There would be no standing still this offseason. Not after they weren’t the last team standing when the Big West softball season ended last spring.
And the subject of why the Cal State Fullerton softball team wasn’t the last team standing still stings Kelly Ford eight months later. So much so that the CSUF softball coach spent as little time talking about what happened on a sunny May afternoon in Long Beach as she could — and as much time talking about what transpired from that weekend as she could.
“This group is hungry. That definitely slapped us down,” Ford said, concisely summarizing how the Titans lost the Big West Conference title on the final weekend of the season.
Needing only one win in three games to win their second consecutive Big West title and sixth since 2016, the Titans got swept by Long Beach State, losing the title on the last day of the season and denying Ford her sixth title in 11 seasons. Ford’s astute and audacious scheduling —the Titans had one of the most demanding schedules in the country last year — earned CSUF an at-large NCAA berth and a cross-country trip to Clemson for the regionals, where the Titans went 1-2.
This explains Ford’s succinctness in dismissing how one of her grittiest teams had a conference title snatched and grabbed away. Yes, the Titans were missing their two top-of-the-lineup igniters in Megan Delgadillo and Antonette Dean, who both tore ACLs within four days of each other midway through the season. Ford said losing Delgadillo changed the whole environment like few other athletes she’s ever coached.
And yet, even after the Titans lost two games to Auburn at the Clemson Regional, a quick zoom-out revealed all was not bleak. CSUF went 34-21 with that tough schedule, beating No. 3 Florida and No. 8 Tennessee. Along the way, the Titans gave Ford her 800th career victory by knocking off Oregon State, earned 10 All-Big West accolades and still went 20-7 in conference.
Now, the page turns, and Ford…
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