EUGENE — What the transfer portal aided in taking away from Oregon softball last season is now going to be a tool to help reload the Ducks roster.
With three outgoing scholarship players and one mid-season departure, Oregon has just nine returning scholarship players and four incoming signees, leaving several spots of need to fill both in the starting lineup, pitching rotation and off the bench.
Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi has a lot of scholarship flexibility to bring in more players and has a range in mind for how many she wants on the roster next season.
“Last year our numbers were really low and I don’t want to have low numbers,” Lombardi told the Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday. “So to be close to that 20 count would be nice. I think at the most 22, I think at the least 18. It just depends how everything plays out.”
Lombardi and assistants Megan Langenfeld and Justin Shults, both of whom she said are expected back next season and will have new contracts, have been out recruiting since the contact period started last week. They’re also monitoring the portal, which grows by the day with more than 250 players, some of whom are elite talents.
So far, there are a lot more premier pitchers than position players available, including Oklahoma’s Mariah Lopez, Florida State’s Makinzy Herzog, James Madison’s Payton Buresch, UC Davis’ Brooke Yanez and Virginia Tech’s Carrie Eberle.
With only Jordan Dail and signee Megan Kliethermes set to join her in the circle, Oregon is aiming to add at least one and possibly two more arms.
“We play in the Pac and it’s a grueling season,” Lombardi said. "When I think of the Pac-12, I think of we’re going to play a three-game series against each team, which is going to be difficult. Then there’s a good chance we’re going to be matched up with a Pac-12 in a Super Regional, so now you’re playing them best two out of three. Then you can matchup with two or more depending how it works in the World Series. So to have one or two pitchers, it’s tough. I think you have to have a staff. It’s important to have a staff.
“To really be able to do what you want to do with what’s right in front of you but also to get through your season and get to the College World Series you need to have a staff.”
Lombardi couldn’t address specific players on the portal, but casual observers have assumed Lopez, her former pupil at OU who holds a ridiculous 51-2 career record and 1.61 ERA, and Eberle (25-8, 1.84 ERA in 2019), who played with Dail at Va. Tech, are obvious targets. Both are senior right-handers with high strikeout numbers.
Asked if reading into past connections and their weight into possibly being targets for the Ducks, Lombardi said those on the outside looking in can speculate but “you don’t really always understand or know what’s going on with the situation.”
As for position players, Oregon desperately needs to add lefty bats, power and corner outfielders. Shaye Bowden’s versatility provides some flexibility as to where she’ll play — most likely first base or right field — but the Ducks will still need to add three to seven more position players based on Lombardi’s desired roster of 18-22.
Herzog, a former Gatorade Player of the Year in Texas who joined the portal Thursday, would check a lot of boxes because she pitches and plays in the field, hit .315 with some power and was 13 of 14 stealing bases.
But by far the biggest name on the portal among position players is Auburn shortstop Taylon Snow, a former No. 1 recruit out of Chino Hills, Calif. She’s a career .324 hitter who can drive the ball to all fields, a lefty bat but right-handed thrower, and the ultimate tablesetter at the top of the lineup.
Snow recently had shoulder surgery and it’s unclear whether she’ll be ready to play at the start of next season, Auburn coach Mickey Dean told 247Sports, and her older sister, Tannon, is still at Auburn after starting her career at Washington.
A potential obstacle to Taylon Snow, who has two years of eligibility remaining, being a target for Oregon is her natural position. The Ducks already have a premier shortstop in Jasmine Sievers and third baseman in Rachel Cid, both of whom just completed their freshman seasons.
If playing on the left side of the infield is a dealbreaker for any prospective transfer, Lombardi will have to have some difficult conversations.
“We haven’t had any conversation like (Sievers or Cid changing positions),” Lombardi said. “To me with the transfer portal I don’t think you get to be picky. I think you have to see what is available and then from there what’s going to suit our team? To me, if there’s athletes, that’s what is going to suit us the best because it gives me more opportunity to try to figure out how our lineup is going to be the strongest.
“For me, I want to get great athletes. If we get great athletes then that all works itself out.”
Without addressing specific players, Lombardi said she’s “open to anything,” including proverbial package deals of players coming in with teammates or sisters wishing to play together.
Urgency is of the essence as Oregon aims to rebound from a losing season and last-place finish in the Pac-12 to return to the postseason again in 2020.
A transfer who has to either redshirt due to medical reasons or sit out, as catcher Terra McGowan did this year, as an intra-conference transfer is not preferred, but if the talent is overwhelming Oregon won’t avoid pursuing the player.
“For us, we’re looking on the transfer portal because we’re needing athletes to come in next year and help us compete for championships,” Lombardi said. "I think it would depend. I don’t think I can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I think it would depend on the situation and if the situation worked for us, then that’s something we would consider.
“But we definitely need to get athletes in now.”