'A Long Time Coming': College Of San Mateo Softball Wins State Title

SAN MATEO, CA — At long last, the College of San Mateo softball team has a state championship.

The Bulldogs beat Sierra College 8-1 on Sunday to claim the California Community College Athletic Association state championship, the first in school history. It was a title that was elusive — San Mateo had made the state tournament for eight straight years, but had yet to win it all before this year.

The championship is also the first time a women’s program has won a title at the College of San Mateo.

Head coach Nicole Quigley-Borg, who has coached the team for the past 16 years, told CCCAA Sports that the championship was “a long time coming.”

“It feels amazing,” Quigley-Borg said. “The question I'm always asked is, ‘So when are you going to actually win one?’ I can say: ‘Now. We won one now.”

Left fielder Lafu Malepeai won tournament MVP after finishing the week with 11 hits, eight RBIs and a .611 batting average. She also hit two home runs, a triple and a double.

“I owe it all to the coaches,” Malepeai said to CCCAA Sports. “It’s the unseen hours. For them driving us, pushing us each and every day to do better, better ourselves.”

The championship win also came on Quigley-Borg’s 42nd birthday. And it was all she could ask for.

“I told this team all i wanted for my birthday is to be playing and coaching on my birthday so they gave me a little extra,” Quigley-Borg said.