UO softball standout back on diamond as a pro, after break for 8 rounds of chemo

Paige Sinicki has had tougher Tuesdays.

Last week’s was pretty lax — a day of light movement and body recovery to give her and her Portland Cascade professional softball teammates some rest before an Athletes Unlimited Softball League game on Wednesday against Utah.

It’s Sinicki’s first full season as a pro, and after her time at University of Oregon, she’s still getting into the rhythm of the summer schedule.

“I just think everything we do is very intentional,” Sinicki said. “So it’s just about understanding what things you need individually that help you perform best, but then also understanding and knowing what everyone else needs.”

Sinicki, 23, will be the first to admit that her needs in July 2026 are different than they were eight months ago.

Then, Sinicki was beginning a battle with breast cancer, a diagnosis she first revealed publicly in June.

“This past year, I would say I went from the best moments of my life to the hardest,” Sinicki said in a video posted to her Instagram. “The Big Ten championship, the Women’s College World Series, graduated, played pro and was re-drafted to play in the AUSL. Then, on Nov. 11, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.”

Before the diagnosis, Sinicki was the consummate five-tool athlete for the Ducks. She finished her senior year by hitting for average (.376) and power (.652 slugging percentage), showing off her speed on the base paths with 32 steals and ending her collegiate career with 193 consecutive starts at shortstop.

Sinicki was serving as an assistant coach at the University of Utah when she first discovered a lump while taking a shower. But the game went on: The AUSL held its 2026 Allocation Draft in December, and Portland selected Sinicki in the fourth round.

The Cascade are in their first season in the AUSL, which formed in 2025 and has six teams.

“I’m so thankful for the chance to be part of Cascade,” she said at the time, “and can’t wait for what’s ahead.”

Next, however, came eight rounds of chemotherapy, along with surgery and radiation. It was a gauntlet, but one that seemed oddly familiar.

“I just felt like each treatment was kind of like a Pac-12 or Big Ten series,” Sinicki told Lookout Eugene-Springfield on June 14. “I think we had like eight or nine of them. The end of treatment was hardest, and that’s the same with softball. You keep going through series and series, and your body gets worn down and you have to be mentally stronger.

“So I kind of compared going through my eight rounds of chemo to eight series of softball and a season near its end. Just being able to relate it to softball helped me kind of understand what I needed to continue to push through my fight with breast cancer.”

Here’s the thing: Sinicki has won a lot of softball series.

At Oregon, she led the Ducks to a 19-3 record in Big Ten play as a senior, a regular-season conference title and Oregon’s first Women’s College World Series appearance in seven years.

In June 2026, seven months after her diagnosis, Sinicki went public with her fight.

“I choose to attack each moment with gratitude, heart, growth and grit, because I know that’s what it takes for me to beat this,” Sinicki said. “I get to write my story, and I choose to write it this way, because no struggle is big enough to take you away from what you want most. Cancer has not and will not take away from the things I love.”

She ended her post with: “I look forward to seeing you all on the field this summer.”

Sinicki completed her last round of radiation on June 10. About a month later, hope became reality.

In the fifth inning against Carolina on July 7, Sinicki entered as a defensive replacement at second base. She wore a chest guard under her jersey to protect her incisions from surgery, and cleanly fielded a grounder for the second out of the inning.

She then grounded out in her lone at-bat. Sinicki rarely went hitless during her time with the Ducks. But this was softball — and the beauty of the game is that one never has to wait too long for another opportunity.

Sinicki was ready.

After going 0-for-2 in her second game, she broke through against Chicago. Sinicki went 3-for-3 with a triple in the first game of the series, beginning a hitting streak that reached four games with a hit Wednesday against Utah.

She’s batting .400, has started four games at second base and is settling back into the life and career she fought so hard for.

“I’ve gone through some of the hardest things, and I just have the right mindset and perspective to literally just take each day one at a time,” Sinicki said. “I feel like nothing is really overwhelming to me because I’m just grateful for where my feet are, and that I have the opportunity to compete and do the thing I love most.”