With the exodus of several pitchers at the end of the 2022 season, it was imperative that coach Melyssa Lombardi find a pitcher or pitchers that could take off the excessive pitching load that Stevie Hansen was forced to endure last year. That was a huge number of pitches for any pitcher to have to throw, and it doesn’t matter how talented one is at the circle; you’re going to falter at some point, and just have to suck it up because there is no one to relieve you. There were many stages in last year where the Ducks had to relieve Hansen, and there were no pitchers consistently up to the task.