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No. 9 Cougars Make CCAA Tournament Debut as Top Seed

SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The No. 9 Cal State San Marcos softball team (39-9) will make its CCAA Tournament debut on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. as the No. 1 seed and will face the winner of Game 2 featuring fourth-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills and fifth-seeded Cal State Monterey Bay, which will be played at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. 

LAST TIME OUT

  • The Cougars clinched the program's first CCAA Regular-Season Championship last Friday with a sweep over Humboldt State and Sonoma State's 9-8 eight-inning victory at Chico State. The Cougars mercy-ruled the Jacks in the series opener, 9-1, before pulling off a dramatic, nine-inning 3-2 victory in the nightcap. 
  • CSUSM closed out the season with a split against Humboldt after the twinbill was moved to Bear River Casino Softball Complex, taking game one 7-1 before falling 10-2 in five innings in the series finale.  

BY THE NUMBERS

  • The Cougars held steady at the top of the NCAA Division II West Regional rankings at No. 1 in the third poll of 2022, announced today. 
  • CSUSM is in the midst of its best season since moving to NCAA Division II in 2016.
  • The Cougars saw their season-best 14-game win streak come to an end on April 9 against CSUDH.
  • After beginning the season 1-1, the Cougars went on a 13-game win streak (Feb. 5-25), their pervious longest since moving to NCAA Division II. The program's record is 22 consecutive wins set between Feb. 18 - March 21, 2012 when CSUSM competed at the NAIA level.
  • The Cougars are supporting a .325 batting average, the highest in the CCAA and 32nd best in the nation. 
  • CSUSM's pitching has been outstanding as well with a 2.27 ERA in 326.1 innings, ranking third behind Chico State (2.05) and Cal State Monterey Bay (2.15) in the CCAA and 32nd in the nation. 
  • The CSUSM pitching staff has held its opponents to a .231 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 .426 clips, respectively.
  • Paige Donnelly also leads the CCAA with 0.33 doubles per game (58th in D2),  54 RBIs (16th in D2), 1.20 RBIs per game (14th in D2) and .752 slugging percentage (48th in D2). 
  • Bianca Gutierrez is the toughest player to strikeout out in the CCAA with just three strikeouts in her 141 at-bats this season – striking out every 47.0 at bats and ranking her fourth in Division II.
CCAA Softball Tournament Logo
GAME 49 | NO. 4-SEEDED CSUDH or No. 5-SEEDED CSUMB
DateThursday, May 5, 2022
Times6:30 p.m. 
LocationSeaside, Calif.
VenueOtter Sports Complex
RecordsCSUSM (39-9, 28-8 CCAA)
CSUDH (35-17, 23-13 CCAA)
CSUMB (33-19, 18-18 CCAA)
Live StatsSidearm Stats
Live Video ($)CCAA Network
TicketsHometown Tickets 
COVID-19 Policy2021-22 CCAA Universities Spectator Policies

 

 

 

CCAA PREVIEW

  • For the second consecutive time, the CCAA Softball Tournament will be held at Cal State Monterey Bay's Otter Sports Complex.
  • The Otters also hosted the tournament in 2019, the first time the event had returned to a campus site since 2008 after a 10-year relation with the City of Stockton.
  • Five different institutions have captured the softball championship since 2016 with Sonoma State the latest winner in 2019.
  • This is CSUSM's first time qualifying for the CCAA Tournament. 
  • After winning the 2022 CCAA regular season, the Cougars will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed. Chico State claimed the No. 2 seed, followed by No. 3 Sonoma State,  No. 4 Cal State Dominguez Hills, No. 5 Cal State Monterey Bay and No. 6 Cal State East Bay.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
 

at Otter Sports Complex, Cal State Monterey Bay, Seaside, Calif.
Thursday, May 5
Game 1: #3 Sonoma State vs. #6 Cal State East Bay, 11 a.m.
Game 2: #4 Cal State Dominguez Hills vs. #5 Cal State Monterey Bay, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: #2 Chico State vs. Winner of Game 1, 4 p.m.
Game 4: #1 Cal State San Marcos vs. Winner of Game 2, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 6
Game 5: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3, 11 a.m. (elimination)
Game 6: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 4, 1:30 p.m. (elimination)
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4 p.m.  

Saturday, May 7
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 11 a.m. (elimination)
Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 1:30 p.m. (elimination)

Sunday, May 8
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, 10 a.m.
Game 11: if necessary, 30 minutes after end of Game 10

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.