Mark Allister is the author of Women’s College Softball on the Rise: A Season Inside the Game. He will be writing on DIII softball this spring and would welcome story ideas and comments at allister@stolaf.edu

The Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic often plays host to top-ranked programs who will reappear three months later in Oklahoma City at the WCWS. This year’s Mary Nutter was likely no exception: No. 1 ranked UCLA won their four games, and No. 2 Washington took five. No. 7 ranked Florida had a good weekend, beating four of five teams, including No. 5 ranked Arizona, and losing only to UCLA.

Twenty-nine teams played at the Mary Nutter this year, with differing goals. Here are reports on three teams, under the radar back in January, who had very good weekends. Though the season is still young, many teams have played around 30% of their schedule. These results may play an important role in early May when NCAA tournament seedings are announced.

Oregon Ducks

To paraphrase and reverse a Biblical saying, the transfer portal taketh away and the transfer portal giveth. After Mike White departed Oregon in the summer of 2018 to coach at Texas, nine players left the program; the 2019 team led by new head coach Melyssa Lombardi struggled with a young roster and limited pitching. But 2020 is a reverse of those fortunes, as new transfers have helped revive the Ducks’ storied program.

Catcher Terra McGowan transferred from Arizona State and is now hitting .417 with nineteen RBI and an OBS of 1.130. New Mexico St. transfer May Felder left the Nutter hitting .414. Perhaps even more crucial to the national aspirations of Oregon are two transfer pitchers: Samaria Diaz from New Mexico St. who was the WAC Pitcher of the Year in 2019, and Brooke Yanez who was the Big West Pitcher of the Year and a second-team All-American. 

Add them to the 2019 transfer from Virginia Tech, Jordan Dail, who valiantly threw nearly all of the important innings last year, and you have a strong, deep staff.

With a strong recruiting class and the transfers, Oregon might have been underrated back in January. In the NFCA/USA Today poll, they received votes but were outside the top 25. Oregon opened the season in Puerto Vallarta, then played in Houston, and they went 9-0, though their competition wasn’t the strongest. At the Mary Nutter, they continued that stellar play, winning five games convincingly with no real scares. Victims included strong programs in Mississippi State, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.

Assistant Coach Justin Shults was happy with the results. “The Mary Nutter was a great experience for our team in many ways,” Shults said. “Our competitive schedule allowed us to see where we stand early in the season, and what we need to continue improving upon to reach our end of the year goals.”

If you’ve never attended the Mary Nutter, it’s hard to imagine the numbers of fans who throng the fields — 32,000 were on hand over the four days, with Saturday’s crowd well over 10,000. The experience of playing in such a setting has its rewards.

“It was exciting,” Shults said, “to be part of a postseason-like atmosphere, with high caliber teams in attendance and an increasing amount of fans who came out to support us and the sport of softball.” 

Texas A&M Aggies

Under Head Coach Jo Evans, the Aggies have made 18 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament, including three trips to the WCWS. But last year was a down year by Texas A&M standards, as they just squeaked into the tournament with an RPI of 46, held back in part by an easy non-conference schedule.

Picked last in the 2020 SEC preseason poll, the Aggies weren’t challenged much in the first two weekends, going 9-3 with two of their losses to a good UT Arlington team who plays in the Sun Belt Conference, and the other to McNeese, a Southland Conference team. But Texas A&M stepped up the competition dramatically at the Nutter. They surprised No. 5 ranked Arizona, overcoming an early 5-0 deficit to win 7-6, and the Aggies had wins against Bethune Cookman and a solid UC Davis squad. Florida State transfer Makinzy Herzog led the way, playing great through the first three weekends — she’s hitting .451 with a 1.489 OBS; in the circle she’s 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA. 

Though Texas A&M lost to No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 1 UCLA, their RPI will rise considerably playing such teams. There’s always risk in going against so many top-five teams in one weekend, in that your pitching staff can get beat up and your hitters can get frustrated. But if you perform well, the reward is great. And Texas A&M played well.

Utah Utes 

In 2016 and 2017, Utah had strong seasons, losing in the super-regionals and just missing punching a ticket to the WCWS. But in the past two years the program had losing records; based on off-season moves, prognosticators thought they were likely to continue that trend. Utah was tied for last in the Pac-12 preseason polls, and no poll had them receiving top-25 votes before the season. 

Utah opened its 2020 season going 7-2, losing only to Texas and Tennessee. They continued their excellent play at the Mary Nutter Classic by going 3-0, all the wins against solid mid-major programs. 

Head Coach Amy Hogue has been thrilled with her young team. “I have loved the start to our season,” she said. “We have some talented newcomers and a whole lot of grit. We have a small number of upperclassmen who are leading us well.”

Last year the bats were good but the pitching got hit hard, and that was the area of most concern going into 2020. “Our pitchers have improved daily,” Hogue said, “since they reported this fall. I’m so proud of the work they have put in to get better.”

I asked Coach Hogue about how the Mary Nutter Classic helped her measure where her team is now and how the tournament moves the team forward? 

“The Nutter is a combination of things that help us to prepare. Namely, great teams and a great atmosphere. Those are critical for us to have as we prepare the team for the Pac-12 and for NCAA’s. To be able to come away with three good wins this weekend makes me extremely happy.”

- Amy Hogue, Utah 

“All of the teams we faced are Southern California teams with lots of local talent. We haven’t had a practice outside at home yet, and yet most of our opponents this year have had that luxury. Most crowds were full of fans for the opposition. Having a hostile environment and finding ways to win even when trailing in two of the three games are good experiences for us.” 

On Monday evening, Utah swept a double-header from the University of San Diego, running their record to 12-2. Sophomore pitcher Sydney Sandez got her ninth and tenth victories, that total leading the nation at this point.