CCU senior catcher Leah Garcia. (Photo courtesy of Colorado Christian)
Colorado Christian’s softball team has already put together one of the best seasons in program history. Now, the Cougars are primed to continue adding to the record books.
CCU heads into the Division II NCAA Tournament this week with a 53-5 overall record, highlighted by a 47-game winning streak (Feb. 3 to May 1) and a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season title. Ranked No. 7 in latest top-25 coaches poll, the Cougars earned the No. 1 seed in the South Central Region and will thus host a regional for the first time in program history.
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The results on the field, players say, are simply an overflow of what’s been built away from it.
Fueling the team is a culture grounded in faith. Many players pray together before practices and games, open Scripture together regularly, and gather each week for Bible studies. But beyond routines and rituals, they’ve built genuine spiritual vulnerability. Teammates have shared testimonies, walked through struggles together, and learned to know one another far beyond the sport itself.
“Almost every week, everyone makes it there. So we’ve made it like a very high priority,” senior catcher Leah Garcia said. “Having leadership where everyone’s accountable, but we’re just really focused on how we can help each other in their personal life and not just on the field, is a big thing.”
In some locker rooms, team chapel or devotional time is often 20 or 30 minutes, depending on game times or other logistics. But at CCU, these meetings have lasted two-and-a-half hours on some occasions as the players have shared and gotten vulnerable with each other.
“That’s how we’ve gotten the closest and are able to just play freely on the field because we know each other so well,” Garcia said. “I think our competitiveness is obviously what pushes us in the games and in practice and stuff, but I think having such a culture that emphasizes our faith is what allows us to do that.”
Junior pitcher Hannah Espinoza serves as the team chaplain and said in addition to helping facilitate weekly Bible studies, her role is to be a living example of what a Christ-follower looks like.
“That’s the biggest goal for me. It’s just to live by example,” said Espinoza, who also carries a 4.0 GPA. “I know people are watching. I’m representing the Christian faith. I’m representing God.
“I tie in my faith with competition by realizing that God calls us to excellence. And He calls us to steward the gifts that He’s given us, the resources He’s given us. And He wants us to glorify Him with it.”
The Cougars enter the NCAA Tournament as one of the nation’s most dangerous offensive teams. They rank third nationally in team batting average (.379), second in RBIs (430), first in hits (600), and fourth in home runs (68). They also rank second in both runs per game (8.43) and total runs scored (472), while their .606 slugging percentage is second-best in the country.
Individually, senior utility player Arianna Wright ranks second nationally in RBIs (79) and sophomore second baseman Kat Hanson ranks second nationally in hits (98) and fourth in runs scored (66).
The stats speak for themselves, which is probably a good thing considering legendary head coach Larry Hays rarely even talks about them, junior pitcher and third baseman Elyse McMullin said.
“He set a super good foundation for us as captains and also as a team in general,” she said. “I think he has put in place that we’re playing for a higher power, as in Jesus Christ, and we all know that.”
While faith is central to the program’s culture, each player’s path to embracing it has looked different. Wright is one of those players in particular. She didn’t have much of a faith growing up, and even after being introduced to Christ at Grand Canyon University, she struggled with difficult questions about God due to past painful family experiences.
She was fearful about being judged when she arrived at CCU because she didn’t know the Bible well. What she found instead was a team ready to welcome her and walk with her. The Bible studies became a space where she could ask some of those deeper questions without judgment and have space to wrestle with God while her faith grew.
“When I got here, there was just something about this school that just allowed me to open up,” she said. “A big part in having me open up and me having forgiveness within the hurt of my family and just finding my way through Christ has been our team Bible study. I honestly didn’t know the Bible and I can also reach people in that way of like, ‘Hey, we can search this together. We can find this together.'”
She’s since begun sharing the Gospel with members of her own family and is considering getting baptized.
“When it speaks to having Christ in your foundation, that is honestly the strongest thing possible to have,” Wright said. “We just know that we have nothing to lose because we’re playing for God. I think we’re a family and I just want people to know that we are normal people. We aren’t perfect and we help each other and that is what makes us great.”
CCU opens NCAA Tournament play against regional No. 8-seed St. Mary’s University (Texas) at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday.
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