Oklahoma softball losing 21-year member of coaching staff

Assistant coaches come and go in college sports, but it is extremely rare that they stay in the same spot for a couple of decades. Former OU softball assistant Melyssa Lombardi is one of the latter.

Last week, the longtime Sooner associate head softball coach accepted the head coaching position at Oregon. Lombardi is taking over a program that finished 53-10 last season and was the No. 1 seed in this year’s Women’s College World Series. The Ducks were eliminated by eventual national champion Florida State.

Oregon handed Oklahoma one of its five softball losses in 2018, defeating the Sooners 5-0 at Oregon.

Lombardi has been with head coach Patty Gasso at Oklahoma for 21 years. She is an OU alum and was an all-conference catcher on the OU softball team in 1995-96. She began her coaching career as a Sooner student assistant in 1997.

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She joined Gasso’s staff in 1998. During her 21 years on the OU softball staff, Lombardi was part of all four of the Sooners national championships (2000, 2013, 2016 and 2017), 11 Women’s College World Series appearances, 17 NCAA Regional championships and 12 Big 12 regular-season titles.

Lombardi’s primary role on the OU coaching staff was working with the pitchers and catchers. Pitching has been a major strength and a huge contributor to the Sooners’ exceptional success during Oklahoma’s eight-year run of appearing in seven of the last eight Women’s College World Series.

USA Softball Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts (2012)and USA Softball Player of the Year finalist Paige Parker (2018) are testimonials to the added value that Lombardi has provided to the OU softball program.

Among the pitchers and catchers who came under Lombardi’s tutelage in her 21 years of coaching softball at OU, 20 achieved All-America status, 37 were named to the All-Region team and 77 were All-Big 12 selections.

Lombardi was a part of four Oklahoma coaching staffs that were named National Coaching Staffs of the Year (2000, 2013, 2016 and 2017) by the National Pro Fastpitch Coaches Association, and in 2017, she was named NFCA’s Division I Assistant Coach of the Year.