Head Coach Steve Swazo enters his 20th season for Trinidad State College and has over
500 collegiate wins.
During the 2024-25 season the Lady Trojans finished fourth in conference play and
at the Region 9 tournament.
The 2023-24 season was one for the record books: The Lady Trojans won the school's
fourth Region 9 Championship and qualified for the NJCAA World Series in Oxford, Alabama.
TEAM #18 went 3-2 as the 20th seed and finished in the Elite 8 at the World Series.
TSC finished the season with 40 wins, won a conference championship, won a Region
9 Championship, and had (14) student athletes graduate. A lot of records were broken
by TEAM #18 this year as they left it's mark at TSC: Torie Sandoval broke every pitching
record during her two-year career at TSC: most career wins (49), most career strikeouts
(381), lowest ERA (2.46), most innings pitched (353), most wins in a single season
(27) and most strikeouts in a season with 196 K's. The Lady Trojans also jumped into
second place in the school record books with 116 HR's (which was 3rd in the nation
for the NJCAA in 2024).
During his 2022-23 season, his Lady Trojans compiled a season record of 38-14 and
finished second in Region 9 losing in the Championship game. Other highlights from
the 2023 season was the softball program reaching 500 victories, freshman pitcher
Torie Sandoval being voted Region 9 Freshman of the Year along with setting school
season record of 185 Strikeouts and 22 wins in a single season. The team also set
the school record for consecutive wins with 15 straight victories and freshman Ciara
Spencer set a school season batting average record hitting .583.
In 2022, his team finished second in conference and third at the Region 9 tournament.
The team finished in the top 10 of the NJCAA with 87 homeruns that put them third
all-time in the Trojan record books.
His 2020-21 team secured the school’s third Region 9 Championship along with the conference
title and finished the season with a 34-14 record. His team hit 108 HR on the season
which puts them second all-time in school history (the 2017 Region 9 Championship
team hit a school record 118 HR that year). He sent his third player to a D1 school
with Jayden Gandert now playing at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
The 2019-20 season was cut short due to COVID but his team managed to record 13 wins
and were undefeated in conference play when the season was cancelled.
His 2018-19 team finished third and his sophomore pitcher Teddi Garcia re-wrote the
record books as she left with 307 K’s for her career at TSJC. She also finished second
in total wins over a two year period with 38 victories. Another positive was his team
finished the year with a grade point average of 3.55 and had a total of 12 student
athletes receive Academic All-American status and 17 receive All-Region All-Academic.
His 2017-18 team won its second consecutive Region IX Championship and placed its
second athlete to move on to a D1 school in Katie Glaze who will play at the University
of Northern Colorado in Greeley. The 2017-18 class had nine of its 11 sophomores move
on to a 4-year University to continue their softball careers with either an academic
or athletic scholarship. Also most important was this class had an overall GPA of
3.55 as a team and (10) student athletes made NJCAA All-American Academic Honors and
(14) made Region IX All-Academic Honors. The students excelled not only on the softball
field but also in the classroom.
His 2016-17 team set new records in many categories including winning the Region IX
Conference title and also winning the Region IX Championship. Included in the record
setting year, Swazo collected his 300th collegiate win. His 2017 squad finished second
in the nation in home runs with 118 and Swazo coached his first NJCAA First Team All-American
athlete in Isabella Navarro. Navarro was Region IX Player of the Year her sophomore
year and was Freshmen of the Year. She leaves Trinidad State as the all-time leader
in hits, runs batted in, home runs and batting average and will continue her softball
career at Division I Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
So far, a total of 80 former Trinidad State Junior College softball student athletes
have played softball and furthered their education at a four-year university.
Prior to Trinidad State Junior College, Swazo, a native of Trinidad, was an assistant
baseball coach for Trinidad High School as well as the freshmen boys’ basketball coach.
He also worked with special needs students. From 1985 through 2005, Swazo coached
in Nebraska and has more than 20 years of coaching high school baseball teams. He
also assisted in coaching clinics with the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Oklahoma
State University, and Northeastern Oklahoma A & M College and was the women’s JV basketball
coach for one year at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Swazo holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Physical Education and minor in Special
Education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and also a degree in radio broadcasting.
