SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The No. 21 Cal State San Marcos softball team (20-11, 14-6 CCAA) will welcome Cal State San Bernardino (21-16, 13-10) to the CSUSM Softball Field this weekend with an 1 p.m. doubleheader on Friday followed by a noon twinbill on Saturday. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The Cougars dropped both ends of their home doubleheader, 3-2 and 6-0, on Friday before recording a twinbill sweep at Biola on Saturday with a 4-3 nine-inning win in the opener and a 3-1 nightcap victory. 
• For the second consecutive week, Paige Donnelly led the Cougars with a .667 batting average, six hits, two doubles, seven walks, .899 slugging percentage and a .813 on-base percentage. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Cougars are now No. 21 in the most recent NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
• CSUSM remains in the second spot in the CCAA standings, two and a half games behind leader Sonoma State (22-4, 16-3 CCAA).
• The Cougars continue to rank second in the CCAA with a .289 batting average, behind leader Sonoma State's .319.
• CSUSM has the second-highest slugging percentage in the conference at .403.
• The Cougars rank third in double plays (14), double plays per game (0.45), on-base percentage (0.358) and sacrifice flies (8). 
• Paige Donnelly is the CCAA leader with a .523 on-base percentage and second in walks per game (0.58).
• Madison Waymire continues to lead the CCAA in triples (3) and triples per game (0.11).
• Bianca Gutierrez is the third-toughest CCAA Player to strikeout, averaging one strikeout per 20.6 innings. 
• The Coguars are 2-0 in extra-inning games this season. 

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 32-35 | CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO
Date	Friday, April 7 - Saturday, April 8
Times	Friday - 1 p.m. (DH) Saturday - 12 p.m. (DH)
Location	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	CSUSM Softball Field
Records	CSUSM (20-11, 14-6 CCAA) CSUSB (21-16, 13-10 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

 

CSUSB BREAKDOWN

• Fifth in the CCAA standings, Cal State San Bernardino is coming off a strong showing at Stanislaus State's Tournament of Champions where the Yotes went 4-1. CSUSB picked up wins over Simon Fraser (3-1), Dominican (9-1), Montana State Billings (8-6) and Western Washington (4-3) with its lone loss coming against Azusa Pacific (2-1). 
• The previous weekend, the Yotes swept Chico State in three games with day one's doubleheader being turned into a single game due to rain-battered field conditions. CSUSB walked away with scores of 2-1, 10-1 (5 inn.) and 5-0.
• CSUSB has recorded the second-most hits in the CCAA at 266 this season. 
• The Yotes have the second-highest number of sacrifice flies at nine. 
• With CSUSB pitchers hitting 24 batters this season, the Yotes have the second-highest hit batter total. 
• Samantha Vargas is the Yotes ace this season, leading the CCAA in pitching appearances (28), games started (21), innings pitched (142.1), shutouts (5) and victories (14). 
• Vargas is also in the top 10 in Division II in games started (5th), innings pitched (5th), pitching appearances (6th) and complete games (9th). 
• Tereise Tosi is CSUSB's top hitter with a .395 batting average, 45 hits, eight doubles, six home runs and 24 RBIs. 
• Alexis Aguado is third in the CCAA with 14 stolen bases. 
• The Cougars won the 2022 series in San Bernardino, splitting day one with a 12-3 win before falling 10-5 in the nightcap and sweeping day two with 2-0 and 4-1 victories. 
• CSUSM is 7-22 in the all-time series against San Bernardino and 1-9 when playing in San Marcos. 
• The Yotes were picked to finish eighth 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 84-66 (.560) 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.