History has been made yet again for the Sonoma State Softball program as they have now been named the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular season champions. This has been a historic season for the program, being at the top of their league and pitching the program’s first perfect game, earning a multitude of weekly CCAA player awards from start to finish of the regular season, and now being named the best in their conference. The coaches’ and players’ hard work is finally paying off.

‘Be the one,’ is a saying on the team and they have upheld it throughout the season, “It means to be the one to get the job done, be the one that gets the winning run across the plate, be the one to get the sacrifice bunt done… I think it’s really cool we were the ones that finally did it,” said junior infielder Giana Hays when asked what it felt like to be crowned champions of the conference.

Head Coach Jennifer Bridges was reluctant to win their regular season title, as any coach would be, but she clarified that winning it with this team was something remarkable. With nine seniors on the roster, these players have been through the grind and finally reached the goal they’ve been striving for since freshman year. 

When asked about factors she believed played a role in winning their conference, Hays mentioned how great the team chemistry has been, also attributing it to psychology. “For the past 2-3 years we have been working with a sports psychologist twice a month. Actively working on our mental game and being taught the proper tools on how to deal with high stress/pressure situations has been a complete game changer.

Senior pitcher Nichole Sarra spoke about how helpful the level of comradery is for the success of the team. “It is rare to find a team where everyone genuinely gets along, but we have been able to build that culture of the last few years,” Sarra said. The senior also brought up the amount of dedication to both the sport and to each other that everyone on the team must demonstrate in order for the team to make it farther than they have before. 

The Seawolves finished their last regular season series against CSU Dominguez Hills on Saturday. The team fell short in the first game on Friday, ending it 3-2, and came up with a quick and easy win in game two, the final score being 12-1 to conclude day one of the series. That same day, senior catcher Jordyn Martinez set a new school record that same day by achieving 148 career RBIs. Unfortunately, on Saturday SSU lost their last two games against CSUDH, ending the first one at 2-0 and the later game 6-2.

So what comes after the softball team’s regular season? Hayes said they call this “The Road to the Show.” At this point in the year, the team works from winning their conference to looking at regionals. Here they get a chance to progress to super regionals, and then finally get to The World Series in Chattanooga, Tenn.