Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza - Softball Coach - University of Oregon Athletics

Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza

Title:
Volunteer Assistant Coach

Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, a two-time All-American and the 2018 Pac-12 home run champion, is in her fifth season on Melyssa Lombardi's staff, which was named the NFCA Regional Staff of the Year in both 2024 and 2025. She was promoted to assistant coach in 2023 after serving the previous two years as Oregon’s volunteer assistant coach.

The 2025 season saw the Ducks go 54-10 overall and 19-3 in the Big Ten to claim the conference's regular season title. The 54 victories were tied for the second-most in team history as the Ducks advaned to the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2018. Oregon set program records for runs (491), runs per game (7.67), RBI (438), total bases (970), sacrifice flies (25), stolen bases (175) and fielding percentage (.980), and posted the second-best mark in school history in hits (583), triples (19), home runs (86) and walks (243).

Under Palomino-Cardoza's tutelage, Kai Luschar was named the recipient of the 2025 NFCA Golden Shoe award as the nation's best base stealer. She broke the Big Ten record with 60 stolen bases in 2025, becoming just the 15th player in NCAA Division I history to steal 60 bases in a season. She also set the program's career record with 108 stolen bases.

Also in 2025, two players earned NFCA All-America second team honors, Kedre Luschar and Rylee McCoy, while Lyndsey Grein was a third team All-America selection.

As the Ducks reached a regional final for the fourth consecutive season in 2024, Palominio-Cardoza was part of a staff that saw the Ducks lead the Pac-12 in stolen bases with 90. Pac-12 all-first team selection Kai Luschar was the league's individual steals champion with 27.

A year earlier, the Oregon coaching staff led the Ducks to the 2023 NCAA Super Regional round for the first time since 2018. Oregon was 38-17 overall and 14-10 in Pac-12 play in 2023. The Ducks also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 when they went 33-19.

She helped mentor 2023 NFCA All-Americans Allee Bunker and Terra McGowan, who was also named the Diamond Sports national catcher of the year. She also worked with all-Pac-12 selections Bunker (2022-23), McGowan (2022-23), Hanna Delgado (2022-23), Morgan Scott (2023) and Stevie Hansen (2022).

Prior to Oregon, Palomino-Cardoza capped an impressive collegiate career at Arizona in the spring of 2021 by leading the Wildcats to their second consecutive Women’s College World Series appearance. She was named a NFCA first team All-American in 2018 and 2019, making her the first UA player to win back-to-back All-America honors in nearly a decade.

In her career, the four-time all-Pac-12 selection hit 69 home runs, which ranks eighth on Arizona’s career list and is tied for 11th all-time in Pac-12 annals. She also finished her career with 53 doubles to rank tied-for-fourth in UA history.

Palomino-Cardoza was an all-Pac-12 first team selection in 2018 and 2019 and a second team pick in 2017 and 2021. She was a three-time Pac-12 all-defensive selection, including the 2019 season when she did not commit an error while starting all 62 games in center field for the Wildcats. She was also a four-time NFCA All-West Region first team honoree.

The five-year starter had a career batting average of .346, a .717 slugging percentage and an otherworldly OPS of 1.162. Palomino-Cardoza was also one of the best defenders in the Pac-12 with a .990 career fielding percentage.

She hit 19 home runs in the back-to-back seasons of 2018 and 2019, which lead the league in 2018 and ranked 11th nationally. As a freshman, Palomino-Cardoza hit 16 home runs with 54 RBI to help the Wildcats win the Pac-12 title in 2017.

Before Arizona, the Mission Viejo, Calif., native set the Junior World Women’s Championship record with 27 RBI in the 10-game tournament. Palomino-Cardoza led the U.S. Junior National Team to a 10-0 record and the gold medal in the 2015 event and was named the USA Softball junior female athlete of the year.

She was a first-team high school All-America as a junior and senior, helping Mission Viejo High School to the national championship in 2014 and a state runner-up finish in 2015. Palomino-Cardoza also won three national titles with her club team, OC Batbusters.