Sydney Joy Romero (born March 8, 1997) is a Mexican American professional

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

player for the Talons of the

Athletes Unlimited Softball League The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) is a women's professional softball league in the United States, founded in 2024 and run by Athletes Unlimited. History On June 4, 2024, Athletes Unlimited announced a new softball league, that w ...

(AUSL) and current assistant coach for

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. She previously played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

, where she set numerous program records and led the Sooners to four consecutive

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

appearances from 2016 to 2019, and won the national championship as a Freshman in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and Sophomore in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. She played professionally for the

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride is a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida, and a former member of Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). Founded in 2009, they previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play their home ...

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

. She represented

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Early life

Romero attended

Vista Murrieta High School Vista Murrieta High School (VMHS) is a comprehensive, four-year high school located in Murrieta, California, United States. It is operated by the Murrieta Valley Unified School District. It opened in August 2003, relieving the overcrowding at Mur ...

, where she was a three-time First-Team All-Southwestern League honoree, and was named a 2014 Underclass All-American.

College career

During her freshman year in 2016, Romero played in 64 games, where she struck out just four times in 211 at-bats on the season, giving her the third-best strikeout ratio in program history at 52.75 at-bats per strikeout. She was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team, and named a NFCA Freshman of the Year finalist. During the

2016 Women's College World Series The 2016 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 8, 2016 as the final part of the 2016 NCAA Division I softball season. The 64 Division I (NCAA), NCAA Division I college softball teams were to be selected out of an ...

, Sydney and the Sooners faced her sister Sierra and the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

during the second round. Sydney went 2-for-3, including a solo home run, with two runs scored, a walk and a stolen base in a 7–5 victory for the Sooners. During the finals of the World Series against Auburn, Romero hit a three-run home run in game 1 of the best-of-three championship series, to help the Sooners win the game and capture the championship. During her senior year in 2019, Romero finished the regular season leading the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.431),

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s (17), RBIs (51) and

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hit (baseball), hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single (baseball), single, 2 for a double (baseball), double, 3 for a triple (baseball), triple and 4 ...

(144), while ranking second in

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

(.862),

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

(55) and

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

(72). She also led the nation with 176 total bases and ranked second nationally with 90 hits. Her 176 total bases and 42 extra-base hits ranked second all-time in single-season Oklahoma program history. On May 10, 2019, Romero recorded her 57th career

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

to set a Sooners program record, surpassing the previous record of 56 set by Lisa Carey in 2001. Following an outstanding season, she was named the Big 12 Player of the Year, and was a top three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. She was also named a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection, and a First-Team All-American. Romero finished her Sooner career as the leader in at-bats (853) and doubles (58) and tied for first with 13 sacrifice flies; second in hits (320), extra-base hits (121) and total bases (558); third in games played (258); fourth in RBIs (215); fifth in batting average (.375), runs scored (229) and home runs (54); sixth in assists (367) and seventh in slugging percentage (.654).

Professional career

On April 16, 2019, Romero was drafted third overall by the

in the

2019 NPF Draft The 2019 NPF College Draft was the 16th annual collegiate draft for the National Pro Fastpitch. It took place April 15, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee at Acme Feed & Seed, a downtown entertainment venue. It was available for internet viewing via NPF ...

. On June 11, 2019, she was signed to a two-year contract by the USSSA Pride. She was named the Player of the Week for the week ending July 28, 2019. During the week she went 7-for-13, with eight runs, one double, one home run, five RBI, two walks, and three stolen bases. She was named the Rookie of the Week for the week ending August 11, 2019. During the week she went 11-for-22, with four runs, two doubles, one home run, five RBI, two walks and a stolen base. On January 29, 2025, Romero was drafted in the eleventh round, 41st overall, by the Talons in the inaugural

draft.

Coaching career

On September 18, 2019, Romero was named a student assistant for the

Oklahoma Sooners softball The Oklahoma Sooners softball team represents the University of Oklahoma in NCAA Division I college softball. The team competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and plays its home games at Love's Field in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners are cu ...

program. On July 1, 2022, Romero was named an assistant coach for the

Duke Blue Devils softball The Duke Blue Devils softball program joined the Atlantic Coast Conference as a Division I varsity program in 2017. In July 2015, former Big Ten Player of the Year Marissa Young was named as Duke University's first head softball coach. Young spe ...

program. She served as the team's hitting and infield coach and helped lead Duke to a 48–12 record and hosted an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in program history. On June 25, 2023, Romero was named an assistant coach for the

Oregon Ducks softball The Oregon Ducks softball team represents the University of Oregon in NCAA Division I college softball. The Ducks compete in the Big Ten Conference and are led by head coach Melyssa Lombardi. Oregon plays their home games at Jane Sanders Stadiu ...

program.

Personal life

Romero is the daughter of Michael and Melissa Romero, and has three siblings. She is the younger sister of professional softball player

Sierra Romero Sierra Joy Romero (born March 19, 1994) is an American professional softball player for the Volts of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). She previously was a volunteer assistant softball coach for the Oregon Ducks softball team. She pl ...

. Her brother, Mikey Romero was drafted in the first round, 24th overall, by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

in the

2022 Major League Baseball Draft The 2022 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 17–19, 2022, in Los Angeles. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was based on the reverse order of the 2021 MLB season standin ...

. She is of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

and Chamorro descent.

References

External links

Oklahoma bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Sydney 1997 births Living people American sportspeople of Mexican descent American people of Chamorro descent Duke Blue Devils softball coaches Oklahoma Sooners softball coaches Oklahoma Sooners softball players Oregon Ducks softball coaches Softball players from California Sportspeople from San Diego USSSA Pride players Mexican softball players Olympic softball players for Mexico Softball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes Unlimited softball players