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Top-Seeded Cougars Make West Regional Debut at Home

SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The top-seeded Cal State San Marcos softball team (40-11) will make its NCAA West Regional debut on its home turf on Thursday at 12 p.m. when the Cougars face eighth-seeded Northwest Nazarene (34-19). 

LAST TIME OUT

  • The Cougars made another debut last weekend when they competed in the CCAA Tournament on the campus of Cal State Monterey Bay. 
  • CSUSM opened the tournament with a 10-4 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay, which was highlighted by Ryann Steiner's grand slam and Jayline Sloss' pitching in the circle. 
  • The Cougars were eventually eliminated from the conference tournament after two hard-fought games, falling to the eventual CCAA Tournament Champions Sonoma State, 12-8, on Friday and to CSUMB in a nail bitter, 8-6, on Saturday. 
  • Nikki Andelin was named to the CCAA All-Tournament Team. 

BY THE NUMBERS

  • CSUSM is in the midst of its best season since moving to NCAA Division II in 2016.
  • The Cougars have put together a 14-game win streak this season – March 11-April 9 – as well as a 13-game win streak – Feb. 5-25 .
  • The Cougars are supporting a .324 batting average, the highest in the CCAA and 31st best in the nation. 
  • CSUSM's pitching has been outstanding as well with a 2.39 ERA, ranking third behind Chico State (2.22) and Cal State Monterey Bay (2.32) in the CCAA and 37th in the nation. 
  • The CSUSM pitching staff has held its opponents to a .238 batting average, the second lowest in the conference. 
  • The Cougar defense converted four double plays in the series finale at Cal State Dominguez Hills, tying for the most by a Division II team this season. 
  • Paige Donnelly and Bianca Gutierrez are No. 1-2 in the CCAA in batting average with .442 and .408 clips, respectively.
  • Paige Donnelly also leads the CCAA with 0.33 doubles per game (51st in D2),  54 RBIs (29th in D2), 1.20 RBIs per game (14th in D2) and .752 slugging percentage (44th in D2). 
  • Bianca Gutierrez is the toughest player to strikeout out in the CCAA with just four strikeouts in her 152 at-bats this season – striking out every 38.0 at bats and ranking her 11th in Division II.
SB Field
GAME 52  | NO. 8-SEEDED NORTHWEST NAZARENE
DateThursday, May 12, 2022
Times12 p.m. 
LocationSan Marcos, Calif.
VenueCSUSM Softball Field 
RecordsCSUSM (40-11)
NNU (34-19)
Tournament CentralClick Heres
Live StatsSidearm Stats
Live VideoCCAA Network
TicketsHometown Tickets 
COVID-19 Policy2021-22 CCAA Universities Spectator Policies

 

 

 

WEST REGIONAL PREVIEW

  • For softball, the NCAA splits each regional into two pods with the winner of each pod advancing to Super West Regional, which features a best-of-three series against each other the following week to determine the regional champion.
  • The San Marcos pod includes No. 1-seed CSUSM, No. 4-seed Sonoma State, No. 5-seed Cal State Monterey Bay and No. 8-seed Northwest Nazarene. 
  • The other pod in the West Region that is playing on the campus of Concordia University Irvine includes No. 2-seed CUI, No. 3-seed Chico State, No. 6-seed Cal State Dominguez Hills, and No.7-seed Azusa Pacific. 
  • This marks CSUSM's first trip to the West Regional while NNU is making its third appearance (2018, 2021, 2022). CSUMB is making its eighth West Regional appearance while SSU will compete for the 13th time in the West Regional. 
  • The Nighthawks led the GNAC in ERA (2.39), on-base percentage (.387), scoring (5.64), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.95), runs (299), sacrifice flies (25), WHIP (1.18) and walks (209).
  • NNU is batting .292 on the season, ranking second in the GNAC.
  • This will be the inaugural meeting between CSUSM and NNU. 
  • Sidney Booth is the two-way star for the Nighthawks, earning GNAC Pitcher of the Year honors with a league-leading 1.76 ERA and 198 strikeouts while also ranking third in the conference in batting average (.384), first in on-base percentage (.495), and third in RBIs (47). 

COUGAR OUTLOOK

  • After seeing their 2020 season canceled after 19 games and sitting out the entire 2021 season, CSUSM returns 11 student-athletes from the 2020 season in Marissa Alvarez, Nikki Andelin, Zoe Ballen, Mayca Brown, Bianca Gutierrez, Gianna Lombardi, Kayla Mack, Sabrina Morales, Klarissa Munoz, Jamie Ponce and Ryann Steiner. 
  • Seven Cougars will take the field in Cougar blue for the first time this season - Paige Donnelly, Rachel Jardim, Mackenzie Kestler, Sammie Olivo, Jackie Ramirez, Morgan Salgado and Madison Waymire.
  • Joining the team in 2022 as true freshmen are Aneesa Arredondo, Savannah Coyle, Makenzie Guiliano, Delaney Prater and Jayline Sloss.
  • CSUSM was picked to finish eighth in the 2022 CCAA Softball Preseason Coaches Poll.

THE EWING FILE

  • Head coach Stef Ewing enters her fourth season in charge of the Cougar softball season, finishing the 2020 shorten season due to COVID-19 pandemic with a 7-12 record that ended with an exhibition game against Team USA that was preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
  • Ewing captured her first win as a collegiate head coach on Feb. 17th as the Cougars won 5-4 in a walk-off over Concordia Portland at CSUSM Softball Field.
  • She previously served as the assistant coach at New Mexico State where she helped the Aggies to three WAC Regular Season Conference Championships and two WAC Conference Tournament Championships.