Minnesota will look to return to the NCAA Tournament after missing it in 2024
The Minnesota Golden Gophers softball team will return to the diamond to kick off the 2025 season on Friday in Tempe, Arizona at the Kajikawa Classic. Minnesota once again will play a tough non-conference season featuring numerous ranked opponents before kicking off Big Ten play in March. The Gophers will look to turn around their downturn from 2024 where they finished with a 28-25 record and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in ten seasons. It won’t be easy as the Gophers lost three of their five top offensive producers from a season ago to graduation or the portal, including Big Ten Player of the Year Jess Oakland. But Minnesota has also reloaded through the portal and with a touted freshman class who will be expected to see action early and often.
So Who’s Gone?
Minnesota lost three of their top five bats from a season ago and will need to retool nearly their entire pitching rotation from 2024. The biggest loss that will hurt the most is the transfer of 2024 Big Ten Player of the Year Jess Oakland to Duke. Oakland left after the fall semester looking to put herself in a better place for a chance to make the College World Series. Minnesota will not be able to replace her after she hit .42 with 20 home runs, 19 doubles, and 58 RBI a season ago. She was a bit of a liability in the field making 13 errors at shortstop, but that was forgiven given her offensive prowess.
Minnesota lost two other leading bats and their starting first baseman to graduation. Outfielder Morgan DeBord transferred in from Loyola Marymount to play her final season for the Gophers and she was second on the team hitting .359. Also graduating were second baseman Sydney Strelow who had per best year offensively in her final season as a Gopher hitting .309 and first basemen Delanie Cox after hitting .279 in her final season and making just 6 errors at first base on the season. Maddie Ehlke and Addision Leschber who both played significant time for Minnesota season ago have departed with Ehlke graduating and Leschber transferring to Georgia Tech.
Minnesota’s pitching was not great in 2024 and the Gophers will not see a majority of their rotation return. Minnesota’s top two starters both graduated as Bri Enter who led the Gophers with 20 starts a season ago going 12-7 with a 3.16 ERA and Jacie Hambrick who started 19 games and went 6-10 with a 4.83 ERA have moved on.
Whos is Back in 2025?
Minnesota returns just four players who started a majority of the games last season. That crew is led by catcher Taylor Krapf. The Gophers leading returning hitter battled through some injuries to hit .311 and rip 11 home runs and 52 RBI, second on the team behind Oakland. She is back and 100% healthy for the start of the 2025 season and will look to revisit 2023 where she hit .341 and had 14 bombs. Preseason she was named #81 on the Softball America Preseason Top 100 Players in the Country List. Joining her in returning in the lineup is third basemen Kayla Chavez who hit .293 with six home runs and 29 RBI, utility infielder Nani Valencia who hit .290 and outfielder Breezy Burnett who hit just .236 starting every game for the Gophers a season ago. No other Gophers in the lineup returning had more than 17 at bats in 2024, partially due to being young and awaiting their turn, or in the game of one player suffering a season ending injury.
Junior Sydney Schwartz saw significant action as a freshman but a year ago suffered an arm injury that limited her to just seven games on the season. She is both a pitcher and first basement for the Gophers, so Minnesota has high hopes for her playing a much more significant role in both spots this season. In 28.1 innings pitched before her injury a year ago she was 3-2 with a 3.21 ERA.
Minnesota returns three other young pitchers who saw action in 2024. Sophomore Macy Richardson was the #3 starter for the Gophers as a freshman. She started 11 games and made appearances in 31 going 7-5 with a 5.48 ERA. Jessa Snippes was the 2023 Minnesota Ms. Softball and she made her debut as a freshman in 2024 throwing 14.2 innings and going 0-1. Another freshman Cameron Greyson also threw 13.1 innings in 9 appearances for Minnesota.
Who is New?
Minnesota brings in four freshmen with loads of potential and also hit the portal picking up two players who the Gophers hope will make immediate dividends. Minnesota added junior pitcher Presley Hosick from Cal Baptist in the portal this offseason. Hosick led Cal Baptist with a 13-7 record with five saves and a 2.34 ERA a season ago. Gopher head coach Piper Ritter as spoke high of Hosick saying her ball just moves. She is in line to be the Gophers #1 pitcher this season. The Gophers hope that magic strikes again finding a pitcher out of the WAC as the Gophers landed former ace Autumn Pease from Idaho State.
Joining Hosick in coming to Minnesota in the portal was second baseman Margaret Tobias from Kentucky. Tobias played two seasons for the Wildcats mostly in a utility infield role. She is a slapper hitter and has significant speed and likely will lead off for the Gophers.
Minnesota brought in four freshmen, all of whom will hopefully contribute this season. All four were named to the Softball America Freshman Watch List. Most anticipated is outfielder Jae Cosgriff from Livermore, California. From the same area as Jess Oakland, Cosgriff was named to the First Team East Bay Athletic League in 2021 and 2023 and hit .437 in her senior season. Infielder Tinley Easton comes from Lexington, Kentucky and showed some power in high school leading the Kentucky Region in bombs. Cameron Chard stayed home to play for the U. The Belle Plaine native is a catcher and will be expected to spell Krapf behind the plate this season. She was a three-time All State player. Natalie Susa comes to the U from Macedonia, Ohio and is a anticipated pitching recruit. She was named the Susa was named the Greater Akron Softball Player of the Year and shows great leadership qualities being a class president all four years of high school.
What’s the Schedule Like?
Tough, as is usual for a Gopher squad. Minnesota will fac 13 teams that finished the 2024 season as ranked or receiving votes. In the non-conference the Gophers are slated to face several ranked foes including #6 Tennessee and #7 Duke (Jess Oakland grudge match) at the Mary Nutter Classic in two weekends. The Gophers will play a pair of road games at #11 LSU in March as well prior to kicking off the Big Ten season. Minnesota will host a tournament at US Bank Stadium from February 28-March 2 that will see St. Thomas, North Dakota State, Wagner, and Miami, Ohio come to Minneapolis.
The Big Ten schedule does not get much easier as the Gophers will face both 2024 Regular season Champion Northwestern who enters the season ranked #19 and Big Ten Tournament Champion Michigan who enters the season ranked #20. Add in a series against #17 Oregon and the Big Ten slate is loaded. Those three series against ranked opponents will be in Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Minnesota will still face two ranked Big Ten opponents on the road with two games against #25 Penn State in Oklahoma City, and then an immediate trip to Lincoln to face #14 Nebraska the following weekend.
So What is the Season Outlook?
Minnesota has a tough schedule and a lot of unanswered questions. If Minnesota gets great pitching from Hosick and Schwartz is healthy and back to her old ways, this Gophers team should compete for an NCAA Tournament spot and a bubble Top 25 ranking. The Gophers will need their freshmen to contribute at the plate right away and Krapf to have an All-Big Ten type season.
If the Gophers struggle in the circle again and can’t find someone on the roster to try and chip in for the offense they miss with Oakland transferring, then it could be another long season for Minnesota and a second consecutive miss of the NCAA Tournament.
What About This Weekend?
The Gophers kick it all off this weekend at the Kajikawa Classic hosted by Arizona State in Tempe. Minnesota will play five games in three days against four opponents. The Gophers open their season Friday at 10 AM against Utah and play again at 12:30 PM against Cal. On Saturday the Gophers face Miami, Ohio at 4:45 PM before a game against the host Arizona State Sun Devils at 9:15 Saturday night. The Gophers finish the tournament Sunday with a second game against Utah at 12:15 PM. The Sun Devils are the only team out of the four the Gophers will see this weekend that ended 2024 outside the Top 50 in RPI.
Good Luck to the Gophers as they look to get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2025.