Reporter

The CSU Bakersfield softball team is looking for a repeat of last season when it won the Western Athletic Conference tournament and earned the program’s first trip to the NCAA Division I Regionals.

For this upcoming season the program is not only setting its sights on winning the WAC yet again, but also going into Regionals and winning as well.

“I think that we [the players] pressure ourselves into winning the WAC again this year more than others,” said junior outfielder Julea Cavazos. “Our standard is winning the WAC, but also winning Regionals and going on to [Super Regionals].”

Last season, CSUB finished with an overall record of 16-34 and a 5-10 record in WAC play.

The Roadrunners earned a third seed for the WAC tournament and defeated second-seed University of Missouri-Kansas City by a score of 4-3.

That set up a rematch from the previous season with New Mexico State University.

However, CSUB defeated top-seeded New Mexico State University, 2-1 to clinch a place in the WAC tournament final.

New Mexico State had earned its spot in the final after beating Seattle University, to set up a rematch against CSUB for the WAC Championship and a spot for NCAA Division I Regionals.

It took all seven innings to decide the winner home run by then-junior catcher Jo Larios to give CSUB a 1-0 victory for the WAC Championship and an automatic bid into the Regionals.

This season, the Roadrunners are looking much different after losing seven seniors and adding six new additions to the team, including four incoming freshmen and two incoming transfers.

“We had seven seniors who led this team,” said CSUB coach Crissy Buck-Ziegler. “But our new additions are definitely boosting us in every aspect. We are considered a dark horse and we need go out and play as hard as we can every pitch”

Confidence will be a key factor for the program to succeed in bringing home another WAC championship,

“It’s something we can work and focus on as a team,” said junior utility player Megan Marcy. “You can see that the players who won last year hold their confidence and we need to take from that.

The Roadrunners opened their season on Friday, Feb. 10 in Las Vegas as a part of the UNLV Sporto Kick Off Classic. CSUB captured its first win of the season with a 5-1 victory over UNLV. Junior starting pitcher Summer Evans pitched a complete game, while only allowing one earned run.

However, CSUB dropped its other four games over the weekend and finished the weekend with a record of 1-4.

The Roadrunners were originally scheduled to play four games in Long Beach starting on Saturday, Feb. 18.  However, due to inclement weather, CSUB will now only play two games on Sunday, Feb. 19. The Roadrunners will take on the University of Utah at 9 a.m. and Long Beach State at 2 p.m.