Douglas High senior Talia Tretton, right, smiles as she signs her National Letter of Intent to play softball at the University of Iowa next year. Tretton was Nevada’s Gatorade Softball Player of the Year in 2023 and was ranked as the No. 25 pitcher in the nation, per Extra Innings Softball.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
Douglas High School senior Talia Tretton has had her college plans picked out for a while now, and she made it official Wednesday by signing with the University of Iowa’s softball program.
A top 25 pitcher in the nation, according to Extra Innings Softball, Tretton verbally committed to becoming a Hawkeye during her junior season.
“This year, I can just relax. I don’t have to worry about recruitment or anything,” said Tretton. “It was pretty easy to pick Iowa.”
Joining the Hawkeyes
Iowa competes in the BIG 10 conference. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 35-27 campaign last season.
Tretton will play for head coach Renee Gillispie, who completed her fifth season in charge of the program in 2023.
“Just the atmosphere. Everybody supports everything. My last visit we were there during homecoming,” said Tretton.
Tretton still has a senior season to play at Douglas, but she expects to be pitching and hitting at Iowa.
“I have a role that they already want me, but I still have a lot of work to do,” said Tretton.
The 2023 Nevada State Gatorade Player of the Year is not too concerned about moving away from home.
She’s been adamant she wants to explore and learn how to become more independent.
On the field, the two-time Northern Nevada Player of the Year says her level-headedness is one of her strongest suits.
“I think my composure or ability to be a leader,” said Tretton.
The recruitment process was stressful initially as the 2023 Nevada MaxPreps Player of the Year was fielding many phone calls.
“It was enjoyable, but it was really stressful,” Tretton said. “It was a lot to take in as a 16-year-old.”
Tretton has already cemented herself as one of the best softball players in school history. In three seasons, Tretton has 523 strikeouts. Last season, she recorded 193 of those in 119.2 innings with a 1.70 ERA.
Tretton’s changeup is arguably her best strikeout pitch and it has repeatedly folded hitters over themselves as they anticipate, and try to catch up to, her fastball.
Tretton recorded a hit every other time she stepped to the plate, posting a .500 average over 133 at-bats.
She smashed 14 home runs, 14 doubles and drove in a team-high 47 RBIs.
With 26 home runs in her career, Tretton is three homers away from cracking the NIAA’s record book of most home runs in a career.
Commitment to travel softball
Tretton has likely compiled plenty of frequent flyer miles with her commitment to travel softball.
After spending multiple years commuting to Las Vegas, the Tiger senior has spent this last offseason flying to Texas to continue challenging herself against the best in the country.
“It’s been a pretty huge commitment once high school hit. I was traveling every other weekend or every weekend,” said Tretton.
The travel schedule will certainly have prepped Tretton for the commutes to other BIG 10 programs.
When she first started playing softball year-round, it was just to get a chance to play at the next level.
“I really, truly wanted to play softball in college,” Tretton said. “I didn’t care where at that point. It kind of feels surreal that I just signed to play Division I softball.”
Tretton says she is still on the fence about exactly what she wants to study, but is leaning toward a major in psychology to become a sports psychologist. She said she’s also considering becoming a teacher.