Mari Takeda Bajan, a senior pitcher for the Gators, threw her pitching glove to the fence in celebration after her pitch was caught during the final out of the 2025 CCAA championship final. Gator softball head coach Alicia Reid saw the emotion and excitement that escaped from the senior, who knew she had just clinched the team’s first CCAA tournament title in San Francisco State University program history. 

“Just a moment of fresh air and breathing and exhaling like ‘all right, we got it done,’” Reid said. 

Mari’s success and contributions to the team, or career in softball for that matter, would not have been possible if she had put down her glove at California State University, Chico.

After Chico State’s softball team concluded their 2023 season with back-to-back losses versus CSU Dominguez Hills in the CCAA final, their relief pitcher from San Jose, Mari, ran into a junction in her time on the mound.

Mari, at the time a sophomore Wildcat, thought about quitting the sport she had played since her childhood after a negative experience with the Chico State softball coaching staff. Her initial plan was to remain at Chico State and finish her education with her best friends, including other teammates who also quit. 

“I just kept thinking about it, and I’m like ‘I’ll just put my name in the portal and see what happens,’” Mari said. “I knew I wanted to finish my four years. I didn’t want to play two and regret it in the future, which I knew I would.”

Entering the NCAA transfer portal led her to San Francisco State University, where her parents, Myuki and Mark, met and graduated from. After talking to head coach Alicia Reid and some players, Mari grew interested in donning the purple and gold out on the diamond.

Mari’s love for softball began when a friend from her basketball team suggested she come and join the Almaden Valley Girls Softball League. The mental and team aspects of softball intrigued the 8-year-old girl, who decided to play pitcher when she first saw the field and felt the ball in her hand. She wanted to have a role in every play.

Mark said Mari is the same on and off the field.

“She’s got a good sense of humor,” Mark said. “She’s got an easy way about her. She’s not a big talker, but when she does talk, she talks in meaningful ways.” 

Her parents credit Mari’s longtime pitching coach, George Silvey, in developing and coaching her pitching and mental skills, advising Mari not to show emotion or fear on the field. Silvey’s coaching, mixed with meditation, helped Mari be able to keep calm on the field. 

As Mari grew up and developed her skills and mindset, she played on the San Jose Sting club team and the Pioneer High School team, winning Most Valuable Player and was recognized as Hamilton Valley League Pitcher of the Year in 2018. 

After high school, Mari took her talents to Chico State, wanting to experience something different than the Bay Area. 

Following the conclusion of the 2023 CCAA championships, Mari was unsure whether she’d wear the glove and fielder’s mask again. Her grandparents encouraged her to continue playing.

“When they heard that I quit, they were like ‘Oh my god. You can’t stop now. You have to finish,’” Mari said. “That was probably my No. 1 reason for looking to transfer and ending up coming to San Francisco State.” 

After she entered the transfer portal, Mari narrowed her options to CSU Monterey Bay and SFSU. After those conversations with Reid and her soon-to-be teammates, she said to herself, “I’ll give it a shot.”

“It’s kind of funny how I ended up here because in high school, I just wanted to get out of the Bay Area… but it’s really nice coming back here,” Mari said. “It feels like home, especially since they went here and they’re so close to me now.”

Mari’s start as a Gator had one unforeseen setback when she was bitten by a dog in September 2023, which meant she would miss the first scrimmage game. Combined with her previous experiences at Chico, she felt her confidence wavering. Reid stepped up and helped rebuild that foundation of confidence in her new pitcher. 

“She’s a tough one to crack. She’s going to be her hardest critic all the time,” said Reid. “I tried to balance that out by being the inflating positivity around her. I’m definitely not going to be a bs-er and kind of pat her on the back if I know she’s not too thrilled about what just happened. I’m not going to necessarily tell her, ‘Oh it’s okay,’ because she doesn’t roll with that. That’s not how Mari is.” 

Myuki attributed Reid’s coaching strategy to getting Mari back in the game.

“Coach Reid has been pivotal to her confidence,” Myuki said. “She [Mari] wanted to quit. I think she quit in her mind. And so, even when she did decide to continue to play softball and come here, Coach Reid was just instrumental, guiding her through that process, a little PTSD from where she was before. But coming here and the coach really understanding where she was coming from and how much confidence she had in Mari was just out of this world.” 

Mark said the move to SFSU from Chico State was a change of scenery. 

“The coach’s mindset was always ‘You’re doing okay here,’ but every bad pitching outing, she would get on her, make her doubt herself, make Mari doubt herself,” said Mark, referring to a coach at Chico State. “That was a very different experience when she came here. I think the confidence that Coach Reid had in Mari over the last two years, not only on the field, but also off the field as a person, really made a positive difference.”

Reid made the pitcher’s career-changing call to have Mari as a strong starter for the team.

“She was really comfortable on her arrival of the role of a relief pitcher,” Reid said. “But I felt she could be a dominant starter in this conference.”

Mari’s senior season began with a familiar face. Ashley Rocha, Mari’s former teammate from Chico, transferred to SFSU.

“Being able to have her here was so great,” Rocha said. “Mari was a great role model for me and mentor through all of it.” 

Rocha and Reid have known Mari to be the biggest supporter of her squad on and off the field. 

“She’s everyone’s biggest supporter when she’s on the mound,” Rocha said. “We know that we have her back and she has our back. She’s always supportive, even when she’s not pitching, she’s the loudest cheer for whoever’s pitching in all of our team.” 

Reid described Mari as goal-driven and extremely friendly.

“You want to have many people like that in your program,” Reid said. “Sure, the competitive on the softball side is great, but I always say it’s about the relationships that you hopefully can take long after this experience.”

With time and growth in Mari’s role, she embraced and adjusted to being a starter. From pitching half a game at Chico State after a starter to pitching more complete games at SFSU, it drove her confidence to new heights. 

Reid saw a switch flip for Mari in an 11-inning win against CSU San Marcos on March 9, 2024, where a shutout and only nine hits proved Mari herself to be the pitcher Reid saw in her. 

In Mari’s senior season in 2025, her confidence and comfort were reflected in her stats with a 19-7 record and four shutouts. 

Those assets carried into this season, where the Gators faced the San Marcos Cougars six times.

When the Gators reached the championship game, two worlds collided for Mari. 

For Mari and Rocha, the win was especially meaningful; they remembered losing in their previous CCAA championship together at Chico State.

“It was just an awesome feeling knowing that we made history and completed one of our goals that we had for this season,” Rocha said.

This year, the Gators softball team played and hosted the NCAA Western Regionals for the first time in its program history. Though the Cougars ended up winning, the season marked a tremendous journey for Mari. 

“It’s really to her strength and resilience that she was able to continue and get to this point, but not without the support of her coaching staff and players, ‘cause one person can’t do it all,” Myuki said.