SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The UC Santa Barbara Softball team is getting ready to start their season with the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament in Los Angeles, California this weekend. The Gauchos will play Northern Colorado and No. 7 UCLA on Friday, Feb 6 marking the start of their fourth season under Head Coach, Jo Evans. The Gauchos continue this busy weekend with The Mark Campbell Inventional on Saturday Feb, 7 in Irvine, California as they will take on Oregon State and Utah at DeAnna Manning Stadium. To end the weekend the Gauchos will return to Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb 8 to compete against Utah Tech and LMU in a back-to back games.The end of this weekend will lead them straight to their first home game on Tuesday, Feb 10 versus Kentucky.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
Evans has a roster of 19 student-athletes. This roster is made up of 13 returning plays, and 6 freshman: Dani Rauscher, Jazmyn Johnson, Cat Benitez, Sophia Clark, Ella Myers, and Jaelyn Toledo.
With many returning players the Gauchos are looking to keep their momentum going from last season. Capitalizing off of big hitters: Mejia, Ma'ae, Banks and Sams, all who ended the season with .300 or higher batting average. Pitching the Gauchos have Malaya Johnson who last year pitched a win-loss record of 24-12, and 122 strike outs.
LOOKING AHEAD
After their opening weekend the Gauchos next three weekends are full of tournaments. Starting on Friday, Feb. 13 they head to San Jose, Calif. and Santa Clara, Calif. for the Silicon Valley Classic. The following weekend they head out to Phoenix, Ariz. to play in the Purple Classic. Finally the Gauchos return home for the UC Santa Barbara Tournament starting on Thursday, Feb. 26.
PRE SEASON POLLS
The Big West announced their Preseason Coaches' all and All-Big West Preseason Team on Thursday, Jan. 30. UC Santa Barbara was chosen as the preseason favorites. The Gauchos earned 78 points and 6 first-place votes narrowly beating out Cal State Fullerton for the top spot.
Three Gauchos where also named on the Preseason All-Big West Team: Bella Fuentes, Giselle Mejia, and Malaya Johnson. All three of them where recognized last season on the All-Big West First Team. Malaya Johnson was also awarded All-Big West Pitcher Of the Year.
This first place ranking sets a new mark beating their last years ranking of third place. It's also the third consecutive year the Gauchos have had multiple Preseason All-Big West selections. The Gauchos will look to improve on last seasons over all record of 36-26 and their Big West record of 17-10.
SCOUTING THE BEAR
The Gauchos are set to play their first game against The Northern Colorado Bears on Friday, Feb. 6 in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament. The Bears are coming off of a 2025 season that saw them end with 19-30 overall record, and 7-7 Big Sky record.
The Bears placed fourth on the Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll. Four returning players where selected to the Big Sky Preseason All-Conference Team. One of them being Amailee Morales, a senior first base. Last season ranked top five in batting average with an impressive .372. She also tied the Big Sky single season RBI record with 73. She ended the season earning First Team All-Conference honors, Big Sky Co-Player of the Year, and All-Tournament MVP Honors.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
The UCLA Bruins are hosting the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, the Gauchos will face them on Friday, Feb. 6 as their second game in this tournament. Last season the Bruins went 55-13 overall, and 17-5 in the Big Ten, finishing second overall.
The Bruins enter this season with the following preseason polls: 7th in the NFCA, 10th in USA Softball/espn.com, 8th in Softball America, and 10th in D1Softball. They also had three players, M. Grant, T. Tinsley, and J. Woolery, recognized in USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watchlist, Softball America Preseason All-Americans, D1Softball Preseason All-American, and Big Ten Players to Watch List.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
UC Santa Barbara softball faces The Oregon State Beavers first in the Mark Campbell Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 7. The 2025 season saw The Beavers ending 24-23 overall, and 7-8 in the West Coast Conference.
The Beavers enter this season ranked third in the West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, and one player, Jada Lewis, recognized in the West Coast Conference Preseason Team. Last year Lewis led Oregon State in batting average (.383), runs scored (29), and stolen bases (16).
SCOUTING THE UTES
The Gauchos will face off against The Utah Utes in their second game of the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 7. The Utes went 13-40 overall, and 5-19 in the Big 12.
In in the Big 12 Preseason poll The Utes ranked 10th, and no players were recognized on the preseason team. Returning to the team this year is senior captain Hailee White. White ended the 2025 season in the top 10 in the Big 12 in assists and assists per game. She also committed the second fewest errors among the conference assists leaders. She ended the year second in the league with a mark of 11.23 defensive runs saved overall
SCOUTING THE TRAILBLAZERS
The Gauchos compete against The Utah Tech Trailblazers in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 10. Last season The Trailblazers went 15-35 overall, and 6-18 in the Western Athletic Conference.
Coming into the 2026 season the Trailblazers are ranked 7th in WAC Softball Preseason Coaches' Poll. They also have two players recognized in the Preseason All-WAC Team, Kahahawai-Kekona and Kinley Pappas. This is Kahahawai-Kekona second time All-WAC selection, last season she batted .351 from the plate.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Directly following the game against Utah Tech the Gauchos play LMU. The Lions ended the 2025 season with a record of 22-31 overall, and 7-8 in the West Coast Conference.
The Lions enter the 2026 season following a prison where they ended ranked fourth in the West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Two Lions where also recognized on the West Coast Conference Preseason Softball Team, Izzy Jamgotchian and Justine Lambert. Last season Lambert batted a .353 average and Jamgotchian batted a .326 average. Lambert also hit an impressive 15 home runs last season.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
For the Gauchos first home game they take on the University of Kentucky Cats on Tuesday, Feb. 10. The Cats finished the 2025 season with a record of 31-28 overall, and 7-17 in the SEC.
Preseason polls have the Cats ranked 15th in the SEC Softball Preseason Coaches's Poll, and no players making the All-SEC Preseason Team. A breakout player for the Cats will be Tyler Bell, a National Player of the year candidate. She finished last season hitting .269 with 10 home runs as a freshman.
