Oregon softball faces big offseason questions after NCAA exit

The season came to a abrupt end for the Oregon softball team on May 16 with a disappointing performance in the NCAA Tournament's Eugene Regional.

With pitching ace Lyndsey Grein sidelined with a eye infection and their offense scuffling, the Ducks lost twice on Saturday – 4-0 to eventual regional winner Mississippi State and 5-4 to Saint Mary's – in front of a stunned home crowd at Jane Sanders Stadium, dashing their dreams of making it to a second straight Women's College World Series.

Oregon finished the season with a 41-14 record and after playing a nonconference schedule ranked fourth-hardest in the nation, went on finish tied for second in the Big Ten Conference standings at 20-4.

There were plenty of highlights this season for the Ducks, who once again won every Big Ten series they played to extend their series record to 16-0 in two seasons in the conference.

But Oregon also dropped four of its last five games. It lost to UCLA in the regular-season finale, to Wisconsin in their only game in the conference tournament, and after beating Idaho State 5-1 in the regional opener on Friday, lost back-to-back games Saturday.

So what's next for the Oregon softball team? Here are three offseason needs for the Ducks as coach Melyssa Lombardi and company begin to build for the 2027 season.

Oregon softball will need more pitching

The Ducks are losing their top two pitchers in former all-American Grein (23-6, 2.73 earned-run average, 196 strikeouts) and Elise Sokolsky (9-5, 4.07, 74), who combined to make 41 starts and pitch 247.2 innings this season, leaving 14 starts and 115 innings for the rest of the staff.

Oregon will return Taylour Spencer (8-3, 4.53, 63) for her senior season. Spencer looked as confident as ever during the regional when she pitched eight total innings and allowed just three runs with 10 strikeouts. She made nine starts and played in 26 games in 2026.

"It was awesome to watch her pitch all weekend long, and just really see her confident in what she was doing," Lombardi said. "I love watching her grow on the mound and just absolutely compete and be fearless in everything she does."

Freshman Maddie Milhorn (1-0, 3.91, 48) also was solid in 4.1 innings against Mississippi State when she held the Bulldogs to three hits and one run. She made five starts and played in 24 games in 2026.

Oregon signed two highly rated pitching recruits in November. Piper Cavanaugh and Rylee Ruppel are both four-star signees, with Cavanaugh rated as the No. 41 player overall by Softball America and the No. 11 pitcher.

Oregon softball has to replace its two top hitters

Lombardi went into the transfer portal and found a pair of elite senior outfielders and top-of-the-order hitters who went on to have tremendous success in their one season at Oregon. But now they're gone.

Elon Butler, the Ducks' leadoff hitter and transfer from California, had a record-setting season at the plate. She led the team with a .399 batting average, tied the school's single-season home run record with 19 and broke the school's single-season runs record with 66. She also led the team with 18 doubles and 59 RBIs.

Amari Harper, a transfer from Texas A&M, was second on the team in average (.396), homers (15), doubles (10), RBIs (49) and was tied for second with 47 runs.

The Ducks will most likely have to go into the transfer portal again to replace both players.

Oregon softball needs to get Rylee McCoy back on track

The sophomore slump is a real thing for some players.

McCoy was wrecking ball in 2025 when she earned freshman all-American honors after hitting .385 with a single-season program record 19 homers. She also had 13 doubles, 59 RBIs, scored 36 runs and had a slugging percentage of .820.

But the first baseman struggled at the plate in 2026, hitting .213 with four homers, four doubles, 21 RBIs, 12 runs and her slugging dropped to .383.

She started to find her swing again late in the season, hitting .375 over the final nine games.

Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon softball offseason needs after NCAA Tournament exit