The absurdly talented outfielder arrives with two seasons of eligibility left
Sunday night, softball fans were tweeted to a surprise. What’s that? A #LarissaSignal? I, for one, investigated the recent twitter followings of HCLA, hitting coach Jeff Cottrill, and AHC Sara Marino, and saw a few really nice looking possibilities of who it could be. But then… crickets. For DAYS!!!
— Larissa Anderson (@CoachLarissaA) May 30, 2023
Alas, it was finally announced, once she signed on the dotted line. No fanfare, no announcement from the player herself. All business.
Welcome to the Tigers Family, Mya Dodge‼️
Dodge heads to CoMo after earning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors at Northern Iowa.
: https://t.co/XE98zdzs0b#OwnIt #MIZ pic.twitter.com/yx02sMlG9J
— Mizzou Softball (@MizzouSoftball) June 2, 2023
UPDATE: She posted about an hour later.
➡️ #OWNIT #MIZ pic.twitter.com/4vZxdbG4A8
— Mya Dodge (@dodge_mya) June 2, 2023
I gotta tell ya, this is a helluva grab for the Tigers. The 5’6 outfielder from Hiawatha, Iowa, entered the portal on 5/26, and comes to Mizzou with two years of eligibility remaining. This gal is nothing short of I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E, hitting .396 for the season to go with a 1.376 OPS, .906 SLG% and .470 OB%. In 139 AB and 48 games, she amassed the following stats: 48R | 55 H | 10 2B | 5 3B | 17 HR | 68 RBI | 23 BB | 21 SO. She was awarded NFCA All-Region First Team honors and MVC Player of the Year. Per the UNI athletics site, she led the country in RBI per game.
Freshman of the Year ✅️@MVCsports Player of the Year ✅️
All-American ……
One of the best players in the country! @dodge_mya https://t.co/7uPYYOphJC— Dugout Sports (@DugoutSportsF) May 16, 2023
Here she is against SIU in mid-April. Killin it.
: Friday, April 14
Reigning MVC Freshman of the Year, Mya Dodge, goes 4-for-4 against SIU with three home runs, a triple, and eight RBIs.@UNISoftball x @dodge_mya
https://t.co/r97zQPheT9pic.twitter.com/3HYEDpCR4r
— D1Softball (@D1Softball) April 15, 2023
Compared to the current Tigers’ roster, she’s basically another Alex Honnold. WE’LL TAKE IT. AND WE LOVE TO SEE IT. We’ll see how the move up in competition changes her stats, but Dodge is legit.
Jenna Laird’s dad loves the signing, understandably so.
Awesome!!!!
— James Laird (@james_laird70) June 2, 2023
This season wasn’t a one-off, either. During her freshman season (2022), Mya started 76 games as the DP/LF — hey, we need a really productive one of those — and won MVC Freshman of the Year honors, as well as All-MVC first team, and MVC All-Tourney. She also was a Top 25 Finalist for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year. Not too shabby.
In her young career, well… let’s just have a looksie. Per College Sports Evaluation, the All-American was the no. 2 OF available in the portal, as measured by wRAA (weighted runs above avg), an advanced metric that uses offensive game data.
unipanthers.com