Last weekend, Oberlin College softball started the season in historic fashion, jumping out to a 5–1 record, marking the best start to a season in program history. It also marks the fewest games to five wins in program history, and it brings Head Coach Julie Pratt’s total collegiate career win total to just one shy of 400. After ending the 2025 season with a record of 2–31, players and coaches are optimistic that this season will be even more different than it already is.
On Friday, March 6, the team swept a doubleheader against Elmira College and Gallaudet University. In the win against Elmira, fourth-year Hailey Alspach pitched a complete game shutout, reaching a career-high 10 strikeouts. First-year Hannah O’Connor, fourth-year Maya Means, and second-year Ava Soldo rounded out the offense, each producing one RBI for a 3–0 win.
Then, in the game against Gallaudet, Soldo and Means highlighted the offense, each hitting their first home run of the season. In a 10–7 win, second-year Sophie Stone pitched 4.2 innings with eight strikeouts and two earned runs before second-year Olivia Bey came in relief to finish the game.
The next day, the Yeowomen advanced to 4–0, winning their two games against Johnson & Wales University, 8–5 and 6–2, respectively. In the first game, facing a 1–4 run deficit after the first inning, the Yeowomen fought back to eventually win, aided by more lights-out pitching from Alspach and a big game from fourth-year Haley Carlson, who had three RBIs and two hits, including a home run.
“Last year, a lot of times we would get down five or six runs in the first couple [of] innings, and we would never get it back because we were so down on ourselves,” Soldo said. “I noticed such a big difference this weekend.”
Despite losing in their fifth game of the season 3–5 to Salem College, the team bounced back to take the second game of the doubleheader. After a back-and-forth battle, first-year Connor Fogarty and Carlson delivered key singles to score two more runs in the sixth inning, and Means delivered the final blow in the seventh with her second home run of the season.
The key difference that has allowed the team to find so much early success, Coach Pratt said, is the class of nine first-years who have sent shock waves through the program.
“We brought in a huge [freshman] class [of] nine,” Coach Pratt said. “Those nine have made a huge impact on how others play, and our talent level has risen.”
Out of the nine first-years, five of them are already starters, and the group has accounted for 18 out of the total 37 RBIs. O’Connor is currently their top offensive performer, boasting a .500 average and a 1.359 OPS. The first-years are not only putting up big numbers on the field, but they are also making room for healthy competition among the players.
“In the past, people knew they were going to play regardless,” Coach Pratt said. “With the competition, everybody has stepped up their game, and it’s made us a better team … Our returners are doing a great job of getting better and not just being completely comfortable. … They know they have to get it done, or somebody’s next in line.”
Carlson echoed Pratt’s statement.
“It’s all friendly competition,” Carlson said. “Obviously, you want to see your friend or your teammate do well. But specifically that inner competition has made us a better team in the end because everyone’s having to play to their highest potential. I had a realization in the fall [that] I have to really step up.”
Coach Pratt has emphasized the importance of fourth-year leadership to balance the first-year dominant team, urging the four fourth-years to take on bigger leadership responsibilities on the team. The fourth-years, Alspach, Carlson, Means, and Kailey Dunham, have been meeting with retired Army veteran Jeremy Gelisinger to talk about what it means to be a leader and how they can implement leadership strategies during practices and games.
“[Gelisinger] brought in a lot of insight as to how all four of us are leaders in a different way and how to use our qualities to best lead the team,” Carlson remarked. “I think that has really helped in our successes [as a] team because we are all noticing different things and coming together and working as a group and collaborating to really make sure that everything that we’re doing is for the best for our team.”
As a part of this leadership emphasis, the fourth-years take turns leading After Assessment Reviews, or AARs.
“After practice, we’ll have an AAR,” Alspach said. “We’ll talk about what needed to get done today, what we did, how practice went, what went well, what we need to take with us the next practice, next day, or next game to carry forward so that we can keep improving.”
Players and coaches alike feel like they have been waiting for success to come to such a hardworking team. Many feel like everything is clicking at the perfect time.
“We need the talent, and we need the leadership,” Coach Pratt said. “Now I feel like we have it all. You’re gonna see a different team. We’re gonna be breaking records. We’re going to be setting a tone for Oberlin College softball, just at new heights.”
The team looks to continue to build on this strong start this weekend in Kentucky playing a doubleheader against Centre College on Saturday and a doubleheader against Berea College (KY) the next day.
