Softball Transfer Portal

Kylie Shaw joins Auburn softball for 2026 season - Auburn Tigers - Official Athletics Website

Doesnt look like played enough to know much, but any good?

 

If you can’t afford and attract the best in the portal you can’t afford and attract the best recruits. Seems to me we have to “mine” the portal, looking for players with potential and fit.

 

She was a speedy OF and the best player on a small 2A high school that won a state championship her senior year. She was ranked in the Top 75 of high school recruits in last year's recruiting class, but was pretty much used this year by Florida as a pinch runner. She played for her high school varsity team starting in 8th grade and had a career BA of .556. Her travel team was Rock-Gold Waye/Manetta 18U. I know nothing about the travel ball circuit, so maybe @rickjs1 will throw in his knowledge to help.

 

Desiderio is also listed as an infielder, so maybe she has some versatility. She appears to be an excellent defensive catcher. It doesn't look like she played for South Carolina in 2025 and only hit .148 for them in 2024, .252 in 2023. Looks like 2 years of eligibility left and hope she can contribute.

Giulia Desiderio

 

Sounds like starting CF... AU replacing entire lineup minus Soph to be Adams at 1b/DH. Think this was 4th portal get and 2 were Ps(Rutgers & Ole Miss) so expect theyll be adding more positions player if can.

 

I'm sorry but not very impressed. Looks to me as though CTW is accumulating people just to fill out the roster. Hope I'm wrong and I usually am.

 

I’m not young enough to do backflips anymore but I’m not seeing any reason to do backflips in the first place. Tomorrow all will be revealed. Hang our hearts on tomorrow’s roster, today’s roster is just speculation.

 

So, who knows anything about her? She isn't shown on their 2025 roster and doesn't appear in the stats. Was she hurt? I'm guessing she is going to be a senior.

 

Maybe ended up not being happy with coaching change but didnt transfer mid-season like AK. Finished her degree at SC. She's a Florida girl coming home

 

We need depth. We've been at our best when we recruit well and develop. Not when we're chasing stars in the portal. We have talent on the bench that needs to be developed. Texas just won a national championship with 3 transfers total. We dont have the capital to get all the big names but if we can get back to coaching and development then we can be successful.

 

See my post #2884 just above.

 

Sorry. Didn't see your post about the kid from SC before I posted. It had scrolled to another page and I didn't see it. As for Rock-Gold. One of the major travel ball circuit surprises the last two years. I believe it was two years ago and they came out of the lower division PGF National Championship brackets and won the whole dang thing. That people were shocked is a vast understatement. They didn't win it all last year but they were very competitive. All of the attention goes to the Batbusters, Mercado, Impact, Texas Bombers, etc...and then somebody like Rock-Gold comes out of nowhere and blows the whole thing apart.

 

While I have had my comments about our two early entries, anyone that wants to review them will note that I have consistently said, with the reservations I expressed, that I think Shaw may actually have some real potential. I think that's a pretty good get for Auburn. Nothing to lose with it.

 

I just added a link to her South Carolina softball page at the bottom of that post. On3 lists her as a senior, USC shows her as a sophomore.

 

I honestly am thinking Desiderio might have been a Graduate Student that just happened to get into UF, lat year would have been her last season at Carolina for educational purposes. It would make sense if CTW just wanted to add her for depth. She is from the Tampa/Clearwater area, played pretty well during travel ball for the Tampa Mustangs

 

Ariel didn't transfer mid-season. She transferred only after fall ball when it was obvious to her, from what I am sure she expected earlier in July when the promises were made to portal acquisitions, that even though she had earned the right to lose her job, it was taken away from her. And she did so knowing that because she didn't enter the portal when the previous season ended, because at that time she had no way of knowing what was going to happen to her, she did so with the full realization that she had been dumped on and would have to sit out a year with the late transfer. Absolutely nobody will ever convince me this wasn't what occurred and why. And for her guaranteed replacement, who in three full SEC seasons, has never matched Ariel's freshman production. And she left, without the usual saving grace on how much she valued her time at UF but, rather, with a two sentence post that thanked nobody, never mentioned her heart being in Texas, and was as obvious a "screw you" post as I have ever seen.

 

I meant transfered after fall. Desidierio may have been the same. And I agree about AK. I think she got shafted and the boyfriend thi g is a half truth. I would have much rather had her instead of chasing stars who Im not sure were the best fits. And yes promises were most likely made to get them. I'm gonna be sick when she's great next year.

 

I’d prefer to just move on. We know who you are and the quality of your insight. Don’t get derailed by the one time posters who claim to be life long bffs with some player yet have no evidence. You offered to post your UF degree, ask them for theirs. P.S. I imagine yours is old and musty, dust it off lol!

 

Tim publicly admitted promises had been made. It is a fact. All of this business about ties to A&M, boyfriends in Texas, are all true as they were when she committed and came to UF. I have never discounted they were a factor in her transferring. BECAUSE they made the decision much easier. But not the reason for leaving. She could have taken the easy way out, left without burning bridges and simply claiming she had to return to Texas. She never did and to my knowledge ever has. All of this BS about the pull back to Texas is simply propaganda to save face at losing a kid we never should have lost.

 

That guy is not worth a second thought to me. And, yes, it is yellowed and frayed on the edges, but the framing has saved most of it to this point.