UNC Softball: Transfer Class Among Best In The Country

The UNC Softball program is under new leadership after Donna Papa retired after the 2022 season. The Tar Heels have hit the transfer portal hard since then.

After 38 seasons under Donna Papa, the UNC softball program has a new face at the helm. Papa retired in May after the 2022 season, and the Tar Heels looked within the family for Papa’s replacement. Megan Smith Lyon was hired in June and hit the ground running, already making work on the 2024 UNC softball roster.

It seems that what has become a college athletics tradition in all sports, Lyon immediately hit the transfer portal to help add some talent and depth to the Tar Heels. Extra inning Softball recently ranked the top transfer portal classes that they expect to have the most impact for the 2024 season, and the UNC softball program made the list.

The Tar Heels come in at No. 9 on the list and are the only ACC team to appear in the ranking. Here is what Extra Inning Softball had to say about the newly reconstructed Tar Heels:

"First-year head coach Megan Smith Lyon wasted little time in bolstering her new team in Chapel Hill and she didn’t have far to look for her additions. Catcher Autumn Owen and outfielder Alex Coleman joined Smith Lyon making the transition from Marshall to North Carolina. Owen earned All-American honors last season after hitting .444 with 19 home runs and 71 RBIs, while Coleman hit .427 and ranked fifth nationally with 79 hits. Smith Lyon then dipped into the SEC to bring Georgia pitcher Britton Rogers to UNC."

Lyon and the Tar Heels will be looking to turn it around in Chapel Hill after a 26-28 regular season record in 2023.

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