Now we move on to our seventh team, the defending MWC Tournament Champion, the San Diego State Aztecs. The Aztecs have made the NCAA Tournament 15 times since 2001, but had been mired deep in mediocrity for the second half of the 2010s, and had still not yet escaped its embrace prior to 2022. That was the year they promoted longtime assistant and former UCLA standout Stacey Nuveman Deniz to become the program’s next head coach. This immediately proved to be one of the best hires a mid-major school
has ever made.
Since Nuveman Deniz took over as skipper, the Aztecs have ruled over the Mountain West with an iron fist. SDSU has won the MWC Tournament all three years since its reintroduction in 2023, and have made it to the NCAA Tournament each of the last four seasons, making it as far as the Salt Lake Super Regionals in 2023, where they fell in the winner-takes-all game to the Utah Utes. The Aztecs have won at least 31 games each of the last four seasons, and have shown no signs of slowing down.
Now, the Aztecs have more challengers to their perch than ever before. In 2025, the Aztecs were bested by Nevada for the regular season crown, the first time since 2022 the Aztecs did not win that crown. Despite still ousting the Wolf Pack from the conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament, this means that the MWC Tournament will leave San Diego and head to Reno for its final running before conference realignment.
SDSU was ranked 9th by D1Softball’s preseason mid-major poll, which falls in line with their past performance history, but were third in the Mountain West in this poll, ranking behind Nevada (8th), along with brand-new MWC member and consistent powerhouse Grand Canyon (3rd). These three teams are predicted to run away with the Mountain West in its final season as we currently know it, but it’s likely the Aztecs feel a certain way about being ranked third in the conference despite their recent dominance.
Let’s find out what the Aztecs will have to do to prove their superiority once again.
Schedule
The Aztecs’ season will begin with evidence of what a great program and a fantastic year-round climate can do for you, as their first two MTEs will be at home.
First, the SDSU Season Kickoff, which has a much weaker field than it has the past few seasons. Here, the Aztecs will face Minnesota, Loyola Chicago, Miami (Ohio), and Kentucky, the latter two of whom made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. The Wildcats are the best team here, also serving as evidence of how bad SEC bias has become in softball over the past few seasons. Despite going just 31-28, 7-17 in the SEC, a ghastly 3-20 against ranked teams, and falling in the first round of the SEC Tournament, the Wildcats somehow made the tournament as a regional 2-seed, beating up on poor USC Upstate and splitting with Northwestern before being soundly crushed by regional host Clemson. This event should serve as a good way for the Aztecs to show their might early in the year.
Next up is the Campbell/Cartier Classic, where the Aztecs will face North Dakota, Fordham, and two games each against Baylor and Oregon State. This should be an even easier event for the Aztecs, as Fordham is the only one of these teams that came close to making the Tournament in 2025, advancing to the A-10 Championship Series before losing to eventual conference representative Saint Louis. Baylor is usually very good at softball, but the Bears are coming off of an awful year where they went from ranked to 27-27 in the blink of an eye.
Next, SDSU will join Fresno State and Nevada in heading over to Cathedral City, California, to take part in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Here, the Aztecs will face three easy games against Saint Mary’s, UC Riverside, and Seattle, sandwiched between games against two giants: preseason #3/3 Oklahoma and preseason #1/2 Texas Tech. Texas Tech knocked the four-time defending national champion Sooners out of the NCAA Tournament in 2025, going on to fall in a heartbreaking three-game final against Texas. This is as tough of an MTE as you can come by.
Afterwards, the Aztecs come back to San Diego, but will be just a bit across the city at the Torero Classic, hosted by San Diego. Here, the Aztecs will face one of the worst teams in the country in Kansas City, two mediocre teams in hosts San Diego and CSUN, and will also have a back-to-back series against preseason #25/22 Washington. These will be the final games the Aztecs play against a team that was ranked by voters in either preseason poll.
After a quick trip to Long Beach for a nonconference match against Long Beach State, the Aztecs will head back home for their final MTE, hosting the San Diego Classic. Here, the Aztecs will face Wisconsin, Notre Dame, and Princeton. Despite a significant amount of name recognition with these schools, none are particularly great at softball. The Badgers are the best of the three, going 33-21, but also went 0-4 against RV teams, and did not face a single ranked team all season despite playing in the Big Ten, failing to even garner consideration for the Tournament as a result.
Before starting conference play, the Aztecs will have one final nonconference game against Cal Baptist, who went just 26-32 a year ago. Overall, this is a rather easy nonconference schedule by SDSU’s standard, avoiding games against all of the West Coast’s top teams. Only the Sooners, Red Raiders, and Huskies give the appearance they are better than the Aztecs, meaning just four total games against superior teams, all of which will be played within 150 miles of their home city. Yet somehow, in an incredibly frustrating turn of events for the rest of the conference, it may get easier for the Aztecs from that point on.
The Aztecs have a laughably easy conference slate for the 2026 season. They have five home series and four road series. Their road slate pitts them against UNLV, New Mexico, San Jose State, and Fresno State, which is an assortment of teams that rank between mediocre and bad, throwing in a Bulldogs squad that was just ravaged by the transfer portal. Meanwhile, their home series are against Colorado State, Utah State, Nevada, GCU, and Boise State, meaning that the Aztecs avoid every potentially challenging road environment aside from Fresno, while playing both of their projected title rivals—GCU and Nevada—at home.
This is a very easy schedule, perhaps even too easy. If the Aztecs slip up and lose more than 9-11 conference games, questions will start to arise about whether SDSU should make the field if they fail to win the conference tournament. I am slightly concerned about the Aztecs’ plan here, but perhaps they plan to have the benefit of the doubt based on past successes.
Hitting Core
Last season, SDSU was merely good at the plate, ranking fourth in the conference in most offensive stats outside of home runs, where they placed fifth. It was more than good enough to perform up to their lofty standards, but there were definitely some concerning performances throughout the season.
San Diego State, being the mid-major powerhouse they are, didn’t lose any of their star hitters in the transfer portal in the offseason, only losing any of their hitters via graduation.
The Aztecs had a very balanced core a year ago, as their two leaders in home runs—Shannon Cunningham and Grace Uribe—were their two worst hitters via batting average (.261 and .215). The Aztecs’ best hitter was now-junior center fielder Julie Holcomb, who hit .370. Uribe is one of three Aztec hitters to have graduated during the offseason, joining second and third-best hitters Cali Decker (.356) and Bella Espinoza (.354). Decker was the team’s leader in OPS with 1.035, and in RBIs with 40. Decker, the team’s starting catcher, will likely be succeeded in the starting lineup by Jade Ignacio, who served as the Aztecs’ designated player most games last year, hitting .286.
Now-senior Angie Yellen, CSUF transfer Jazmin Williams, and true freshman Quinn Waiki, who was honored as Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, rounded out the starting lineup. Out of the remaining hitters from 2025 that didn’t start much, I would expect UCF transfer Lala Macario to slot into the starting lineup in 2026, as she hit an outstanding .465 in her 43 at-bats in 2025.
SDSU also has a deep and exciting freshman class, one where I could see each of the four making a significant impact immediately. The player that seems the most like an immediate star is two-way prospect Matti Kwarta. Kwarta is coming off of a down senior season where she hit .500. Yes, you read that right, as Kwarta’s junior season was one where she hit a fantastic .609 with an other-wordly OPS of 1.974.
Finally, in terms of transfers, the only one SDSU has to talk about is the mysterious Kaila Pollard. Pollard, once the #3 recruit in the nation, has not played collegiate softball in over two years, her last appearance on the field being in 2023 during the WCWS for the Florida Gators. Pollard immediately transferred to Oregon for the 2024 season, where she redshirted before completely sitting out the 2025 season. Now she’s with the Aztecs, and is arguably the biggest mystery in the conference. If Pollard comes back with form similar to that which made her a top recruit four years ago, the Mountain West may be in some serious trouble.
Overall, despite losing a good amount of their production to graduation, the Aztecs look no worse for wear than they did a year ago. I would expect a similar level of production at the plate as they had last year, which is a good sign, if their bulging trophy case is anything to go off of.
Pitching Core
The hitting core may have been more than satisfactory for what the season demanded of San Diego State, but it was their pitching staff that won the Aztecs the title. SDSU’s pitching core ranked 2nd in the Mountain West with a team ERA of 2.91, only ranking behind Fresno State. Most importantly, their pitchers gave up a combined ERA of 2.00 over their five MWC Tournament games, leading them past their heavy-hitting rivals, Boise State and Nevada, in consecutive elimination games.
The Aztecs were led in this regard by sophomore standout Cece Cellura, who turned in an ERA of 2.28, only trailing eventual Pitcher of the Year Serayah Neiss. Cellura surrendered the fewest walks out of any pitcher in the conference, with just 20 all season. Cellura became one of the few SDSU players to transfer away in the offseason, signing with LSU, a projected national title contender.
The aforementioned Grace Uribe was the Aztecs’ second starter, recording an ERA of 3.14, and fellow senior Dee Dee Hernandez was the final primary pitcher, recording an ERA of 4.46. In other words, the Aztecs are undergoing a complete staff rebuild in 2026.
That rebuild will start with now-sophomore Ava Schaffel. Schaffel pitched 38.1 innings across her freshman season, returning a rather impressive ERA of 2.01 while recording 24 strikeouts. The only other pitcher to get any time last season is Florida transfer Olivia Gigante, who only pitched for two outs, but didn’t allow a run during that time.We’ll see if she gets more time this season, but I doubt she serves as anything other than a reliever. The Aztecs’ lone freshman pitcher-only prospect is Montse Reyes-Cardenas, who recorded an ERA of below 1.05 across her sophomore and junior seasons, including an 0.55, 181 strikeout performance in said junior season.
Aside from her, the Aztecs have chosen to rebuild primarily through the portal, where they gained three new pitchers. First, the Aztecs nabbed sophomore Candace Tarle from Utah. Tarle didn’t really play in her freshman season, with a total of 2.1 innings pitched, so we shall see if she can make an immediate impact for SDSU in her sophomore season.
The big-name additions for SDSU are from the one Mountain West team ranked above them in ERA last year: Fresno State. First, junior Faith Jordan, who pitched a 3.28 ERA across 83.1 total innings across her two seasons in Fresno. Jordan’s sophomore season ended due to injury, so she will look to get back on track right away in 2026. However, no disrespect to Jordan, but the real star of the show here is her teammate, Key-annah Pu’a.
Now-senior Pu’a’s junior season was spectacular, posting an ERA of 2.79 across 80.1 innings in 2025. She was a key piece of the pitching staff that carried the Bulldogs into the Mountain West Championship Finals before falling to the Aztecs. Now, Pu’a will don the colors of her opponent in the Finals.
This is a strong-looking pitching staff, especially so considering the Aztecs had lost all three of their starting pitchers entering this offseason. While SDSU can take their core in a variety of differnet ways, I think it’s safe to say Pu’a will be their day-one starter, and she will be a darn good one at that. This is a staff capable of running it back once again. San Diego State isn’t going to miss a beat this season.
Prediction
2025 Result: 38-19 (16-6 MWC), Regular Season: 2nd, Tournament: 1st, Made NCAA Tournament, Lost in Regional Elimination Rounds
2026 Prediction: 37-13 (19-6 MWC), Make Conference Tournament, Miss NCAA Tournament
This might be bold, but I think the Aztecs’ run of tournament berths ends this season. I think their hitting core and pitching staff are more than capable of making it, less so with their hitting core due to lost production. However, I cannot shake my concern about their horribly weak schedule.
The Mountain West has the potential to be a three-bid league in 2026, but over the past few seasons, the largest number of mid-major at-large teams that have made it into the Tournament is three. With FAU and Liberty still being at the top of their respective games, that leaves room for just one of the MWC teams that don’t win the Tournament to make it in, and both GCU and Nevada have advantages over the Aztecs.
GCU, my preseason Tournament winner, has the benefit of the doubt from their dominance over the past four seasons. The Lopes also have a weak schedule, maybe even weaker than that of the Aztecs, but that won’t matter if they win the conference tournament like I believe they will. As for Nevada, the Wolf Pack have one of the hardest schedules a Mountain West team has seen in recent memory. If the Aztecs and Wolf Pack have similar win totals at the end of the season, it will be very difficult for the committee to take SDSU over Nevada with that in mind.
This is the prediction I am far and away the least confident about, and I do fully expect to be proven wrong. However, I just don’t see a path to the Tournament for the Aztecs this year, taking into account the strength of their conference and schedule.
Next up will be the preview of the San Jose State Spartans, dropping Saturday, January 31, at 8:00 a.m. PST.
