(We made a list. We checked it twice. For the past week and a half, we’ve been counting down the top ten headlines in softball from 2018! Today, we look at #1 on our list.
In case you missed any of our countdown, check out the rest of the top 10 here:
10. Missouri fires Ehren Earleywine
9. Conference realignments retool the ASun and occur coast to coast
8. Cat Osterman returns to the circle
7. Southern Indiana makes a run, wins Division II title
6. Alex Wilcox inspires
5. Florida State takes home the national championship
4. Coaching carousel winds on
3. Recruiting rules change, tighten
2. Team USA earns berth in 2020 Olympics
And now, for the top headline of 2018…
1. Transfers, transfers, TRANSFERS!
Players transfer every year. Whether for the opportunity to move up a level or just to get a change of scenery, the transfer itself is not a new thing. This offseason however, as a general consensus, takes the cake for the biggest transfer season in recent memory.
Even before the transfer portal was officially established in the mid-fall, some big names were on the move, including Florida International ace Shannon Saile; Gardner Webb standout slugger Katie Prebble; and a crew of veteran players from Missouri.
The transfer portal brought a whole different approach to the transfer process; with the installation of that procedure, a player that desires to transfer simply is required to inform their current coaching staff, who are then required to have the player on the portal within a certain deadline. Most prominently, the introduction of the portal eliminates the permission-to-contact process formerly in place for prospective transfers.
More than 120 players have transferred thus-far this offseason, including FIVE players who were named All-Americans in 2018. That list includes Prebble; former Oregon pitchers Miranda Elish and Megan Kleist; pitcher Giselle Juarez, who left Arizona State; and former Minnesota catcher Kendyl Lindaman.
Elish, Juarez, and Lindaman all made lateral moves inside the Power 5 group of conferences; Elish went from Oregon to Texas, while Juarez moved from Arizona State to Oklahoma and Lindaman left Minnesota for the sunny skies of Gainesville and the Florida Gators.
While it might not be fair to crown “winners” and “losers” of the new rule before an inning is played, some teams definitely felt the effects of the new transfers regulations more than others.
Louisiana-Lafayette added six Division I transfers this offseason, including Kleist and a pair of outfielders formerly of Texas A&M. Arkansas added four transfers, all from other Power 5 schools, while Oklahoma State brought in three players, all from SEC institutions.
Oregon and first-year head coach Missy Lombardi lost a sextet of players via transfer, including two pitchers and three offensive starters. Texas A&M, who had lost four starters and two pitchers to graduation, endured the transfer of two starting outfielders, as well as two more members of the pitching staff. Arizona State lost eight players to transfer, including Juarez and all-PAC freshman infielder Danielle Gibson.
The transfer portal has gathered much attention as the offseason has stretched on; some have vocally supported the implementation of the portal as giving more power to student-athletes, though a large majority of opinions have been registered either against the new rule entirely or in favor of it, but with changes from its current state. Some have even referred to the transfer portal as the dawn of “free agency” in college softball.
Whatever the long-term effects and happenings, the transfer portal and regulations have dominated the news cycle in 2018 and are our #1 headline of the year.
