SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Jillian Albayati and Jordan Hill represented Cal State San Marcos on the 2026 NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year Watchlist as announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) on Wednesday.
 
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. The list is broken down into the eight NCAA Regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West) with up to 15 student-athletes represented in each region. The list is compiled by the elected members of the NFCA Division II All-American Committee with one head coach representing each of the eight NCAA regions. To be eligible, a student-athlete's head coach must be a member.
 
Voted on by the NFCA's Division II All-American Committee, the 2026 NFCA Player and Pitcher of the Year winners will be announced on May 27, a day prior to the start of the NCAA Division II National Championships. All student-athletes are eligible for the end-of-the-season award and do not have to be on this list to be considered.

Albayati is leading NCAA Division II with a .580 batting average while ranking second with a .642 on-base percentage and fifth with a 1.020 slugging percentage. She is also leading the CCAA in hits (58) and RBIs per game (1.61), ranking fourth in Division II in both of those categories. Albayati also has a conference-leading 11 home runs, placing her eighth in the nation. She has tallied a team-best 18 multi-hit games, 17 multi-RBI games and is currently on a 16-game hit streak, the longest this season by the Cougars.

Hill is boasting a 1.55 ERA and has tallied 12 victories, three complete games and three saves. The San Dimas native has accumulated a 12-2 record in 86.0 innings, limiting opponents to a .205 batting average. Hill tossed her first career no-hitter on March 6 against Stanislaus State, a first for CSUSM in the NCAA Division II era.
 
Joining Hill and Albayati on the list from the CCAA are San Francisco State's Shaunessy Cardwell, Cal Poly Humboldt's Shelby Shanks and Marissa Brody as well as Jeslyn Cuellar and Marissa Quintero of Cal State East Bay.
 
The No. 2 Cougars will host Cal State Dominguez Hills this week in a four-game series starting with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Thursday at CSUSM Softball Field.