Tournament Media Guide (Schedule, Rosters, Rankings, Statistics, etc.)


After a program best 50-win regular season, the #2 Cal State San Marcos Softball team will be making their 3rd straight appearance in the NAIA National Championships, taking place May 17th-23rd in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Cougars are 7-3 in previous play in the championships, and are coming off a 4th place finish last year, and a #5 national ranking in 2010. Cal State San Marcos has been ranked in the top-2 the entire 2012 season.

CSUSM will begin pool play as the #1 seed in their grouping, and San Marcos will need to win their pool of four teams to move on to bracket play. The other teams in their pool are #15 Southern Nazarene (40-17, Oklahoma), University of Mobile (30-17, Alabama), and Texas Wesleyan (25-17).

Southern Nazarene began the season outside of the top-25, but climbed to #15 in May. Mobile has been in the top-25 all season except for the final poll, and was ranked as high as #22 in April. Texas Wesleyan has not been ranked at all in 2012.

Should the Cougars advance out of their pool, they would enter bracket play in a double-elimination format with the remaining eight teams.

CSUSM is led by the nation's 2nd best pitching staff in terms of earned run average, sporting a 1.01 ERA on the year. Junior Cortney Allen (20-4) threw a perfect game against Pomona-Pitzer in February, and freshman Katie Wilkinson (14-0) tossed a no-hitter against #17 St. Gregorys (OK) in March. Allen was a A.I.I. Pitcher of the Year in 2012 with a 0.98 ERA, and was named the A.I.I. Tournament MVP after throwing 18.1 scoreless innings in Columbus, GA.

Offensively, the Cougars are a tough matchup for any opponent, led by A.I.I. Player of the Year Alyssa Dronenburg. The first baseman Dronenburg was 4th in the NAIA with 19 home runs in 2012, and led the NAIA in on-base percentage. She also was 6th in slugging percentage (.924) and 17th in batting average (.462).

Right behind Alyssa on the national home run list is third baseman Theresa Houle, an A.I.I. First Team Selection who hits .370 on the season with 18 home runs. All three Cougar outfielders were also named First-Team All-Conference players, including speedster corner outfielders Kaitlin McGinley and Alicia Ingram, who combined to steal 87 bases on the season, ranking 3rd and 5th respectively. McGinley is a perfect 44-for-44 in stolen bases, and hit .407 on the season with 20 extra base hits. Her nine triples rank 2nd in the NAIA in that category. Ingram hit .381 on the season, and both Ingram and McGinley racked up more walks than strikeouts this year.

Not to be overlooked is center fielder Alex Miller, a 2nd team All-American as a freshman last year. Miller hit .409 with a team-leading 19 doubles in 2012, and did not commit an error all season in her first year at the position.

Another wild card for the Cougars is Head Coach Dave Williams. Between his time at Point Loma and Cal State San Marcos, Williams is 5th on the NAIA career win list with 661 victories, and his winning percentage of .768 (661-200 record) is 2nd among active coaches.

The National Championships will be broadcast with live video-stream on the internet when bracket play begins courtesy of NeuLion. Every game of the 2012 National Championships can be followed live on Dakstats by clicking the “W” to begin webcast. All game times are posted in Central Standard Time, meaning the game will begin two hours prior to the time listed in California (i.e. 9:00 am CST is 7:00 am PST).