Seven (more) potential transfer targets for Mizzou softball (2024)

Welcome to the Morning Commute.

For the second consecutive day, let’s talk Mizzou softball.

The Women’s College World Series Championship Finals are underway, as the first game of the Red River showdown between Oklahoma and Texas was taken by the Sooners/Longhorns. Missouri was oh so close to Oklahoma City, but the Tigers fell in Super Regionals to Duke, who were quickly eliminated by Oklahoma.

Now, the offseason is in full-swing for the Tigers, which means it’s time to visit the transfer portal. Yesterday, Dylan listed seven potential transfers that Larissa Anderson could target in the portal this offseason. If you weren’t 100% satisfied with just seven, here are seven more that could find their way to Columbia for the 2025 season (and perhaps beyond).

Amanda Hasler - Catcher - NC State

2024 stats: .351 batting average, 18 home runs, 45 RBIs

2 years of eligibility remaining

Mizzou’s most pressing issue during Regionals and Super Regionals was its offense. While Laurin Krings put together a Herculean effort in the postseason, her offense struggled to provide even adequate run support.

Enter Amanda Hasler (potentially), who could rectify some of those offensive struggles. She was by far the best all-around player on an NC State squad who was a lot better than its 6-18 ACC record indicated. Nine of those losses were by three runs or fewer, and the Wolfpack finished 55th in RPI; for reference, Ole Miss (47th) and Indiana (48th) both received at-large bids to the Big Dance.

Leading the pack was Hasler, who finished first on the team in most offensive categories. Although Julia Crenshaw has been Mizzou’s starting catcher for the last two seasons and Stefania Abruscato was recruited as a catcher, she’s a natural infielder, so the hypothetical addition of Hasler would work out fairly smoothly on paper.

Hasler also wasn’t just hitting off of nobodies in the circle. Here she is hitting no-doubt moonshots off of arguably the two best pitchers in the ACC last season in Jala Wright and Cassidy Curd (the latter of whom shut down Mizzou in Super Regionals).

Isabela Emerling - Catcher/Infielder - North Carolina

2024 stats: .323 batting average, 14 home runs, 53 RBIs, .984 fielding percentage

2 years of eligibility remaining

Staying in the Tar Heel State, Emerling, like Hasler, led her team in most offensive categories. She sports an incredibly powerful two-handed swing that made her one of the toughest bats to face in the ACC. Emerling also rocked a rocket arm behind the dish, as she caught several base runners trying to grab an extra bag.

While North Carolina didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this season, Emerling’s individual efforts did not go unrecognized. Her positional malleability also makes her a potentially easy fit into Mizzou’s rotation.

Taylor Ebbs - Infielder/Outfielder - Kentucky

2024 stats: .311 batting average, 8 home runs, 31 RBIs

Kentucky softball is set to lose a lot of production from this past year’s NCAA Tournament team, with Ebbs being one of those departing players.

One unique aspect of Mizzou’s starting lineup this past season was the strong mix of left-handed and right-handed hitters. However, the Tigers’ top three lefties — Jenna Laird, Alex Honnold and Maddie Gallagher — are all gone. Ebbs could very much fill that void of lefty pop in the early/middle part of the lineup.

Here’s a laser shot from Ebbs against North Carolina earlier in the season that had Kentucky softball’s X account dishing out a pretty wild take.

Alana Johnson - Outfielder - Washington

2024 stats: .336 batting average, 13 home runs, 40 RBIs, .980 fielding percentage

2 years of eligibility remaining

A wise person once said “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”.

That’s the moniker Johnson would follow if she took her talents to Columbia, as she’d join the team that eliminated Washington in Regionals this past season. As Dylan noted in Tuesday’s Morning Commute, the Huskies are in the midst of a mass exodus, which is uncharacteristic considering how stable the program has been over the past two decades under head coach Heather Tarr. Tarr wasn’t going anywhere, and UW looked like it could easily get back to the Women’s College World Series next season had everyone returned.

“It’s rare to see a program built the way that UW is to have players like that go into the portal,” Justin McLeod, an associate editor and writer for Softball America, said. “Every program has players that go into the portal, players that maybe don’t play a lot, fourth-string pitchers, backup infielders, pinch-runners, things like that. But when you get to impact players, it’s always a little bit of a cause for pause, because it’s like, why?”

Regardless, Johnson could provide the Tigers a veteran presence in the outfield, one that’s losing the aforementioned Honnold as well as Chantice Phillips, who played sporadically in left field last season. Although the starting right field spot (where Johnson mostly started for UW) is currently held by Kayley Lenger, depth (especially in the outfield) is never a bad thing.

Ruby Meylan - Pitcher - Washington

2024 stats: 123.2 innings pitched, 2.55 ERA, 139 strikeouts

2 years of eligibility remaining

Another departed Husky that Mizzou could go after is Meylan, who was Washington’s ace over the first two seasons of her collegiate career. She’s similar to Krings in that she can go the distance if needed, and she can also throw strikeouts with the best of them (Meylan had 204 K’s in her freshman season and had just six fewer than Krings in 2024).

Mizzou’s line of succession within the starting pitching staff seems relatively intact at the moment. Here’s how it’s gone over the past two seasons:

2023: Jordan Weber (top option)-Laurin Krings (secondary option)-Cierra Harrison (promising underclassman)

2024: Laurin Krings (top option)-Cierra Harrison (secondary option)-Marissa McCann (promising freshman)

2025: Cierra Harrison (top option)-Marissa McCann (secondary option)-Courtney Donahue (promising underclassman. Missouri didn’t land a commitment from any pitchers in the Class of 2024)

Meylan would join a crowded rotation, but she could easily rise to the top considering how good she is.

Jalia Lassiter - Utility - Ole Miss

2024 stats: .314 batting average, 4 home runs, 29 RBIs, .987 fielding percentage

2 years of eligibility remaining

Another SEC product, Lassiter provided a spark both at the plate and in the field. She led the Rebels in hits with 61, which included 19 games with multiple hits. Check out this moonshot in the SEC tournament against Kentucky.

In the field, she recorded just one error in 77 chances.

Emily Gonzalez - Infielder - Southern Utah

2 years of eligibility remaining

2024 stats: .376 batting average, 4 home runs, 28 RBIs, 1.000 fielding percentage

Rounding out the list is Gonzalez, who was one of the most consistent bats in the Western Athletic Conference this past season.

One of the major issues that plagued Mizzou in the postseason was that their offensive struggles mainly stemmed from not being able to get runners on base. Each transfer listed, including Gonzalez, would help in that regard. She also fits the Mizzou mold of elite defensive skill.

• Let’s Remember Some Guys (Offense Edition) by Dan Keegan

Darius Outlaw was so cool. He was a quarterback who turned into a receiver, which is always cool. He threw the reverse throwback to Brad Smith that went for a touchdown in the 2003 Nebraska win, which is, of course, very cool. And his name is “Darius Outlaw,” for cryin’ out loud, which is just about the coolest name I can think of right now.

Reminiscing can be awfully fun sometimes, especially when it comes to athletes that only hardcores can recall with great detail. If you’re a Mizzou football fan that thinks about someone like Jimmie Hunt more than the average American, this article is definitely for you.

• Over at Rock M+, TR Robertson opened up a discussion about the incredible number of players currently in the college baseball transfer portal:

That seems like a lot of players... - Sam Snelling

The account that Robertson (AKA Trripleplay) highlights in the discussion, 64Analytics, has a behemoth of a big board with every single player in the portal. Really interesting stuff.

News from Mizzou Athletics

• Sticking with softball, the New York Rise — a Pro Women’s Fastpitch Softball team set to compete in its inaugural season in 2024 — announced on Wednesday that they signed Krings, Honnold and Laird. It’ll be a nice trip home for Laird, who grew up very close to Hofstra University, where the Rise will play its home games.

• A couple of new women’s basketball team members, Londyn Oliphant and Laniah Randle, moved into Columbia yesterday.

• Finally, Mizzou alumni Colton Pouncy, who covers the Detroit Lions for The Athletic, was the recipient of the 2024 PFWA Terez A. Paylor Emerging Writer Award. The honor was announced at the Sports Journalism Institute, where Pouncy is also an alumnus.

• (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)