SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos softball team (30-19) is returning to the NCAA Division II West Super Regional this week, traveling to Concordia University Irvine for a best-of-three series with noon games on both Thursday, May 18 and Friday, May 19. If the series is split at that point, the teams will play a deciding game at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 19 to determine who will advance to the NCAA Division II World Series on May 25-31 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

LAST TIME OUT

• CSUSM completed its dominant weekend at the NCAA West 2 Regional with a 7-1 win over Azusa Pacific in the championship game.
• Prior to that, the Cougars opened the tournament with a 13-1 five-inning game against host Sonoma State before registering a 5-0 shutout over Cal State Dominguez Hills. 
• Jayline Sloss was named West Regional 2 All-Tournament Team MVP after allowing only one earned run in 14.0 innings while racking up 11 strikeouts. 
• Joining Sloss on the all-tournament team was Czar Fleischman, Bianca Gutierrez, Mackenzie Kestler and Madison Waymire. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Head Coach Stef Ewing is four wins away from her 100th victory as a head coach, all achieved at CSUSM. 
• At the West Regional 2, CSUSM dominated its opponents with the following stats: .369-to-.136 batting average, 25-to-2 runs, 31-to-9 hits, .440-to-.136 slugging percentage, .455-to-.219 on-base percentage and 0.37-to-7.39 ERA. 
• The Cougars did not give up an extra-base hit the entire West Regional while tallying four doubles and one triple in the three games. 
• The Cougars' batting average moved up to .281 from .274 following the West Regional, ranking them third in the CCAA. 
• CSUSM has the second-highest slugging percentage in the conference at .392.
• The Cougars are third in the CCAA with 0.46 home runs per game and 21 home runs this season. 
• CSUSM also ranks fourth in the conference with 1.22 doubles per game. 
• With 149 walks this season, the Cougars are third in the CCAA and 62nd in the nation. 
• CSUSM boasts the fourth-lowest ERA in the CCAA at 2.31, ranking 34th in Division II. 
• Paige Donnelly is second in the CCAA with 0.59 walks per game and third in with a .477 on-base percentage.
• Bianca Gutierrez is the fourth-toughest CCAA player to strikeout, averaging one strikeout per 20.2 at-bats. 

 

GAMES 50-51 | NO. 10 CUI
Dates & Times	Thursday, May 18 - 12 PM Friday, May 19 - 12 PM (if necessary game following at 2:30 p.m.)
Location	Irvine, Calif.
Venue	Golden Eagle Field
Records	CSUSM (30-19) CUI (45-10)
Live Stats & Video	Stretch
Website	Tournament Central
Tickets	HomeTown Ticketing
Bracket	2023 NCAA DII Softball Official Bracket

  

WEST SUPER REGIONAL PREVIEW

• This marks CSUSM's second consecutive appearance in the NCAA West Super Regional. 
• Last season, the Cougars won the opening game of the NCAA West Super Regional 3-2 in 13 innings over Cal State Dominguez Hills. The next day, CSUSM dropped back-to-back games by scores of 10-2 (6 inn.) and 3-1 as the Toros went on to become the NCAA Division II National Runner-Up. 
• For softball, the NCAA splits each regional into two pods with the winner of each pod advancing to the West Super Regional, which features a best-of-three series against each other the following week to determine the regional champion.
• CSUSM won its own pod with a 3-0 record while CUI posted a 3-1 record in its pod to advance. 
• The Golden Eagles opened their NCAA West Regional Pod with a 4-0 victory over Biola before recording a 3-2 win against Northwest Nazarene to get to the championship game. CUI dropped a 3-1 decision to NNU before clinching the if-necessary game with a 3-1 victory to keep its season alive. 
• The last two teams to emerge from the D2 West Region and advance to the World Series as one of the eight finalists have gone on to be the NCAA Division II Runner-Up – Biola in 2021 and CSUDH in 2022. 
• CSUSM and Southern Arkansas are the only sixth-seeded teams to advance to the Super Regionals. 
• Every single top-seeded team advanced to the Super Regionals with three No. 2-seeded teams and three No. 3-seeded teams also advancing. 
• CSUSM is 11-23 in the all-time series against CUI and 2-7 in the Division II era. 
• The Cougars dropped both ends of their doubleheader in San Marcos this season by scores of 6-0 and 3-2. 
• Last season, CSUSM took down then-No. 2 CUI with a doubleheader sweep in Irvine by scores of 5-4 and 4-2 (8 inn.). It was the Golden Eagles first twinbill loss of 2022. 
• CUI leads Division II with a 0.95 ERA and 25 shutouts. 
• The Golden Eagles' defense is also very solid, boasting a .973 average which ranks 15th in the nation. 
• The duo of Daniela Alvarez and Katilin Entrup are CUI's primary pitchers, posting 0.74 and 1.01 ERAs that rank fifth and ninth in the nation, respectively. 
• Rylie Rohr ranks 14th in the nation with 17 home runs 

 

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 96-76 (.550) 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.