By any measure, Oregon softball was a resounding success in 2025. It was unexpected that a team and roster expected to be in rebuild mode would find their way to the WCWS come May and June.
Having lost
a core group of veterans in 2024, it was time for new faces to step forward and carry the load. Of course, the 2025 was not completely bereft of veteran talent, as Kai Luschar and Paige Sinicki led the way for the Ducks. Regardless, holes left by the 2024 team needed to be filled.
Freshmen Rylee McCoy, Emma Cox, and Stefini Ma’ake stepped up. Transfer Dezianna Patmon also made a huge impact.
The one player that made the biggest impact was a pitching transfer from Virginia Tech by the name of Lyndsey Grein. Grein was arguably the biggest surprise from last season, entering the season as a relative unknown to become one of the nation’s best pitchers in 2025.
These new faces would propel Oregon softball to its most successful season of the Lombardi era. You can brush up on the events of last season here, in our 2025 season review.
Following a hugely successful 2025 season, head coach Melyssa Lombardi earned a contract extension that keeps her in Eugene until 2030.
As is the case with every season, 2026 had needs that could best be addressed by bringing in talent from the transfer portal. Lombardi hit a home run in landing the #2 portal class ahead of 2026.
Amari Harper
Harper comes to the Ducks as a senior from Texas A&M. She carries a big bat with her and hit .364 with 22 doubles, nine home runs and 85 RBI while playing with the Aggies.
Elon Butler
Butler is a senior from Berkeley. In three seasons at Cal, she hit .328 in 168 games, with 25 doubles, 37 home runs, and 112 RBIs.
Addison Amral
Amral might be the most exciting addition in an outstanding group of transfers. She is a junior shortstop from Notre Dame. In her two seasons at Notre Dame, was a .352 hitter with 26 doubles, 19 home runs and 96 RBIs.
The Ducks are a team that is on the younger side, and will again need some freshmen to step up if they want to return to Oklahoma City. All three freshmen in 2026 will likely find their way in the lineup, but two of them are players to keep an eye on from the opening pitch of the season.
Taryn Ho is an infielder with big bat potential. She hit .550 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs as a junior in high school and is a two-time International League of Honolulu all-league first team honoree.
Maddie Milhorn is a RHP that might be the most lauded freshman pitcher to come to Eugene. She was the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year for the State of Washington. She can pitch, sporting a 73-3 record in her prep career, but she can also hit – Milhorn has 39 home runs in her prep career. It’s no wonder that she is a prep All-American and a two-time Washington state 4A player of year.
Ahead of the season opener, coach Lombardi had this to say at last week’s press conference:
So what can we expect from 2026 Oregon softball?
Little To No Dropoff in Field Excellence
Paige Sinicki left big shoes to fill for any future Oregon shortstop. The Ducks were able to pluck the best shortstop available when they signed Addison Amral. With the return of Katie Flannery, Kaylynn Jones, and Rylee McCoy, Oregon should have one of the best infields in the nation.
Big Bats
A prominent feature of last year’s team was their batting power. Their batting helped win more than a couple of games where the pitching stumbled.
Coach Lombardi has said that this may be her biggest hitting team yet. If that’s the case, then watch out – last season was a rain of big hits and home runs.
Pitching
Yes, saving the best for last. The 2025 Ducks finally had what any team that is going to compete in the WCWS needs: at least two pitching aces. The disappointment of losing to Oklahoma in Oklahoma City to end last season was tempered somewhat by the fact that Oregon was returning the two players that would be instrumental in a return trip this season: Lyndsey Grein and Elise Sokolsky. That alone should give the team and fans realistic expectations of a return push in the postseason.
In the last six or so weeks of last season, Grein showed fatigue in her pitching and was not as sharp as earlier in the season. The loss of Staci Chambers due to injury for most of the regular season was likely a contributing factor to that fatigue. The return of Chambers was a key contributor to Oregon’s playoff run.
Well, we have Grein and Sokolsky back, but being the experienced Oregon softball fans that we are, we know that we need a third ace. Who will that be?
Taylour Spencer is a junior RHP this season. She regressed last season after an encouraging freshman season. Curiously, Spencer is not the only Oregon pitcher to experience a literal sophomore slump. Will she improve on last season to be the key third pitcher for the Ducks?
What kind of phenom do we have in freshman Maddie Milhorn? I’m intrigued by the idea of an excellent pitcher who is able to knock the ball out of the park. Keep an eye on how Oregon chooses to use her in the nonconference portion of the season.
Oregon was #1 in the Big Ten, even as they stumbled in the Big Ten tournament. Their primary competition came from old Pac-12 foe UCLA. UCLA should be Oregon’s primary adversary in the softer Big Ten conference in 2026, but there is no reason at the outset of the this season not to expect Oregon’s return to the #1 slot in the conference.
Oregon softball begins the season ranked in the top 6 nationally. As was the case last season, the Ducks will see some early adversity right away, as they face #15 Clemson this coming Friday and #4 Tennessee on Saturday. The following week they will battle #18 Stanford. They will face preseason #11 Texas A&M, #16 Duke, and #13 South Carolina at the Mary Nutter Classic the week after that.
Given a very ambitious schedule ahead of conference play, we should have a good indication early on of just how good 2026 Oregon Ducks softball is going to be.
