UC San Diego softball (4-1, 0-0 Big West) kicked off its 2026 season beating Wagner College (1-4, 0-0 NEC) 11-3 on Thursday at Triton Softball Stadium — the first of five games the team played in the La Jolla Invitational.
Last season, UCSD began with a 3-18 record before rallying to finish sixth overall in the Big West, punching a ticket to the Big West Championship tournament. This season, the Tritons will look to improve on last year’s shaky start.
“Comparing this to last fall, coming in, we didn’t really have expectations,” junior second baseman Elise Nishimura said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “It felt really good. If you put in the work, the outcome will come.”
The Seahawks opened the scoring in the top of the first, scoring three runs off of a fielding error by junior first baseman Zara Wasserman and four walks. They would not score for the rest of the game.
The Tritons responded immediately. Senior outfielder Haley Garcia opened the bottom of the inning with a triple, followed by a single from sophomore first baseman Maalia Cherry that ran Garcia back in.
The Tritons and starting pitcher Lauren Rozell denied Wagner the chance to score in the second, grounding out three Seahawk batters in a row at first. UCSD surged back in the bottom of the second to take control of the lead — Nishimura was hit by a pitch and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from junior second baseman Jackie Tremper. Sophomore outfielder Samantha Womack and sophomore second baseman Marley Espiau then both contributed RBI hits, with Womack scoring off of Espiau’s triple. Garcia scored from first and sophomore shortstop Alyssa Doucette closed the inning with a two-RBI single, increasing the Tritons’ lead to 6-3.
The Tritons added another run in the third — Espiau singled to allow Nishimura to reach home. Doucette hit a solo home run in the fourth, extending the Tritons’ lead to 8-3.
The fifth inning provided the Tritons the opportunity to end the game two innings early, and they pounced on it. After two quick outs, Espiau was hit with a pitch and advanced to second on a single from Garcia. Garcia reached home on an error, allowing Espiau to score. A dramatic error on behalf of the Seahawks — a ball that just escaped multiple gloves — allowed another Triton run. Doucette doubled to allow sophomore pinch-hitter Tyla Arbuckle to score the final run of the night.
The Tritons’ 11-run night gave them a win in their first game of the season — a stark contrast from last season’s 8-0 opening loss to BYU.
The game saw eight of nine Triton starting hitters’ record hits. Five players made their debuts for the Tritons: Arbuckle, Doucette, Cherry, Espiau, and freshman pitcher Callie Howard.
The thrilling win set the tone for the rest of the weekend. The Tritons played four additional games over the course of the La Jolla Invitational, defeating Wagner 6-2 for a second game on Friday. UCSD went on to notch an 11-3 win against St. Louis on Friday, as well as a 10-5 loss to Montana and a 3-0 victory against St. Louis on Saturday. The Tritons will return to play another five in the USD/UCSD Co-Host Tournament from Thursday, Feb. 12, to Saturday, Feb. 14.
