Carlsbad native Zara Wasserman microwaves most meals. UC San Diego softball teammate and roommate Haley Garcia makes salmon from scratch.
Wasserman bats right-handed, plays first and third base, and brings power to the lineup. Garcia, an outfielder, hits left-handed and, in Wasserman’s words, is a “slapper” at the plate. Garcia (.354) led the Tritons in hits this season, with Wasserman (.347) second.
“Competing with her is so much fun,” Wasserman said. “We go home and look at our stats. We are two completely different batters. We make silly goals between ourselves, making it fun, and that has really shifted my perspective of softball. My approach when I get in the box is just like, see ball, hit ball.”
For Wasserman, one of those goals heading into the Big West Championship in Fullerton was to connect for her first triple of the season, chasing Garcia’s team-high six.
In UC San Diego’s season-ending losses on May 6 to UC Santa Barbara (10-9) and Long Beach State (5-4), dropping the Tritons to 23-28, Wasserman came up short of the triple but still went long, hitting her seventh home run of the season and adding a double while driving in two runs.
Garcia, meanwhile, collected three hits of her own.
“My timing with the ball and contact — that’s where I found success,” Wasserman, a 2023 All-North County Coastal and All-CIF selection and 2021 Palomar League North County and CIF Division I champion out of San Marcos High, said. “It’s about not swinging for the fence and just hitting the top of every ball. I’ve been working on my swing path, staying short to the ball and short through it, and really just hunting my zone. Eliminating pitches I don’t want to hit right off the bat has been really helpful—just hunting my zone.”
Wasserman, a junior who transferred to UC San Diego from UC Riverside before her sophomore season, following head coach Nikki Palmer, her former UCR coach, has made a significant leap at the plate this year, raising her batting average by nearly 100 points and her slugging percentage by 167.
“Every time I go to bat, I’m looking to hit right over the second baseman—line drive to the wall, right side,” she said.
She also noted that hitting behind slugging first baseman Maalia Cherry hasn’t hurt.
“She’s leading in home runs. She’s broken records. So hitting behind her is refreshing,” Wasserman said. “You’ve got a hitter who can hit one 450 dead center, and then I’m coming up right after her. I feel very empowered hitting in this spot in the lineup, and knowing behind me they’re going to poke a ball, find a hole, and keep it moving if I get on.”
For Wasserman, a high point since returning to San Diego has been the series rematches with her former team. The Tritons are 5-1 over the past two seasons against UC Riverside.
“It was exciting to play them,” she said. “I hit a bunch of balls at my two friends on the left side of the infield, and they made errors. So it was fun to see that, but it was also about finding that balance between competition and calm—being able to compete without letting other feelings get in the way.”
On the season-ending conference tournament, Wasserman said, “I’m very excited to be here. It’s so much fun, and it’s something completely different than anything we’ve ever done in high school or travel ball. It’s a new experience. This is where everything I’ve put in every single day for months comes together—this final week, the last bit.”
