SAN MARCOS, Calif. – With its ticket punched to the CCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season, the Cal State San Marcos softball team (24-17, 17-11 CCAA) will close out the regular season this weekend against Stanislaus State (12-29, 6-25) with a 1 p.m. Friday twinbill before an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Saturday. 

Prior to Saturday's game, CSUSM will honor seniors Zoe Ballen, Mayca Brown, Bianca Gutierrez and Ryann Steiner. 

LAST TIME OUT

• CSUSM earned its fourth series win of 2023 last weekend after taking three of four at Cal State Monterey Bay. 
• After dropping the series opener 4-3 in eight innings, the Cougars offense exploded with a 7-3 win in Friday's nightcap before registering a doubleheader sweep on Saturday by scores of 5-1 and 6-1. 
• Prior to the series, CSUSM had only won one game in Seaside. 
• This was CSUSM first series win over the Otters in program history. 
• Paige Donnelly picked up her second CCAA Player of the Week honor (see below) and was selected as a top performance by the NFCA. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM is ranked No. 5 in the first official NCAA Division II Softball West Region rankings released on Wednesday by the NCAA. This marks CSUSM's second consecutive appearance in the first NCAA West Region Poll as the Cougars made their debut last season at No. 1.
• At 41-9 overall, the PacWest Conference's Concordia University Irvine topped the West Region poll followed by four CCAA schools with Sonoma State (33-8) at No. 2, Cal State San Bernardino (28-17) at No. 3, Cal State Dominguez Hills (27-15) at No. 4 and CSUSM (24-17) rounding out the top five. Northwest Nazarene (29-15) is the only Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) member in the top 10, ranking No. 6. Also representing the CCAA in the poll is San Francisco State (26-20) at No. 7 and Cal State Monterey Bay (26-22) at No. 10. The PacWest's Biola (27-18) and Azusa Pacific (28-21) are No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.
• CSUSM remains in third in the CCAA standings with a .607 win percentage, one and a half games back from second-place Cal State San Bernardino (.645). CSUSB will travel to San Francisco State this weekend to end the regular season. SF State is fighting to snag the sixth and final sport in the CCAA Tournament with Chico State right on the Gators' heels, just one game back. 
• The Cougars are third in the CCAA with a .284 batting average, behind leader Sonoma State's .316 and Cal Poly Humboldt's .287.
• CSUSM has the second-highest slugging percentage in the conference at .400.
• The Cougars are third in the CCAA with 0.44 home runs per game and fourth with 18 home runs this season. 
• CSUSM ranks third in the conference with a .358 on-base percentage. 
• With 121 walks this season, the Cougars are third in the CCAA. 
• Paige Donnelly is second in the CCAA with a .490 on-base percentage and 0.59 walks per game.
• Madison Waymire is right behind Donnelly in walks per game, ranking third in the CCAA at 0.54. 
• Bianca Gutierrez is the third-toughest CCAA Player to strikeout, averaging one strikeout per 23.2 at-bats. 

2023 NFCA PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCHLIST

• For the second consecutive season, Paige Donnelly is getting national recognition after being named to the 2023 Tucci/NFCA DII Player & Pitcher of the Year Watchlist. 
• Donnelly is in the top 10 in the CCAA in nine categories – second in OPS (1.148), second in on-base percentage (.523), third in batting average (.409), fourth in walks (18), fourth in slugging percentage (.625), fifth in RBIs (21), fifth in hit-by-pitches (4), eighth in home runs (4) and eighth in hits (36). 
• Donnelly is the only returning NFCA All-American in the West Region. 
• Voted on by the NFCA's Division II All-American Committee, the 2023 Tucci/NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year will be announced on June 1. All student-athletes are eligible for the end-of-the-season award and do not have to be on this list to be considered.
• The Player of the Year award was created in 2015 to honor the outstanding athletic achievements among softball student-athletes throughout NCAA Division II. In 2019, the Association expanded the award to include a Player and Pitcher of the Year.

 

GAMES 42-45 | STANISLAUS STATE
Date	Friday, April 28 - Saturday, April 29
Times	Friday - 1 p.m. (DH) Saturday - 11 a.m. (DH)
Location	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	CSUSM Softball Field
Records	CSUSM (24-17, 17-11 CCAA) STAN (12-29, 6-25 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

 

STAN STATE STATS

• Last in the CCAA standings, the Warriors enter the final weekend of play on an eight-game losing streak after being swept by Cal State Dominguez Hills and San Francisco State these past two weeks. 
• In the Warriors' 29 losses this season, 14 of them were by just one run and five were by two runs. 
• Stan State is second in the CCAA in hit by pitches with 25 this season. 
• The Warriors rank last in the conference in home runs (3), scoring (2.71) and total runs (111). 
• Stan State has the sixth-highest batting average in the CCAA at .262 and seventh-highest ERA at 2.67. 
• Mikaela Ferreira is boasting the second-best batting average in the conference at .406. 
• Ferreira and Katie Thornsberry are 1-2 in the toughest to strike out in the CCAA, averaging one every 32.0 and 24.6 at bats, respectively. 
• The Cougars are on a five-game win streak with a series sweep (8-6, 7-5, 6-3, 3-2) in Turlock last year to begin the 2022 CCAA season and a 4-0 victory in the 2019 series finale in San Marcos. 
• CSUSM is 9-14 in the all-time series against the Warriors and are 2-6 when playing in San Marcos. 
• The Warriors were picked to finish ninth in the 2023 CCAA Preseason Softball Poll. 

 

COUGAR OUTLOOK

• CSUSM has 17 returners for the 2023 season, including 2022 All-CCAA honorees Paige Donnelly (first team), Savannah Coyle (first team), Bianca Gutierrez (first team) and Jayline Sloss (second team). 
• The Cougars will have seven newcomers this season with six freshmen and one transfer.
• Athletically, the Cougars are made up of 13 redshirt sophomores, five true sophomores and six true freshmen.
• CSUSM was picked to repeat as conference champions in the 2023 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.

 
THE EWING FILE

• 2022 CCAA Coach of the Year Stef Ewing enters her fifth season in charge of the Cougar softball season.
• The Cougars finished the 2022 historic season surpassing all expectations by winning the program's first CCAA Regular-Season Championship with a 28-8 conference record while going 45-14 overall and hosting the NCAA West and Super West Regional as the top seed. 
• In her four seasons, she has coached two NFCA All-American third team selections, seven All-CCAA honorees (three first team selections), a CCAA Newcomer of the Year and CCAA Freshman of the Year. 
• Ewing captured her first win as a collegiate head coach on Feb. 17, 2019 as the Cougars recorded a walk-off 5-4 victory over Concordia Portland at CSUSM Softball Field.
• Ewing has complied a 90-74 (.549) in her five seasons at CSUSM. 
• 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.