circle.
