The bulk of San Diego State’s pitching staff either transferred or ran out of eligibility following last season, ushering in a sense of uncertainty and clouding the Aztecs’ future in the circle. Thankfully, SDSU softball head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz is no stranger to recruiting high-level talent.
As she began to compile her program’s new wave of pitchers, Faith Jordan, an incoming junior transfer from Fresno State, stuck out to her for a multitude of reasons.
“She has an elite changeup; that is kind of rare, honestly,” Nuveman Deniz said. “She had some good big-game experience in her time at Fresno [State]. She was a good piece to bring in and complement the rest of our staff.”
Jordan’s experience in big moments while at Fresno State did not happen by accident; she grinded to get there. Her journey to the big stage began in her older sister’s shadow.
“My older sister played [softball], and it just stuck with me to continue [playing],” Jordan said. “I always had my older sister to look up to. I always practiced with her team and was their little bat girl; that just gave me a lot of experience that not a lot of younger girls had growing up.”
Jordan also highlighted the fact that she grew up in a “really competitive family.” Her older sister, Brooke, played college softball at Seattle and Central Washington, further emphasizing her family’s competitive nature.
Other than her family dynamic growing up, Jordan sharpened her ambition and found her footing in high school. In addition to a decorated high school softball career, she credits basketball with shaping the athlete she is today. In short, Jordan said that always being around sports helped her become a better competitor.
Like her older sister, she began to garner college interest. However, Jordan’s recruiting journey was not linear; she had to draw on her mental fortitude and toughness to overcome her shortcomings recruiting-wise. Despite not having the amount of offers she desired after her sophomore year, Jordan continued to strive towards her goal of playing college softball.
As she began forming her own competitive identity at Glacier Peak High School in her hometown of Snohomish, Washington, a leader began to emerge; Jordan came into her own on the diamond. She led with both her play and her personality, serving as a team captain as an upperclassman and accumulating two first-team all-area awards and one first-team all-state award.
For Jordan, success brought stature and recognition. Despite a few bumps in the road early on, her final two years of high school softball began to yield the results she was hoping for, especially in terms of college recruiting.
“Fresno [State] came to my game, and they offered me,” Jordan said. “I had a couple other offers, but I went to go visit their campus, and I just really loved the coaches and everything; that was where I just wanted to go right away.”
A firm commitment to the Bulldogs had the young pitcher off to the races to begin her collegiate softball career. Jordan made five starts and nine other appearances in the circle during her freshman year at Fresno State.
As she earned the trust of her teammates and coaches throughout her first year of college softball, her role grew. Jordan nearly doubled her starts and appearances in her sophomore year. She boasted a 2.64 ERA and 34 strikeouts before her evolution on the field came to a screeching halt.
“I tore my hip labrum before the season started,” Jordan stated. “My coaches and I made a decision that I was just going to play on it with precaution. Because of overplaying, I ended up tearing both of my groins.”
After tearing her groins, Jordan underwent surgery as quickly as she could and began the long road back to recovery. However, she refused to let an injury keep her down, calling upon her inherent competitive nature to keep her going.
“It was definitely one of the hardest journeys I’ve had,” Jordan added. “I got reinjured in the fall, and it’s hard not to want to just quit and fold over. The most important thing is just sticking it out because there’s going to be a positive in the end.”
While Jordan still feels her groin injury nagging her today, she has her mind set on the bigger picture and knows she will be better for “sticking it out” in the long run.
Not throwing in the towel on her softball career was a long-term commitment, but Jordan also found some short-term relief, too. After her first two years at Fresno State, she hit the transfer portal after her head coach, Stacy May-Johnson, jumped ship back to her alma mater, the University of Iowa. For this season, SDSU took a chance on the Fresno State transfer.
A new environment brings new challenges, but Jordan does feel some sense of familiarity in her new home: her former Fresno State roommate, Key-annah Pu’a, is a key reason.
“I was so thrilled that she came with me,” Jordan said. “It’s always nice to have a friendly face going into a new environment with; I feel like she is a great leader to look up to.”
So far this season, Jordan has experienced an abundance of ups and downs, but she tries to take everything in stride; her team-low 3.56 ERA and team-leading 60 strikeouts through her first 27 appearances are surely comforting. Like her injury journey, it is all about the long run and the little victories along the way.
While this victory may not be so little, Jordan’s highlight of the season so far, performance-wise, was her no-hitter against Long Beach State to begin March.
“That was probably one of my best softball moments,” Jordan emphasized. “Obviously, there is so much pressure in the moment, like, ‘Is someone going to get a hit in the last inning?’ It was honestly great, just having all the girls celebrate with me, too, just made it 10 times more special; that is not something you really come across in your career.”
Jordan has seemingly carved out a nice role for herself so far while donning the Scarlet and Black. She noted that she has grown closer to both her teammates and the coaching staff as her months as an Aztec have progressed.
In fact, Nuveman Deniz thinks her team’s success is heavily dependent upon her pitchers’ performances; Jordan happens to be at the center of the staff’s core, along with Pu’a, her Fresno State companion.
