After scoring the first two runs against the Biola University Eagles at the Concordia Kickoff Classic in Irvine, California, the San Francisco State University Gators softball team gave up 10 runs in two innings, losing their first non-conference game of the 2026 season.
Head coach Alicia Reid reminded the team after the game that there is still a whole season to play.
“The first game, we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, a lot of shooting ourselves in the foot, if you will,” Reid said. “We talked after the game of saying, ‘Look, it’s game one. No one’s hitting the panic button, and if we clean up some of our mistakes, you’re gonna be in a much better position to compete with teams and hopefully be on the other side of that and get some wins.’”
After their tough loss to the Eagles, the Gators cleaned up their mistakes. The team secured three wins over the weekend, including a 12-3 win over the No. 3 ranked Western Washington University on Saturday and an extra-inning victory against Western Oregon University on Sunday.
Gators softball welcomed 12 new faces to the team in its 17-player roster, including freshman outfielder Olivia Mares who made an effective first impression with eight runs in her first five games.
Mares felt thrilled following her early contributions to the team and to start at the top of the lineup over the past weekend.
“I really had no expectations going into the weekend, so I’m super happy with what happened and that I was able to help carry my team and get those wins,” Mares said.
Gators softball has responded to a loss before with a stronger approach in the next game. The Gators’ returning athletes have seen both ends of the postseason spotlight just last year with their deep playoff run into the West Regionals.
With a significant makeover of the team, Reid looks to take advantage of the pre-conference stretch of their season to experiment with new lineups.
“We graduated a lot last year, so you’ve got a lot of new, fresh faces, young faces, with the returning core we have from last year’s group who has postseason experience under their belt, hopefully bringing that leadership along to the new people,” Reid said. “Showing them our expectations, daily habits, coming in, working hard, putting in the effort, being good team players.”
Former Sonoma State University catcher Taylor Rapp is among the new faces, previously a Seawolves athlete before the campus cut all its athletics following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. The incoming senior was looking for the right fit at a university with a competitive softball program in the same conference as the Seawolves, while remaining close to home for her family to attend her games. That’s when she sought out SFSU.
“I knew that going to San Francisco State was going to mean going to a great team, and they welcomed me with open arms,” Rapp said. “I felt like this team was family since the moment I got here and they’ve treated me amazingly.”
Rapp also feels that the Gators understand the difficulty of transferring from a program she intended on being at for all four years of college.
“They’ve been super great at making me feel like all the knowledge I’ve gained [that] it wasn’t for nothing at Sonoma State,” Rapp said. “They’ve been great in telling me that I’m wanted and I’m good with the tools that I’ve already come in with… they have answered all the questions that I’ve had and all the culture changes and differences between my old program and this program.”
Reid said every game will be individual “building blocks” as the Gators look to turn the page after every game and bring experience ahead of the conference season beginning in March.
“It’s a huge benefit to be able to get more non-conference games under your belt so you can hopefully go into conference starting to be on full cylinders of everyone on the same page,” Reid said.
