In the bottom of the second with her team up 4-0 on Monday Feb. 18, senior Gator Danielle Chapman shouted words of encouragement to freshman Kelly McDonald, who was at-bat and down two strikes.

“C’mon, No. 24, have some fun. Have some fun, two-four.”

McDonald swung hard at the next pitch, smashing it deep into center field for a double.

The Gators (8-8, 0-2 CCAA)—playing in their first home game of the year—went on to beat the Biola University Eagles 10-1, and blanked the same team 9-0 earlier in the afternoon in the non-conference double-header.

Overall, it’s been an all-round “fun” week for SF State’s softballers.

Monday’s sweep came on the back of a propitious weekend in Phoenix, where they romped past Texas A&M International (10-2), Western New Mexico (8-0), Minnesota State (5-0) and Missouri Western State (6-3). They dropped games to Notre Dame de Namur (7-3) and Barry (8-0), finishing the non-conference tourney 4-2.

“It’s actually mostly about us just having fun,” said freshman Elyssa Esquibel, who hit her second home run of the year Monday. “But ... we’re doing really well as a team on the field—when one strikes it, the next keeps it going. It feels unstoppable.”

On Monday, the Gators did look unstoppable. They made big plays in the outfield, hit plenty of singles when they mattered most, and sophomore Vanessa Truan and freshman Kendra Wood were impressive on the mound.

And again the Gator freshmen—this year’s roster has eight—stepped up and played wiser than their years.

In the first inning of game one against Biola, Wood hit a single, her twin sister Kelsey Wood hit another and senior Jordanna Freemer stepped on home plate for the series’ first score.

The trio repeated the sequence in the third to load the bases, but this time freshman Lea Cardenas was walked, sending Freemer home. Junior Katerina Captanis singled to score again, before another freshman—this time McKenna Coelho—singled to close the inning 4-0.

“Home runs are what everyone comes to see, but we can hit singles, too,” Freemer said.

Team veteran Monica Amburgey, a junior, also contributed by slam-ming a triple to left field, leaving Freemer to clean up with a single in the fourth. The Gators then finished the fifth inning with four runs, capped by a Freemer homer that tied the SF State career home run record at 28.

In that game, Gator pitcher Truan allowed just one hit in five innings.

“Everything we’ve been working on in practice is just starting to click and come together,” Freemer said. “We’re stringing hits together. It’s a team effort and all our wins have been team wins. It’s everyone working together.”

In game two Cardenas homered with Kendra Wood on third, capping a four-run first inning. Later on in the fourth, Esquibel homered before the Wood-Wood-Freemer sequence resurfaced to cap another four-score inning.

Kendra Wood, who also notched her second win of the year as starting pitcher, finished the day with a big hit out of the park with Freemer on first in the bottom of the sixth.

“Our offense just came together,” head coach Cristina Bryne said. “They’ve been hitting well, and seeing what needs to be hit and hitting it hard. [But] it’s not just the top half of the lineup producing, and it’s not just certain people. They’re all just firing on all cylinders now, and it’s really fun to watch.”