Former Fresno State coach Linda Garza returns home with Nevada using ‘those same recipes’

Nevada softball coach Linda Garza has been back in Fresno several times since an unsightly split from what for a time was a dream pairing at Fresno State, with 146 wins in four-plus seasons and an NCAA Tournament appearance. It’s home. Family is here — her father, brother, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins.

But Garza, who was hired to build the Wolf Pack program just a few weeks after resigning at Fresno State following a 2021 on-field incident with a player, had not set foot at Margie Wright Diamond until Friday when she walked through the gates for a three-game Mountain West Conference series.

She was one of the first through the doors, arriving at the ballpark ahead of the team bus, and the air space around her was, as usual, highly energized.

“It’s weird walking in wearing different colors, it always is,” Garza said. “But at the same time, in that situation, I’ve always walked in as an opponent most of my life. That’s what I tell people. I was always a fan. I love seeing the rich history that’s here. I respect it. I always will. A lot of great players have stood on this field, whether they’ve played against Fresno, whether they’ve decided to wear the uniform for Fresno and I’m just glad that I get to do what I love. I love coaching. I’m good at what I do, and I’m glad that I get to be back home in my hometown again.

“There’s some nostalgia. There’s some surreal moments and obviously a lot of good memories. It’s one of those places where you love to play, you remember the history, and I’m kind of excited to start this next chapter.”

That started with a 5-4 loss to the Bulldogs, with freshman Kennedy Bunker driving in Alesia Denby with a one-out walk-off single in front of a season-high 1,268 fans in a sharp seventh inning for Fresno State.

Serayah Neiss gave up a tying three-run home run to Nevada first baseman Hailey Prahm in the sixth, but worked an easy seventh and in the bottom half Denby led off with a double, advanced to third on a ground ball to the right side by Vanessa Hernandez and scored on the Bunker single.

“I was thinking that I wanted to get it done for my team,” Bunker said. “They played an outstanding game — defense was off the charts — and when it happened I was like, you know what, I’m doing it for my pitcher and I’m doing it for the team because I knew Serayah obviously didn’t want that to happen and I knew that we wanted the series.”

Bulldogs win it with a walk-off

The win moved Fresno State (18-24, 7-7) into a tie for third with Nevada (26-12) in the Mountain West, with the top six teams qualifying for the conference tournament next month in San Diego.

But between the lines, any uneasiness evaporated a year ago when Fresno State played at Nevada.

“I think last season was more emotional, just kind of never really knowing what that’s going to be like,” Garza said. “Coming into Fresno, its just a place I’m super familiar with so it doesn’t really bring me anything that makes me think about anything other than it is a great place to play softball. It’s a great day to play softball and I’m just glad that I have a team that I get to coach and play softball.”

And it’s back at it Saturday at noon with the final game of the series Sunday at 11 a.m.

Both programs are in a rebuilding mode. Fresno State coach Stacy May-Johnson inherited a team that had lost much of its star power from an NCAA Tournament team, including pitcher Hailey Dolcini, who transferred to Texas. But Garza, in her second season at Nevada, would appear ahead of schedule with a program that lacks the history of Fresno State, finishing as high as third in the Mountain West just twice since joining the conference in 2013.

“For us right now it’s about playing one game at a time, winning series and putting ourselves in a position where we’re in the (Mountain West) tournament and we’re playing the right kind of softball at the end. I’m just incredibly proud, considering where we started last season, where we are right now and we’re really just trying to do what we need to do every single day to make sure we pull off victories.

“I mean, we went 17-35 last season and we only won seven conference games so to know right now we’re in this position is pretty amazing. Last weekend we set a record crowd, got just under 1,200 fans. We have an amazing product. That community is proud and just in a lot of the ways I grew up watching softball here in the Valley, I’m just taking those same recipes and taking it in there.”