Sydney Romero, a two-time NCAA champion as both a coach and a player, is in her first season as assistant coach at Oregon.
Romero joined Coach Melyssa Lombardi’s staff after stops at Duke and Oklahoma. She was an assistant coach at Duke in 2023 when the Blue Devils went 48-12 (19-5 in the ACC) and hosted an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in program history. She was Duke’s hitting and infield coach.
Romero mentored outfielder D’Auna Jennings, who earned NFCA All-America second team honors in 2023 after setting Duke’s single-season record for batting average (.462) and hits (80). Jennings ranked sixth nationally in both categories.
Prior to Duke, as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma, Romero helped the Sooners win back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022. Oklahoma's staff was named the 2022 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year, after going 59-3 overall. The Sooners were 56-4 in 2021.
In addition to her coaching duties, Romero has continued to play softball professionally as one of the top players with Athletes Unlimited since 2020. Prior to signing with AU, Romero was the third overall pick in the 2019 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Draft by the USSSA Pride, where she was named to the 2019 All-NPF Team.
Romero, who holds dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States, played for the Mexican National Team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
As a player at Oklahoma, Romero earned two first team All-America awards and won national championships with the Sooners in 2016 and 2017. She was named the 2019 Big 12 Player of the Year and was a top-three finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Romero was also a 2019 Senior CLASS Award Finalist and was named to two Women’s College World Series all-tournament teams (2016, 2019).
The four-time all-Big 12 selection finished her career as Oklahoma’s all-time leader in at-bats (853) and doubles (58). She also ranked second in OU career history 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).
A native of San Diego, Calif., Romero graduated from Oklahoma with a degree in criminology in 2019. She then earned her master's degree in adult and higher education with an emphasis in intercollegiate athletics administration from Oklahoma in 2022.
