2010: A Magical, Historical Softball Season

In the 2010 season Saint Mary's Softball made history, winning the first conference championship in program history. The Pacific Coast Softball Conference was made up of 12 quality teams, including peers now in the West Coast Conference. The Gaels finished with a 30-23 (14-4, PCSC) record and earned the program's first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. 

Excerpts of interviews with teammates Kat Delpit ’10, Jenna (Smith) Kim ’10, and Rebecca Sabatini ’12 retell that team’s motivations, successes, and lifelong lessons.

The 2010 Team

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Rebecca Sabatini: Our 2010 team bonded unlike any other team I have ever been a part of… We got two new assistant coaches (led by head coach Jessica Hanaseth) for the 2009–10 season. They brought a structure and a strictness that the SMC softball program had never experienced before.

Jenna Kim: The new coaches came in, and they absolutely just kicked our butt every single day. And you form a bond that way.

Kat Delpit: It was definitely one of my most physically and mentally challenging seasons that I had at Saint Mary's. We were really pushed to our limits in preseason with conditioning and practicing. At the time, I hated it.

Kim: I remember doing what we called Dirty Dozens my senior year: It's 144 sprints.

Sabatini: Our practice and conditioning time doubled, if not tripled, and we had to learn to lean on each other to get through the season. It was incredibly difficult mentally but it bonded us as teammates more than ever before, and it showed in the way we competed on the field.

"The new coaches came in, and they absolutely just kicked our butt every single day." 

–Jenna (Smith) Kim ’10

A Four-Year Turnaround

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Delpit and Kim were the only seniors on the 2010 team. Four years earlier they entered the Saint Mary’s Softball program—which had a 5–49 record the year prior.  

Kim: Kat Delpit and I played club softball together in high school, and we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. And so the biggest thing was that mentality of “We're not going to keep a losing program.”

Delpit: We were coming in and we just started putting in the work, putting in the fight every year. Then finally our senior year to make program history and win our conference.

Kim: It was wanting to be better for Saint Mary's. A lot of the other sports were improving [Volleyball, Women's Tennis, and Men’s Basketball won conference championships in the 2009–10 year, —Ed.] and we wanted to be part of that train.

Sabatini: At the beginning of the 2010 year, we sat down and mapped the season out with exactly how many games we needed to win and how many we could afford to lose and still win conference. It felt amazing having that roadmap and inevitably following through with our goals. It made all the long days of practice, the endless hours of conditioning, the extra batting cage sessions all feel worth it. 

Delpit: We were unstoppable. It was the best feeling when you put in the work and you do the preparation. When you do all of that, and then you see the success at the end—it's worth it.

Winning the Championship

Kim: It really came down to the last game. And our freshman hit a home run to clinch it. It was just one of those moments. You've worked so hard towards something.

Delpit: When we won, it was just euphoric. And you're asking yourself: Are you sure? Is this for real? Am I dreaming?

Sabatini: My favorite moment of the season was definitely after that final out, our team dogpiling in the middle of the field in celebration (and of course the celebratory champagne shower!). Just being there in that historical moment with my team and all of our friends and family cheering for us felt surreal. 

Kim: We had talked about for weeks prior that we all wanted to win that championship ring. That was something that was important to us.

"We were unstoppable." 

–Kat Delpit ’10

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Life Lessons

Kim: Being an athlete, it gives you that mentality of being able to just get through stuff. That's what I take on a day-to-day basis. Besides being a good teammate, being a good friend, and a good wife. All of that I was taught through athletics. But that mentality of: I can do hard things and I can get through this. I impart that wisdom on to my kids’ teams.

Sabatini: Being a student-athlete at SMC shaped me as a person in more ways than I can count. It taught me how to prioritize my time for the things that matter to me, as well as how to work well with a team to accomplish a common goal. I work as an operating room nurse now, so working as a team is still very relevant in my everyday life. 

Delpit: My all four years there, I still have my best some of my best friends are from the team that year and from previous years. So we really were like a family and still are to this day.

Sabatini: The connections I made while at SMC and the friendships I made as a student athlete have played a huge role in helping me become the person I am today. I will always be grateful to SMC for that. 

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This Year's WCC Title Team

Delpit: We try to go to the alumni game every year. And this year, it was clear that this team was really special. So I wasn't even surprised that they had won the conference title this year.

Kim: Right away, it kind of seemed like they were at a different caliber than the past couple years. Sonja Garnett (current head coach) is so great. She's just such an amazing coach, she really wants the alumni involved.

Kim: It's been fun watching them because you could just tell that their pitching staff had it. 

Sabatini: Good luck Gaels on your NCAA postseason run, your Gael alumni are rooting for you! God is a Gael! 

NCAA REGIONALS: Saint Mary's faces Stanford in the NCAA Regional on Friday at 7 p.m. Cheer on the Gaels in-person or watch on ESPN2. 

PREGAME PARTY: Alumni, families, and fans are invited to a complimentary, no-host Pregame Party in Palo Alto at 4:30 p.m.

ALUMNI STORIES: Got an alumni story to share? Get in contact with Bryan Navarro '10.

Story updated May 17 at 1:30 a.m. Pacific.