Why did six top UW softball players enter the transfer portal? No one is saying

May 29-The news late last week that six of Washington’s top softball players had entered the transfer portal was certainly surprising.

Heather Tarr, in her 20 seasons as UW coach, has overseen one of the best and most stable softball programs in the country, winning the Women’s College World Series in 2009, reaching the eight-team WCWS eight times and never missing the NCAA tournament.

Husky stars seemed to always stay four years, and in recent years many stayed a fifth when given an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic.

So why did junior infielder Kinsey Fiedler, junior shortstop Rylee Holtorf, sophomore utility player Alana Johnson, junior catcher Olivia Johnson, sophomore pitcher Ruby Meylan and freshman pitcher Sidne Peters enter the portal?

Those who would know aren’t saying.

Tarr declined to be interviewed for this story, but said in a statement: “UW softball has amassed 32 years of success as a program. Transitions in this day and age are tough, but we are excited for the future of Husky softball.”

Holtorf didn’t address why in an Instagram post Monday in which she said, “Thankful for all the memories, experiences, and people I have gained throughout my time spent at UW and I’m excited for whatever is to come next!! I have decided to enter the transfer portal and trusting God with this next chapter and one last softball season.”

Fiedler didn’t address why either on a short Instagram post announcing she was transferring.

The remaining four have not publicly posted about entering the portal on their social-media accounts. Fiedler and Alana Johnson did not respond to direct messages asking if they would comment.

Repeated requests to speak to Tarr have not been granted. A request to talk to UW athletic administration was not returned.

So speculation will continue.

Justin McLeod, associate editor and a writer for Softball America, which broke the news of the Huskies entering the portal, said the only similar situations he could think of were at Oregon in 2018, when coach Mike White left for Texas, and in 2022 when Alabama had six players enter the portal after a disappointing season.

“It’s rare to see a program built the way that UW is to have players like that go into the portal,” McLeod 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?”

McLeod does not think the why has anything to do with speculation Tarr might take another job. The coach put out a post on X on Friday saying, “It’s a great day to be a Dawg!”

“Even before she tweeted that, she wasn’t going anywhere,” said McLeod of Tarr, who is also the coach of the U.S. national team. “To me, it looks like there’s some kind of divide somewhere. I don’t want to speak out of school and say I know this to be that, but in the history since the portal started (in 2018), when a group of star players goes into the portal, there’s always something behind it beyond just, ‘I don’t like where I’m at.’”

McLeod said he was surprised to see the exodus at Washington because Tarr has been historically successful at recruiting players who gravitate to her style of coaching.

Has that changed?

McLeod said rumors often get started when a team is less successful than predicted, and UW (32-15) lost six of its last seven games and was knocked out in the NCAA regional.

“There were some rumblings, sure,” McLeod said. “But I didn’t expect this because Heather builds a program a certain way and she grabs players that fit that mold. ... I don’t know what that reason is, but it looks to me pretty clear that there’s a reason this group is in the portal.”

The Huskies lost two players after last season - Jadelyn Allchin and Kelley Lynch - who graduated after playing for four years. McLeod said graduate transfers such as those are pretty common.

“But this feels completely different,” he said of the six now in the portal.

The Huskies will need to do a major rebuild if the players in the portal do not elect to return to UW, which they would be allowed to do.

The Huskies could be entering their first season in the Big Ten without a pitcher who has thrown in college and without almost all of their top hitters from last season.

“It doesn’t look good for UW going forward, just because that’s so many impact players,” McLeod said. “I don’t want to call it catastrophic in the sense that the program is going to end, but it’s pretty catastrophic when you could go into next year thinking you’ve got pieces to build around. Well, now your ace (Meylan) is gone, your starting shortstop is gone, and all these impact players are gone.”

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This story was originally published May 31, 2024 at 8:45 PM with the headline "Why did six top UW softball players enter the transfer portal? No one is saying."