The SF State softball team’s season is officially over. The final West Regional rankings came out Sunday as Cal State San Bernardino leapfrogged the Gators for the last playoff spot by making it to the California Collegiate Athletic Association conference championship game over the weekend.

After taking three out of four against the nation’s No. 16, UC San Diego, the purple and gold had their sights set on the West Regional playoffs this weekend. But their season ended in disappointment after being blindsided by the final regional rankings, which left them ninth and out of the playoffs picture.

“Getting snubbed by San Bernardino was definitely depressing,” said freshman Kendra Wood. “Especially with winning the series against [UC] San Diego, we really thought we had a good chance to make it.”

Cal State San Bernardino ousted the Gators from the final playoff spot by squeaking past Humboldt State 7-6, and blanking CSU Monterey Bay 8-0 in the double elimination conference tourney to make it to the title game. San Bernardino lost to Cal State Stanislaus in the championship, 8-4.

Regardless, Wood gets to play a few more years, barring injury. For SF State’s all-time home run leader and senior, Jordanna Freemer, the sting of not making the playoffs hurts a lot more.

Without knowing it, Freemer finished her career at SF State on a good note on April 26 at home by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a stolen base, despite playing out of position at shortstop after Monica Amburgey tore her ACL the previous week.

Three days later Freemer and Wood were named to the All-CCAA Second Team. This was Freemer’s fourth consecutive year making the all-conference team. Wood was named to the First Team All-West Region Team along with her All-CCAA

The team this year was supposed to be in a rebuilding year. New coach, new players (eight freshmen, to be exact), and new—lower—expectations.

Still, the Gators came within one win of making the playoffs and one win shy of their team goal of 30 wins. Not bad for a team picked to finish dead last by the preseason conference coach’s poll.

“We knew we would be considered the bottom of the barrel, and from the start our big thing was, ‘don’t call us underdogs,’” coach Cristina Byrne said. “We knew what we had was special and we knew the talent that we had.”

The Gators look to be a force in the conference next year as they have 12 returning players, with the freshmen having a year of seasoning under their belts.

According to Byrne, the experience of being in as many close games as the team was in will give them valuable experience in pressure situations and will give them an added sense of urgency after having missed the playoffs by such a slim margin.

The future looks awfully bright for Gator softball as the six freshman starters on offense, along with the two freshman pitchers, have a chance to grow together and become a powerhouse in the very near future.

Along with the experience come the expectations, and Byrne isn’t worried about setting the bar high for her young team.

“We were shooting for 30 wins this year and we got 29. So you know what, we’re going for 40 next year,” Byrne said confidently. “I see big things for this team. The bottom line is, we’re not going to sit on the bubble anymore.”