While many of us were recovering last Saturday from Black Friday shopping or enjoying some great college football rivalry games, Stevie Hansen had bird on the brain.
And, no, we’re not talking turkey leftovers.
The outstanding junior pitcher from Rick Robinson’s powerhouse Norco (California) High team and a member of Dave Mercado’s Athletics – Mercado/Smith 18U squad, had a Thanksgiving break she will forever remember as she called University of Oregon head coach Melyssa (“Missy”) Lombardi and told her she was committing.
“I FaceTimed Coach Missy on Saturday morning,” Stevie told Extra Inning Softball today, “and said, ‘Coach Missy, I have decided to come fly with you!’”
Hansen had a strong run this summer with Greg Borzilleri’s 16U Athletics team, leading the Southern California-based team to a 5th place tie at PGF Nationals. She made the PGF All-Tournament team as the right-hander went 3-1 with 47 K’s in 24 innings.
This fall, she joins a loaded 18U Athletics – Mercado/Smith team that won PGF 18U Nationals and ranked #1 in the Extra Elite Eighty 18U club team rankings. Stevie will be part of perhaps the strongest pitching corps in the travel ball world as she will split innings with a pair of Top 10 ranked hurlers in the 2020 class: Allison Royalty (Arizona State signee) and Ryleigh White (Texas signee).
Hansen was heavily recruited, literally from the first day in September when college coaches could reach out to 2021 prospects.
I’m so excited to announce that I have verbally committed to further my academic and athletic career at the University of Oregon. Sco ducks 💚💛 pic.twitter.com/DPkSNrx4Kr
"Day 1 was amazing," she told us in early September, as an elite pitcher who got a lot of attention out of the game.
"I was so nervous in the hours before midnight from anticipation of who was going to call. It was crazy to think that schools that I grew up watching on TV and at tournaments here in California could possibly want me to go to their school and be coached by these amazing people."
Hansen didn't have to wait long for her first call, from Tennessee, just after midnight. Calls and texts from more SEC and Pac-12 teams followed on Sunday.
*** Learn more about Stevie's verbal to Oregon as well as her fantastic 2019 year by scrolling down...
