In 1999, a third-baseman from Edison High School was approached by legendary Titan softball head coach Judi Garman at a showcase tournament featuring some of the top teams in Orange County. Coach Garman liked what she saw from the high school senior and Yasmin Mossadeghi committed to Cal State Fullerton.
"I think every athlete just wants to feel wanted by their coach and that was enough for me to commit," Mossadeghi said. "(Coach Garman's) presence and what Cal State Fullerton was to me at the time played a huge factor. Since I lived in Huntington Beach, I read articles about the softball team and Judi and how competitive of a program Fullerton was. I desperately wanted to stay close to home at the time and this was my opportunity to get a spot at a four-year to continue playing ball and be close to my family."
As a freshman, the Huntington Beach native moved to the outfield and finished the year with a .316 batting average, seven home runs, 22 RBIs and was the only Fullerton player with a 1.000 fielding percentage to play in all 65 contests.
Mossadeghi's strong freshman season earned her a spot on the All-Big West second team as the Titans completed their 1999 campaign with a third-place finish in conference play and made an NCAA Regional appearance in Seattle, Washington. The freshman was only four hits short of breaking the Titan softball freshman-record of 64, held by Missy Coombes (1987).
"Making the regional my freshman year with my fellow freshman players when CSUF hadn't been to the postseason in many years (was one of my favorite moments) because it truly wasn't expected," Mossadeghi said. "We got sent to Washington and had one of our best performances of the year against a very good Washington team. I trapped a line drive ricocheting off the wall and threw it in quick to prevent a runner from scoring and kept the game close. It was intense and was the first time I knew that in college I could be a good outfielder."
After 20 season with the Titans, Garman retired as head coach of the program and Michelle Gromacki took the helm in 2000.
In Mossadeghi's sophomore year, she took her game to another level by leading the Titans in home runs (13), doubles (11), RBIs (48), slugging percentage (.601), runs (37) and games played (60) to earn a spot on the all-conference first team for the first time in her career.
"I think the most important thing (coach Gromacki) did was bring on a support staff of assistants that elevated our practices, mental game, and execution during games," Mossadeghi said. "Coaches like Kelly Ford, Suzy Parra, and Erica Blanco put in a lot of time and effort to allow Michelle to do what she does best, which in my opinion is motivate. Michelle was quick to react in coaching game situations that kept us aggressive and recruited key players that complemented us. Her motivation and experience made me want to win the World Series and get a ring of my own. To never settle for less and always strive to be the best consistently."
The Titans finished the year with 45 victories (most since Gromacki joined Garman's staff in 1995) and first in the Big West, which was the first time Fullerton captured the conference crown outright since its national championship season in 1986.
Entering now her junior year, Mossadeghi pushed herself to get even better and get better she did.
For the third-straight season, she played in all 60 games for Fullerton and led the Titans along with teammate and Cal State Fullerton Hall of Famer Jenny Topping to their second-straight conference title as both of them finished the year with 14 bombs, tying them for fourth most in a single-season in program history.
Mossadeghi's incredible junior year earned her All-West Region honors and a spot on the All-Big West first team for the second-straight season. The outfielders strong power stroke in 2001 helped her set a new Fullerton and Big West record for most career bombs with 34.
"It was awesome (to set the record)." Mossadeghi said. "I was always considered a good player through the years, but never a great player and I hated that. I didn't have the confidence or knowledge to start travel ball early and got into it late in high school. I always pushed myself in my greatest strength, which was hitting in the short period of time I needed to. I followed stats online and pushed myself to outperform my own teammates because I knew if I was successful on paper nobody could tell me that I wasn't good. This was like the icing on the cake and funny enough not even the goal I wanted to achieve. The cake was becoming an All-American."
In her final season as a Titan, the senior went out with a bang as Mossadeghi led Fullerton to its highest win total in 15 years (53-13), was named to the NFCA All-American third team and received an invite to the U.S. National Team Camp at the end of the season. Fullerton also won its third-straight Big West conference title in 2002, which was the first time Titan softball won three-consecutive outright titles or more since 1981-86 when CSUF won six-straight.
But receiving all those end of the year honors wasn't what Mossadeghi remembered most about her senior year, it's what happened at the NCAA Regional in Fresno, Calif.
After two-straight wins against Evansville and Fresno State, the Titans dropped a game to California which set up a showdown between Stanford and Fullerton. The Titans hadn't particularly fared well against the Cardinal as they dropped all five games to them in Mossadeghi's time at Fullerton.
However, the CSUF seniors made sure they wouldn't go winless against the Cardinal as the Titans went on to eliminate them from the regional with a 4-1 victory.
The win over Stanford was one of many Mossadeghi's favorite moments during her playing career with the Titans, but when looking back the former outfielder cherishes being a part of the Titan softball family.
"It's being a part of something bigger than yourself," Mossadeghi said. "Not everyone wants or can be a part of the Titan family, but that's what I love most about it. The program has such a rich history of winning and competitiveness that you would think it would overshadow anyone new who came to the program but it doesn't. The program allows an opportunity for people to be great and discover that they truly indeed are special and do get noticed by the softball community. I can't tell you enough times when I go to Orange County in the softball community people come up to me and say I remember when you hit that HR over this.....that....in the arboretum. It still gives me excitement and pride that the community and specifically the softball community loves this program and wants whoever is a part of it to succeed and create new fun memories."
After such an amazing and legendary career with Titan softball, Mossadeghi played professionally with the Colorado Attitude in 2004.
Currently, Mossadeghi is in her seventh year as head coach of the softball program at Southwestern Community College in San Diego, Calif, where she has turned the Jaguars into one of the most competitive and successful softball programs in the state. In 2006, she was named PCAC Coach of the Year and Southwestern College Female Coach of the Year after leading her team to the playoffs for the first time in 30 years.
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