Backpacks, jerseys and flowers lined the fence of the softball field as the players prepared themselves for the Senior Day ceremony that preceded a doubleheader against the Sonoma State Seawolves.

With the sun shining on the crowd in the bleachers, scrapbooks were passed along among family members waiting for the four SF State seniors, Carolyn Knudson, Vanessa Truan, Karolyn Gubbine and Jessica Delgado, to be honored by their teammates and coaches.

"This is always a special time," said Head Coach Cristina Byrne, who has been with the girls for three years. "It's emotional. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people, softball players and leaders for our team."

The Seawolves, ranked 21st nationally, spoiled the celebration for the Gators later that afternoon, when they managed to sweep the doubleheader. The Seawolves won game one 2-0 and rallied to win the night cap 8-3 after it went into extra innings.

"We played our game and we played hard," Byrne said. "We gave a regional ranked playoff bound team a run for their money."

In game one, starting senior pitcher Truan had a solid outing pitching a complete game. She held the Seawolves to just two runs, both coming off a homerun by Rochelle Vanyi in the fourth inning.

Truan was able to regain her composure after giving up the homerun, pitching three scoreless innings with the help of her defense.

Senior catcher Gubbine threw out a runner at second, while Alyssa Esquibel made a sliding catch on the outfield to close up the sixth inning.

Although the Gators defense and pitching was on point, they were unable to come through with the bats and were shutout by Seawolves pitcher, Julianne Martinez.

"The game didn't go so well," said Gubbine. "I wish we had more fight."

After being held to a scoreless first game, the Gators were ready to put some runs on the board.

In the second game, the Gator pitching staff was able to keep the Seawolves' batters at bay by holding them to three runs through seven innings. The Seawolves bats, however, came alive in extra innings and put up five runs to break the three all tie.

"We all worked hard," said Truan, who plans on getting into a nursing program after graduating this May. "Senior Day was good but I'm sad that we lost."

The Gators were able to get on the board first by Gubbine's RBI double in the second inning and were then able to tack on two more in the fifth.

One of those runs came off of an RBI single from senior second baseman Delgado.

Freshman pitcher Marissa Ibarra came in to pitch in relief in the sixth inning with a 3-3 tie. She gave a strong performance until the eighth, when she gave up a couple of runs that handed her the loss.

Ibarra's grandfather and avid Gator softball supporter, Vince Zuniga, said that the performances could have been a little better.

"The second game was good until the final score," Zuniga said. "One bad play leads to let downs."

Although the Gators lost both games, the crowd was proud of what the seniors were able to accomplish throughout their years playing for SF State.

Recent alumni, Genevieve Senteno, 23, decided to attend the game after the power of the Park Merced tower she lives in went out.

"I heard all of the excitement and walked over," Senteno said. "I'm glad I did because it was a nice game. I'm proud of my alma matter athletes."