The San Francisco State University Gators were facing a 5-4 deficit in the series finale against the California State University, East Bay Pioneers in the eighth inning. It was a dire situation for the home squad, who was already down 2-1 in the weekend series.
Daniella Guerrera was at bat with the bases loaded and no outs. Ashley Rocha at first base, Liana Gonzalez at second and Marley Gonzales at third. Guerrera had a full count (three balls, two strikes) through five pitches from Pioneers’ Marissa Quintero.
Guerrera swung and the ball flew towards the third base line. The crowd rose to their feet and were their loudest as Gonzales and Gonzalez ran home for two runs that would seal the walk-off win for the Gators.
“It’s amazing. It was just great to get that key hit to win the game. I’m just so happy for my team. Just to be able to do it for them and to get the win is an amazing feeling,” Guerrera said.
The now 15-11 Gators and 20-8 Pioneers walked off the SFSU Softball Field on Saturday with an even 2-2 series through four complete games. The Gators remain third in the conference, while the Pioneers remain in first.
“We’re both battling for the top, and that’s a good test for us in conference play,” said head coach Alicia Reid. “Our conference is so competitive that every weekend is really important, and you’re playing against good teams. It’s good pressure moments for our team to be in before postseason.”
The Gators took an early lead in the first game of the series against their crossbay visitors with Marissa Jordan advancing to home plate off of a wild pitch from the Pioneers. The hosts held that lead until the Pioneers scored five consecutive runs, leading to a 5-1 loss for the Gators.
The second game began similarly to the first, but spectators saw a different ending. An early homer to left field by senior right fielder Guerrera put the Gators up 1-0 early in the first inning. No one from the Pioneers responded against the home squad’s defense and senior pitcher Mari Takeda Bajan’s pitching shutout, which tied the series at one all.
“It was a great feeling because there’s times where I’ve gotten up and I’ve failed before,” Guerrera said. “It was just great to get that key hit to win the game.”
“It’s huge for us to be able to put up some runs, and hopefully our defense and pitching can maintain that lead the whole time,” Reid said.
In the third game, the Pioneers scored six runs in the first inning before the Gators changed their pitchers in an effort to stop the bleeding. The Pioneers scored two more runs through the next four innings.
With no response in the bottom fifth, the Gators were ”run ruled” for the first time this season, according to a post from their Instagram. The run rule is when an active game could conclude early after one team has a high number of runs through a certain amount of innings.
Bajan and the Gators shut out the Pioneers in the first inning of the fourth game. Gonzalez’s diving catch for the third out brought the crowd to their feet and cheers were heard across the playing field.
The Gators opened their turn on offense with two early runs by Gonzales and Jordan in the first inning. It was a change of trajectory in this series and an early confidence booster for the squad looking to even things up with the Pioneers, who would score once before the seventh inning.
The crowd erupted in cheers after the two scores by the home squad.
Gonzales embraced her leadership role, crediting the team’s mindset.
“We have the same goal,” Gonzales said. “We want to have that hardware in the end. The confidence that I have in my team and myself just stems from practice, being able to goof around but still able to lock in and perform how we do.”
The Gators would cruise through the final game until the seventh inning when the Pioneers broke out of a one-point deficit and gained a 3-2 lead. The Gators needed to respond to avoid a 3-1 series loss to the Pioneers. That was when Rocha scored, tying the game at 3 and sending her team to the eighth inning.
Bajan collected her 12th win of the season after the fourth game concluded, despite allowing more runs in the series finale than in the second game.
“Everybody buying in and just having the mindset of ‘we’re going to do it,’ ‘we’re going to push them through,’” Bajan said. “We just gotta keep trying, and it ended up happening eventually.”
Another key element was the successful double plays by the Gators’ defense, which Bajan said the team focused on when they faced Pioneers’ hitters.
Reid said the team expected a “dogfight” with the Pioneers but that “the great thing about softball is you’re going to always have that next opportunity.”
“We got punched in the face first game but came back and we said we got to have short term memory,” Reid said. “Walking away with a split, it’s not winning the series, but at the same time, it’s not losing the series. This group really believes in each other and that we’re never truly out of the game.”
The Gators will travel to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt to finish two postponed games against the Lumberjacks on April 15. Afterward, they will visit California State University, Stanislaus on April 18-19.
