Top NCAA softball pitcher Maya Johnson enters transfer portal from Belmont

Maya Johnson will likely have her pick of several top programs to continue her collegiate softball career.

The left-handed junior pitcher from Belmont, who led the nation in strikeouts this season, entered the transfer portal on Thursday.

Tabbed as the Pitcher of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference and a second team All-American selection by Softball America, Johnson easily becomes one of the best players available in the portal and someone who can raise the ceiling for a program next season.

A 6-foot redshirt junior from Columbia Station, Ohio, Johnson led all Division I pitchers in multiple statistical categories this season, including strikeouts (366), strikeout-to-walk ratio (16.64), shutouts (11), strikeouts per seven innings (12.4), and walks allowed per seven innings (.74). She was also seventh nationally in ERA (1.52), fifth in complete games (23), third in hits allowed per seven innings (3.82), and 11th in victories with a 24-6 record. Johnson tallied wins over Power 4 programs that made the NCAA Tournament like Arizona State and Georgia Tech.

Johnson was a big reason why Belmont made the NCAA Tournament this season for the first time ever. She was named MVP of the MVC Tournament, striking out 35 batters and notching three wins in 18 innings of work.

Belmont was eliminated by Virginia Tech in the Tuscaloosa Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Across three seasons with the Bruins, Johnson posted a career ERA of 1.63 and has piled up 757 strikeouts in 458 innings pitched.

Johnson should have a ton of interest from major programs. Out of high school, she spent her freshman year at Pitt but took a redshirt after not getting medically cleared to play because of her Lupus diagnosis. Johnson overcame that obstacle and transferred to Belmont where she blossomed into a star. She is now a brand ambassador for the Lupus Foundation of America.