In the last couple of weeks SF State’s softball team has been on fire. They have put together a ten-game winning streak and have currently won 15 of their last 19 games. This may be surprising to some people since the Gators have had losing seasons in the past, but if you know anything about head coach Kristi Lansford, you know she gets the job done. It may take a while, but it gets done.

Lansford is in her fourth year as Gator head coach, but she's come a long way since her winning ways at SF State. In fact, if you look at her past it’s hard to believe that she is still involved in softball.

“Softball was much different when I was a kid than it is now,” Lansford said. “I was the neighborhood tomboy and all of my friends played little league baseball. With birth certificate in hand, I went with them to sign-up. They sent me home because I was a girl and I became their scorekeeper.”

It didn’t get much easier for Lansford to play once it came time for high school, as there was no softball program to take part in.

“I played volleyball, basketball and ran track,” Lansford said. “ A friend of mine and I petitioned for a softball team and my dad built a small field. I can't really say that I learned much, but it was by far my best sport.”

After high school Lansford drifted all over the place. She started out in Masters College but quit as she struggled with her punctuality. She then carried a couple jobs, one in which she delivered auto paint, before deciding to give the Air Force a try. After four years, she became a surgical technician before serving at a private hospital for two more years. After seeing an experienced nurse get lashed out for something she thought was not the nurse’s fault, Lansford decided to go back to school at Porterville Community College, near Bakersfield, Calif.

"I was scared to death to go back to school," Lansford said. "I didn't do a very good job the first time and thought I might be incapable. I was also eight years older than everyone else. I had a different mindset the second time and I found that classes were fairly easy by attending and doing the work."

Lansford was working a new job at a hospital in Bakersfield when a former Porterville softball player convinced her that she should try out for the Cal State Bakersfield (CSUB) team. At the age of 29, Lansford made the team.

"I think it was a huge void in my life," Lansford said. "It was kind of the should-have, would-have, could-have thing. It was kind of weird in that I was ten years older than my teammates, but it all worked out and I had the opportunity to play for one of the best coaches ever.”

The coach that Lansford played for at CSUB was Kathy Welter, who has the 13th most wins in NCAA history, with 800-plus.

“I didn’t know how old she (Lansford) was when I first met her because she looks so youthful in her appearance,” Welter said. “As a player she played with a lot of intensity and had a lot of raw talent. She had trouble with her bat speed on the fast pitch at first, but after working with her she solved that problem quickly.”

Lansford loved her time playing with CSUB but she realized that at her options were limited compared to younger players.

“I played in college late in my career,” Lansford said. “I knew physically that time wasn't on my side. I felt lucky to get in what I did. I knew from the first day I played at CSUB that I wanted to coach. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.”

After her playing career ended at CSUB, Lansford became an assistant coach for the Coyotes alongside Welter. Having learned under Welter, Lansford moved on to coach at a small school in Texas before landing the job at SF State a year later.

“It's hard to remember the first game, but I know I was nervous,” Lansford said. “I had to coach against my old boss and every other coach I had faced as a player and assistant coach. There's a lot of pressure. I was all of a sudden responsible for everyone. It was overwhelming and I was really afraid to make a mistake.”

“When she was an assistant coach for me, after she finished playing, I could see that she would someday make a good head coach,” Welter said. “She took initiative and did things on her own very well. Having played against her lately I can see what a great boost she has been to the program at SF State. Her teams constantly get better every year.”

Lansford’s 2004 team is playing so good that it is only two wins away from tying the 1991 Gator record for most in a season with 29. The players attribute their success to Lansford.

"She takes the time to work with you on your own personal skills," junior Chrissy Hildebrandt said. "She has always been there to help me work on my defense and make sure I see the ball 100% into my glove."

"When I first heard she was from Bakersfield I was kind of scared and thought I might not even make the team," senior catcher Rachel Darrow said. "Coach has been real good with me and has helped me refine a lot of my skills. I know most coaches don't have good relationships with their players but she has been real supportive of the players on the field."

Though Lansford is having her best season this year, she remembers all her teams.

“The experience has definitely been year to year,” Lansford said. “ I love my kids. I can't describe how happy it makes me to be around them and to watch them succeed not only in sport, but in life as well.”