SAN MARCOS, Calif.  – The No. 5 Cal State San Marcos softball team is headed to Lawrenceville, Ga. this weekend for the Association of Independent Institutions Softball Championship.

The Schedule
Game 42
Thursday, May 1 – 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. ET)
No. 3 Houston Victoria (32-11) or No. 6 British Columbia (14-13) vs. No. 2 Cal State San Marcos (35-5-1)
Lawrenceville, Ga. – Grizzly Softball Complex
Bracket | Tournament Home Page
Watch Live | Live Stats
 
2014 Softball Championship
The double-elimination 2014 A.I.I. Softball Championship (May 1-3) is being hosted by Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga. The six-team field consists of two of the nation's top five teams and four top-35 squads. CSUSM will face the winner of Houston-Victoria and British Columbia, while top-seeded LSU Alexandria (29-3) awaits the winner of No. 4-seed Georgia Gwinnett and No. 5-seed Lindenwood-Belleville (32-21-1). The winner and runner up of the tournament will each earn automatic berths to the NAIA Opening Round, May 12-14, at selected national sites.

Live Stats & Video
Each game of the A.I.I. Softball Championship will be streamed live on the Grizzly Sports Network with play-by-play commentary. Games involving Georgia Gwinnett will be free of charge while all non-GGC contests are available for $7.95. Live stats also will be available for each contest free of charge.

CSUSM A.I.I. Championship History
The Cougars will be making their sixth straight appearance at the A.I.I. Softball Championship. CSUSM is 11-7 all-time in the competition and has taken home the conference crown twice, in 2010 and 2012. CSUSM bowed out early with back-to-back losses in the 2013 tournament. The Cougars are 3-5 overall in A.I.I. Championship games involving schools in this year's tournament (2-3 vs. UHV; 1-1 vs. LSUA; 0-1 vs. UBC). CSUSM has never faced GGC or LUB in A.I.I. Championship play.

April Review
CSUSM went 22-2 over the final two months of the season and 8-2 in the month of April. The team as a whole is batting .341 over the 10 games, paced by Alex Miller's .484 clip and Tani Lesau's .462 average. Miller has notched six extra base hits, a grand slam and 18 RBI, while Lesau has tallied 12 hits and two homeruns. Not to be outdone, the CSUSM pitching staff has held its own. Ashley Dagenais is 5-1 with a 1.13 ERA while Katie Wilkinson has gone 3-1 with four complete games. The Cougars' only losses of the month were to defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Concordia (Calif.).

Miller's Field
Miller became the school's all-time hits leader with an RBI single in the fifth inning against Hope International on April 11. She now has 653 career hits to go along with her school-record 71 doubles. She's also ranks second all-time in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, RBI, total bases, triples and walks. If she raises her career batting average of .413 by .003 over the final games of this season, she'll pass Alyssa Dronenburg (.415) for the school record.

Leasau's Walkoff
In game two against San Diego Christian on April 8, the Cougars surrendered a two-out, two-run double which saw them fall behind, 3-2. In the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars were down to their last out before Tani Leasau launched an 0-1 delivery over the left-field wall for a walk-off, two-run homerun that gave CSUSM a 4-3 win. It was the first-ever walk-off homerun in CSUSM program history.

So Fresh
CSUSM has received production from freshmen contributors this season. Most notably, Ashley Dagenais has gone 12-2 with a 0.96 ERA as the second arm in the Cougar rotation. She's recorded nine complete games, limited opponents to a .184 average and played a part in the program's first-ever combined no-hitter on Mar. 7 against La Sierra. Holly Fauria started the year as a key reserve, but has produced in her 20 appearances. She holds a .375 batting average (12-of-32) and has stolen seven bases this year. Taylor Peters, usually used as a courtesy runner, is 11-for-11 stealing, has scored 20 times and is 2-for-5 (.400) at the plate.

2013 Postseason
Despite the early exit from last season's conference tournament, the Cougars were still able to advance to the final site of the NAIA National Championship for the fourth straight season. CSUSM won three straight games during the Opening Round at Park University (Mo.) before falling in both their games at the NAIA National Championship.

Notes
Four of CSUSM losses have come at the hands of Concordia, the only other one was a 3-1 loss to Biola in Feb. 22 … CSUSM tied Lindenwood-Belleville 4-4 on Feb. 26 at CSUSM because of darkness … Kaitlin McGinley currently holds three career records: most triples (20), stolen bases (125) and stolen base attempts (133) … CSUSM is batting .346 as a team … Opponents are hitting .200 against the CSUSM pitching staff.