UC San Diego softball (1-3, 0-0 Big West) hosted the Brigham Young Cougars (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) at Triton Softball Field on Thursday, Feb. 6, to begin their 2025 season. It was also the opening game of the La Jolla Invitational tournament — the first of five in three days for the Tritons.
Thursday night also marked the debut of head coach Nikki Palmer, who graduated from UCSD in 2007. Palmer served as a coach at UC Riverside for eight years, where she became the winningest softball coach in UCR history.
Palmer reflected on how it feels to return to her alma mater in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “I really have no words for that,” she said. “It’s a magical, amazing thing. You get the dream job, you get to come home, and get to serve a program that gave me so much. [I’m] looking forward to continuing to grow with this team because we have a lot of young talent and they have a bright future.”
Palmer looked to get off to a hot start in her first game at the helm for the Tritons, but pre-game technical difficulties delayed that wish. Before the umpire could say, “play ball,” audio hiccups prevented the stadium crew from silencing the sound system until five minutes after the designated start time.
Senior pitcher India Caldwell got the start for the Tritons, and she found herself in an early jam. Caldwell walked the first two hitters, and the third laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third base. She walked the next hitter, loading the bases. Caldwell then fielded her own position, getting the force out at home for the second out of the inning, and she struck out the final hitter on a 2-2 count, looking. Caldwell pumped her fists in celebration as the Tritons escaped the first inning unscathed.
When asked about Caldwell’s outing, Palmer said, “She’s really tough. She’s been battle-tested, and she’s a tough competitor. It doesn’t surprise that she was able to work her way out of that [first inning], and everybody’s got a lot of nerves on opening night, so I think there’s a lot that we’re going to be able to work through, and we’re just committed to the process.”
In the bottom of the first, after two quick outs, junior catcher and third baseman Lily Hermosillo roped a line-drive double down the left field line. Unfortunately, the Tritons could not capitalize on her hit, and the score remained 0-0.
The second inning was quiet for both teams, but in the bottom of the third inning, senior outfielder Morgan Eng beat out a swinging bunt to the pitcher. On an 0-1 count, she stole second base and later advanced to third base on a wild pitch. However, the Tritons could not get her home and left the inning with no runs.
In the fourth inning, BYU notched the first run of the game on a solo home run over the center field wall. After retiring the following Cougars, it appeared the Tritons were ready to punch back. Sophomore infielder Zara Wasserman doubled off the wall, nearly tying the game with a home run. Unfortunately, it was more of the same for the Tritons, who went down in order to end the inning.
In the fifth, the Cougars woke up their bats. Junior pitcher Claire Adams entered the game to pitch for the Tritons. Despite a promising start to the inning, things went downhill fast. Senior shortstop Marissa Hassis converted an unassisted double play, clearing the bases. However, the Cougars quickly manufactured two runners and subsequently hit a two-run triple down the right field line. Freshman outfielder Emma Umemura tracked the ball and looked like she was going to make a play on it. Umemura dove for the ball near the foul ball line, but it fell just short of her reach. The ball rolled all the way to the fence, and BYU cleared the bases.
A few pitches later, the runner on third scored on a passed ball, making it 4-0 Cougars. The Tritons struggled to get the final out of the inning, until BYU flew out to right field, stranding the runner on third. The deficit stood at four runs — but not for long.
In the sixth inning, BYU plated four more runs to increase their lead to 8-0. The Tritons failed to score in the bottom half of the inning, and the game ended under the NCAA run-ahead rule.
After the game, Palmer discussed the team’s mindset heading into the next four games of the La Jolla Invitational.
“I think we’ve seen one of the harder competitors that’s here this weekend, so it sets the bar high right away for us,” she said. “We have some good things to take with us, and some things we want to leave behind, so I’m excited to go into tomorrow.”
The Tritons went 1-2 in their remaining three games of the La Jolla Invitational. They now head to the Bay Area to play the University of Illinois Chicago, San Jose State, Colorado State, and Santa Clara. The Tritons will return to Triton Softball Stadium on Feb. 26 to host their cross-town rivals, the University of San Diego.
