Lily Moffitt and the Lewis & Clark College softball team are breathing rare air.
When Moffitt — a graduate of Half Moon Bay — arrived at the small NCAA Division III program in Portland, Oregon in 2019, the team had never qualified for the Northwest Conference postseason tournament. Now, the Pioneers are in a position to clinch their first tournament berth in this weekend’s four-game series, regular-season finale. Lewis & Clark is currently in third place in the Northwest standings. The top four finishers qualify for the tourney.
And while the Pioneers were not historically a power hitting team, they have been since Moffitt’s arrival. Not that she is the catalyst in this, having hit just three career homers so far. But her third career home run, and her first of the 2021 season, was a historic one as it broke Lewis & Clark’s all-time single-season home run record as a program last Friday. It was No. 33 on the year for the Pioneers, surpassing the previous record of 32 set in 2019.
“It was a pretty good bop,” Lewis & Clark head coach Shawna Cyrus said. “She got a hold of it.”
Moffitt was recruited more for her defense than her bat. A wunderkind shortstop during Half Moon Bay’s Central Coast Section Division II semifinal run in 2018, Moffitt converted to second base at Lewis & Clark. She quickly proved her mettle, being named as an All-Northwest Conference honorable mention at the position as a freshman.
“I actually really like it,” Moffitt said. “I definitely have gotten used to the timing of the ball being different and I have a strong arm to where I have to wait … but I really like it how I’m able to cover the range on that side of the dirt, and how I can sit back and not have to rush it.”
But the home run renaissance sweeping the nation on both the softball and baseball diamonds followed Moffitt to Portland. She is quite familiar with the power game as her younger sister Chloe, currently a freshman at College of San Mateo, has long been known as the home run hitter in the family.
“My sister … and I, we are just total opposites,” Moffitt said.
Yet, Moffitt is now being looked to as a run producer. At Half Moon Bay, she was a top-of-the-order presence. The 2018 Cougars were a slugging team too, hitting 26 home runs as a team. But Moffitt’s role was to play small ball, and she excelled at it, hitting .374 with a slew of doubles and triples — but no home runs.
Now, Moffitt regularly hits in the No. 5 spot in the Pioneers batting order. She may not get greedy with the home run cuts, but she does take her role as a run producer seriously. She currently ranks fifth on the team with 16 RBIs.
“I’m a tiny 5-foot-3 twig girl that never lifted anything … to where I’m hitting fifth or sixth and more of a power hitter now,” Moffitt said.
Cyrus has seen Moffitt flex her power though — in battling practice. And Cyrus has encouraged the junior, as she has her entire team, to not be shy about swinging for the fences.
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“She does at practice,” Cyrus said. “She’s kind of a gap hitter but she does have the power to put it out.”
Moffitt is more inclined to stay within herself, though, and leave the homers to the likes of freshman Samantha Gildersleeve, a Vacaville native who set the individual single-season home run record at Lewis & Clark this season. She currently has 14.
“I can only really get one here and there,” Moffitt said. “But I’m definitely known for getting a lot of RBIs. … So, for me personally, I’d like to accomplish one of the higher records for having RBIs, and also giving as much I can for the team.”
Moffitt’s record-breaking homer came in the fourth inning of last Friday’s 9-3 win over University of Puget Sound. She entered the series running cold, with four hits in her previous 22 at-bats. So, when she went hitless in her first two at-bats of the second game of a doubleheader against Puget Sound, she went to the batting cage between innings and started taking out her frustrations by hitting off the tee.
“I’ve started to sit back and really work on power hitting,” Moffitt said. “So, now I have that mentality where I have to sit back and crank the ball.”
In her very next at-bat — boom!
Still, Moffitt’s ticket to collegiate success is her glovework at second base. And that, regardless of how she’s swinging it at the plate, is where she continues to shine.
“She makes incredible diving plays,” Cyrus said. “It’s pretty regular for us to see her make diving plays and be all over the field.”
Moffitt has a younger brother as well. Half Moon Bay fans know Will as the heart of the HMB varsity football team’s offense, having served as the team’s starting quarterback since 2019. Moffitt said her younger sister Chloe may be in line to transfer to Oregon to play softball, but that Chloe’s sights are set on Oregon State.
Meanwhile, Lily Moffitt is loving life at Lewis & Clark.
“The Moffitts back home are trying to figure it out and I’m just up here hanging out, having fun, starting my life,” Moffitt said.
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