Tournament Central
Bracket

SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos softball team was granted the No. 1 seed in The College of Idaho Bracket and will face No. 4-seed Dickinson State in its first game of the NAIA Opening Round.  

The Schedule
Game 47 – NAIA Opening Round
Monday, May 12 – 3:00 p.m. PDT (4:00 p.m. MDT)
Dickinson State (39-19) vs. Cal State San Marcos (38-7-1)
Caldwell, Idaho – Symms Field
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Live Stats

Tournament Central at Yoteathletics.com
All information about The College of Idaho Bracket can be found on the Tournament Central page at Yoteathletics.com. Navigate to this page for schedule updates, live stats and live video links, and photos from the tournament. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, with discounts available for seniors. Each game of the tournament will be video streamed live free of charge here: http://www.yoteathletics.com/sports/2012/8/14/live_video.aspx?&tab=2.

The Field
Joining the Cougars in the bracket is No. 2-seed Oregon Tech (33-12), No. 3-seed and host College of Idaho (29-15), and Dickinson State. The double-elimination Opening Round will take place Monday, May 12 – Wednesday, May 14 at C of I's Symms Field in Caldwell, Idaho. The winner of the bracket will earn a trip to the NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga., May 23-29.  Oregon Tech and C of I will play in the opposite first-round game at 12:00 p.m. PT. The winners and losers of each contest will face-off on Tuesday, with the championship game slated for Wednesday (11:00 a.m. PT).

History Against Opponents
This year will mark the second straight year in which CSUSM will square off against Dickinson State in the first game of the Opening Round. CSUSM took down the Blue Hawks, 7-1, in the first game of the Park (Mo.) Bracket in 2013. The Cougars have an all-time record of 4-1 versus DSU and is looking for the fifth straight victory over the Blue Hawks. CSUSM is 1-2 all-time against College of Idaho, the teams' only meetings coming in 2009. CSUSM and Oregon Tech have never met.

NAIA Championship History
The Cougars will be making their fifth straight appearance in the NAIA National Championship. CSUSM holds an all-time record of 15-7 (.682) in NAIA postseason competition. The Cougars have won at least one game in each of their appearances, reaching the national semifinals in 2011 and 2012.

2013 Opening Round Rehash
CSUSM went 3-0 in the Opening Round of the 2013 NAIA National Championship, taking down Dickinson State, Park (Mo.) University and Marian (Ind.) in succession. It will mark the second-straight season in which CSUSM has started its NAIA postseason run against Dickinson State. The two teams met in the opening game last season, a 7-1 victory by the Cougars. CSUSM took down Park 5-2 in extra innings before topping Marian 4-0 in the title game. Alex Miller hit .889 (8-for-9) with two doubles, a homerun and a team-high six RBI. Kaitlin McGinley went 6-for-12 (.500) with three runs and three stolen bases.

Postseason Experience
Miller and McGinley, both seniors, have excelled in a combined 19 NAIA National Championship contests throughout their four-year careers. Miller is hitting .490 in NAIA tournament games and has tallied six extra-base hits while driving in 12 runs. McGinley is hitting .390 in the postseason competition while also recording seven stolen bases, eight RBI and 25 hits. The only pitcher on staff with NAIA tournament experience is A.I.I. Pitcher of the Year Katie Wilkinson, who has made four appearances.

Cougars Fall in A.I.I. Title Game
Despite falling in their opening game of the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Softball Championship to British Columbia, the Cougars rattled off two straight victories to earn a place to the A.I.I. title game. In the semifinal elimination game against Houston-Victoria, Miller hit a walk-off, bases-clearing triple to hand CSUSM an 8-7 victory. The Cougars eventually fell, 2-1, to No. 1-seed LSU Alexandria. CSUSM was granted an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship with its runner-up finish at the conference tournament.

Poll Position
The Cougars have been ranked No. 5 in the NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Poll for five straight weeks since April 8. CSUSM debuted at No. 8 in the preseason poll on Jan. 21 before moving up to No. 7 in the Mar. 18 and Mar. 25 polls. CSUSM was No. 6 in the April 1 edition. CSUSM has not been ranked outside the top 10 since April 20, 2010; the last time the Cougars were not ranked in the Top 25 was March 31, 2009.

The Nevarez File
Head coach Laurie Nevarez is in her first season as head coach of CSUSM, where she has led the Cougars to a 38-7-1 overall mark. Nevarez came to CSUSM after 10 years of coaching at NCAA Division III's University of Redlands. She went 319-116-1 (.733) during her time leading the Bulldogs and produced five All-Americans, 40 all-region selections, 70 all-conference athletes, four Rookies of the Year and five SCIAC Players of the Year. In addition, Redlands won 30 or more games in nine of her 10 seasons. Nevarez played her college ball from 1995-98 at UCLA, where she was a four-year letterwinner and a member of the 1995 national championship squad. Nevarez compiled a career .301 batting average, hit over .300 in her final two seasons and was named All-Pac 10 in 1997 and 1998.