The two players who are involved in every defensive pitch are bound to be the two positions in highest demand when the NCAA portal season rolls around. Like most teams around the country, the Arizona Wildcats are in the hunt for pitchers. Unlike most teams, the Wildcats are also in dire need of multiple catchers.
As of now, head coach Caitlin Lowe and her staff are getting off relatively lightly in terms of the number of players who entered the portal. They have just three who have entered the portal during
the first few days of it being open. Multiple Wildcats posted statements on social media about their love for the program and this year’s team, pride in representing Arizona, or explicit intentions of returning right after the season. That included Regan Shockey, Sereniti Trice, Rylie Holder, Kez Lucas, and Addison Duke.
The program has already posted its 2027 online roster. It includes the five freshmen and all eligible returners except for the three who already announced intentions to enter the portal.
Things can always change. Four years ago, Sharlize Palacios didn’t enter the portal until the very end of the window after she had gone to train alongside a few future teammates at UCLA with the U.S. National Team. For now, though, Arizona looks to have escaped any mass bloodletting.
Others are not so fortunate, even if they had very successful seasons.
Arkansas got one of Arizona’s transfers last year when a total of 10 Wildcats officially entered the portal, although one of those didn’t transfer anywhere and another never suited up for the team. The Razorbacks got to their first Women’s College World Series then promptly had eight players enter the portal, including starting shortstop Atalyia Rijo.
Florida State is only losing five so far, but they include two of the top players in the game. Both shortstop Isa Torres and third baseman Jaysoni Beachum have played their last innings for the Seminoles.
LSU is losing eight. For the second straight year, that number includes their ace. Last season, Sydney Berzon made the switch to Oklahoma. This year, Jayden Heavener is looking for a new spot.
South Carolina joins the SEC teams that are losing eight players. Those include pitcher Nealy Lamb, who had a disappointing year after having strong performances in her first two collegiate seasons.
Top pitchers and catchers are already starting to fly off the board. Arizona State catcher Samantha Swan entered the portal on May 27 as a grad transfer. She’s already been announced as a member of the two-time defending champion Texas Longhorns. Fellow former Sun Devil Meika Lauppe became the latest UCLA pitcher.
So, where does it leave the Wildcats in their pursuit of players to fill out the battery? The team likely needs at least two pitchers and two catchers. The 2027 roster lists Lucas as catcher/infield, so it appears she will figure in the mix behind the plate. That still leaves plenty of need. Lucas was listed as a third baseman, shortstop, and catcher on her high school recruiting profiles, but she has not caught at the collegiate level.
Last week, we looked at seven players who had announced their intentions to transfer whom Arizona should pursue. Now that there are 869 Division I players officially in the portal, here are two more pitchers and two more catchers who could help the Wildcats. They are listed with their class eligibility for 2026-27.
Pitchers
Kaylan Yoder, SR, Liberty
As mentioned in the previous article about Arizona’s transfer needs, the pitching staff is set to throw entirely from the right side next season. Yoder is another lefty option in the portal.
She is one of the players on this list who will be trying to rebound after a down year, but she has some impressive accomplishments in her three years at Liberty. She appeared in just eight games with four starts in 2026, but she burst onto the scene as a star freshman in 2024 and maintained a strong presence in the circle her sophomore season.
Yoder has a career ERA of 2.97 and a WHIP of 1.37. She was a CUSA All-Conference honoree both of her first two seasons, including first-teamer her freshman year. She also made the NFCA Central All-Region Third Team as a freshman.
The native of Delaware may come from a mid-major program, but she’s pitched in huge games. She was the pitcher who closed out Texas A&M at the Aggies’ home regional in 2025. It got the Flames to the first super regional in program history.
She has also stepped into the circle against Tennessee, Florida State, Duke, Virginia Tech, Oregon, UCF, Oklahoma, Louisiana Lafayette, LSU, Missouri, Auburn, and Georgia over her three years in college. All made it to the postseason in at least two of the three years she pitched for Liberty.
Liberty has been one of the top mid-major programs under head coach Dot Richardson. She has challenged her team, and Yoder has been at the center of it for most of her college career.
The concern is how Yoder has fared against that level of competition. Her stats against teams that regularly made the postseason are considerably worse than her overall career stats. Against the 12 teams listed above, she has an ERA of 6.06 and a WHIP of 1.87.
She has given up 60 hits in 52 innings. Almost half of them (27) have gone for extra bases, including 17 home runs. The 17 home runs in 52 IP works out to 0.33 HR per IP. On the positive side, she has 1.05 strikeouts per every walk. That’s better than anyone on Arizona’s staff in 2026.
Like Madison Azua, Yoder is a mid-major pitcher getting a lot of attention from around the country. Arizona appears to be in competition with Tulsa, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Alabama, and Baylor, among others. Some of the top programs in the country don’t appear concerned with her past stats against NCAA Tournament teams.
Delainey Everett, SR, Mississippi State
Could Arizona swoop in and take the pitcher who helped former Wildcat Taryne Mowatt-McKinney get her team to the Women’s College World Series this season? Everett comes with some risk just like Yoder, but the lefty showed she can have a huge impact when given a chance.
The risk is that Everett didn’t get a lot of time in the circle her junior year. She pitched just 24.1 innings as a junior, but they were some of the biggest innings of the season for the Bulldogs. She was the one in the circle when
Everett held the Oklahoma Sooners to zero runs over two games at the Norman Super Regional. She pitched 1.1 innings of one-hit shutout ball in the Bulldogs’ opening game win. In the decider, she pitched a complete game shutout while giving up just three hits to the mighty OU offense. She didn’t give up a run in 10 of her 12 appearances in 2026.
Everett was stuck behind transfers Peja Goold and Alyssa Faircloth last season, so it may appear that she came out of nowhere. The truth is that she had a strong sophomore season when she posted a team-leading 2.92 ERA in 74.1 IP. She went 10-2 with 25 appearances and 16 starts as MSU’s No. 2 pitcher. That came on the heels of a 2.78 ERA in 27.2 IP her freshman season.
Everett appears to be looking for somewhere she can compete for the top starting job in her final season. Considering Arizona’s incredibly young staff, Tucson could be that place.
Catchers
Karlee Ford, JR, Iowa State
Arizona has been very successful reeling in former Cyclones since joining the Big 12. The Wildcats got pitcher Saya Swain heading into their first year in the league. Trice followed last year. Both were critical in the team’s success. Ford could be, too.
She entered ISU in the same class as Trice. She was Big 12 All-Freshman in 2025. This season, she was NFCA Midwest All-Region Second Team and All-Big 12 Second Team after starting all 55 games for the Cyclones.
Ford improved her numbers across the board this season. She raised her batting average from .317 to .345 for a career average of .336. A year after hitting four home runs, she knocked 10 out of the park in 2026. She also had 14 doubles to raise her career stat to 24. She more than doubled her RBI by going from 21 to 49.
On the defensive side, she had 4.03 defensive runs saved, -0.86 framing runs saved, 2.40 stolen base runs saved, 0.55 pickoff runs saved, 2.95 throwing runs saved, 0.86 bunt runs saved, and 1.05 blocking runs saved.
The issue with Ford is that she’s from Kansas. She has played in the Midwest her entire life. She may have a desire to stay closer to home.
Ilove’a Brittingham, JR, BYU
Brittingham would be another intraconference transfer if Arizona could lure her to Tucson. The 2025 Big 12 Freshman of the Year and NFCA Third Team All-American has a lot of promise and versatility, but she also has some question marks. She played both catcher and outfield for the Cougars during her two years in Provo, but her defensive play would be an area that needs to improve considering Arizona’s heavy reliance on defense.
Brittingham had a very strong freshman year as a hitter. She had a .410 average and 1.260 OPS with 21 home runs and 69 RBI while primarily playing right field. She had 171 plate appearances and 161 at-bats.
She did more catching during her sophomore season. Whether the intensity of the position had an effect on her offense or not, her average dropped to .268 and her OPS dropped to .898. Her slugging percentage went from .839 to .558. The numbers were solid just not as spectacular as during her rookie season.
Brittingham still hit 11 home runs but she had just 38 RBI. She also improved her eye, drawing 15 walks after getting just three her freshman year.
The biggest difference for Brittingham was the jump in the percentage of groundballs she hit instead of line drives. Her 42.2 percent ground ball rate jumped to 49.1 as a sophomore. Her line drives took a swing in the opposite direction, going from 17.7 percent to 12.1 percent. She also ticked upwards in the number of balls that she popped up. After popping up 8.8 percent of the time as a freshman, she did so 11.2 percent of the time as a sophomore.
On the defensive side, she ended in negative territory in DRS at catcher, right field, and centerfield her sophomore season. As far as catcher-specific defense, her framing runs saved and pickoff runs saved were also negative. The Arizona coaching staff is very good at coaching defense, so those are things she can improve on if she lands in Tucson.
Brittingham has huge upside, especially offensively. A change of scenery may be just what she needs to get back to being the super star she was as a freshman. The native of Nipomo, Calif. just outside San Luis Obispo would also be slightly closer to home if she landed in Arizona.
She also has ties to a couple of Wildcats. While she won’t be playing with Arizona’s Tele Jennings and Sina Talataina in the Canada Cup this summer, she is part of the player pool for the American Samoa national team along with the pair.
