SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos softball team (35-18) will look to defend its title in the CCAA Softball Tournament presented by FloCollege this week. The third-seeded Cougars will face sixth-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills (31-24) in a single elimination game on Wednesday, April 30 at noon at Seawolf Softball Field on the campus of Sonoma State. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The Cougars fell 1-3 last weekend to CCAA regular-season champion Cal State East Bay in the final weekend of the regular season.
• The Pioneers took game one of the series 5-2 before the Cougars answered with a 2-1, nine-inning walk-off win in the nightcap. 
• East Bay took both games on Saturday by scores of 5-4 and 7-1. 

CCAA HONORS

• The Cougars had a program-best eight All-CCAA honorees. 
• Paige Donnelly, Jayline Sloss and Madison Waymire repeated as first-team honors while Jillian Albayati, Savannah Coyle and Delaney Prater were named to the second team for the second consecutive season. Dahlia Fink and Gianna Lombardi were honorable mentions. 
• Donnelly and Coyle are the program's first four-time All-CCAA first-team or second-team honorees. 

COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM stayed in the top spot in the CCAA with a .313 batting average. 
• The Cougars have drawn a conference-high 149 walks this season. 
• CSUSM is No. 2 in the CCAA with 16 sacrifice flies this season. 
• The Cougars are No. 2 in the conference in on-base percentage (.381) and slugging percentage (.414). 
• CSUSM ranks 11th in NCAA Division II (third in the CCAA) with 24 double plays. 
• The Cougars have the fifth-best fielding percentage in the CCAA at .965. 
• CSUSM is fourth in the conference with 3.98 RBIs per game average. 
• The Cougars have tallied 22 home runs, ranking fifth in the CCAA. 
• The CSUSM pitching staff has held conference opponents to a CCAA-low 27 doubles and three triples in 237.2 innings while striking out 132 batters with 43 looking (second in CCAA). 
• Three Cougars are ranked in the top 10 in the CCAA in batting average – Paige Donnelly is in sixth (.374) followed by Jillian Albayati in seventh (.366) and Madison Waymire in 10th (.359).
• Albayati ranks eighth in the nation with 2.79 assists per game. 
• Coyle is ranked 19th in Division II with fourth saves. 
• Donnelly's 36 RBIs rank fifth in the CCAA. 
• Jayline Sloss is the CCAA leader with 38 strikeouts looking.
• Waymire ranks third in the conference with 42 runs and tied for fourth with eight home runs. 
• Three Cougars are in the top 10 in on-base percentage in the CCAA with Coyle in fifth (.452), Waymire in sixth (.443) and Donnelly in seventh (.443). 
    

CCAA TOURNAMENT

• CSUSM will make its fourth consecutive appearance in the CCAA Tournament this week. 
• The second single-elimination game that will take place at 2:30 p.m. will feature fourth-seeded and host Sonoma State against fifth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino. 
• This will be the first CCAA Tournament played at Seawolf Softball Field.
• The last time Sonoma State hosted a postseason tournament was in 2023 when CSUSM won the West Regional with a 13-1, five-inning, mercy-ruled win over then-No. 16 Sonoma State, a 5-0 win over (RV) Cal State Dominguez Hills and a 7-1 victory over Azusa Pacific in the championship game. 

 
TOP-SEEDED EAST BAY

• Cal State East Bay (26-10) earned the top seed in the CCAA Tournament and won the regular-season title with a five-game lead over CSUSM, San Francisco State and Sonoma State who all tied for second place with a 21-15 conference record. 
• CSUEB was No. 1 in the first ranking portion of the NCAA West Region rankings last Wednesday.
• CSUSM would have had to win all four games in its series against East Bay last weekend to win the CCAA Regular-Season Championship. The Pioneers clinched their first CCAA regular-season title with a 5-2 win over the Cougars in the series opener. 
• CSUEB will face the lowest remaining seed from Wednesday's single-elimination games on Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
• The Pioneers have the lowest ERA in the CCAA at 1.80 with 2025 CCAA Pitcher of the Year Marissa Quintero leading the way with a 1.20 ERA. 

 
SECOND-SEEDED SAN FRANCISCO STATE

• The Gators came out on top in the three-way tie with CSUSM and SSU after winning both series by 3-1 in the head-to-head. 
• SF State is No. 2 in the latest NCAA Division II West Region ranking. 
• The Cougars dropped three of their four games at SF State on Feb. 28-March 1, falling 6-1, 4-3 and 7-2 but picked up a 7-6 win in game three of the series. 
• One week later, the Gators hosted SSU and recorded 2-1, 1-0 and 2-0 wins while falling 10-6 in game two. 
• SF State will face the second lowest-remaining seed from Wednesday's single-elimination games on Thursday at 1 p.m.
• The Gators are fast on the bases, leading the CCAA with 1.73 stolen bases per game. 

 
FOURTH-SEEDED SONOMA STATE

• The Seawolves ended the regular season with a series split at Chico State last weekend. 
• SSU came in at No. 8 in the latest NCAA West Region rankings last Wednesday.
• The Cougars earned a 3-1 series win over the Seawolves, dropping game one 10-0 in five innings before answering with 4-3, 3-2 and 8-4 victories. 
• Sonoma State will face fifth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino in a single-elimination game on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
• The Seawolves are leading the nation in double play alongside Emory & Henry University (Va.). 
• SSU has the second-best ERA (2.40) and the third-best batting average (.305) in the CCAA.  

 
FIFTH-SEEDED CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO (26-26)

• The Coyotes ended their regular season with a series split at San Francisco State. 
• The Cougars were swept by CSUSB on April 7-8 in San Marcos by scores of 2-1, 6-1, 2-1 and 6-2. 
• CSUSB was not one of the teams listed for NCAA West Regional consideration.
• CSUSB's team batting average of .295 ranks fourth in the CCAA while its 3.15 team ERA ranks sixth.

 
SIXTH-SEEDED CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS

• The Toros ended their regular season with a 3-1 series loss at Cal State Monterey, falling 2-0, 11-3 and 13-3 but winning game two 7-4. 
• CSUDH is No. 9 in the most recent NCAA Division II West Region ranking. 
• The Cougars dropped its four-game series 3-1 at CSUDH this season, falling 8-6, 1-0 and 5-3 in the first three games before recording a 9-1 five-inning, mercy-ruled win in the series finale. 
• The Toros have the third-worst team batting average (.277) and ERA (3.41) in the CCAA. 

• CSUSM was picked to finish first in the 2025 CCAA Preseason Softball Coaches Poll. 
• The Cougars' roster of 26 consists of 17 returners, one transfer and eight freshman. 
• Athletically, the Cougars are made up of four redshirt seniors, six seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and eight freshman. 
• The Cougars' 53-game schedule includes 28 home contests and 25 road games.

THE ROBINSON FILE

• Head Coach A.J. Robinson was promoted to the top spot on July 31, 2024. 
• As the program's assistant coach from 2022-24, Robinson helped guide CSUSM to three NCAA Division II West Regional appearances, an NCAA National Championship appearance, a West Regional Championship, a CCAA Regular-Season Championship and a CCAA Tournament Championship.
• For the 2021 season, Robinson was a volunteer assistant coach at San Diego State and helped the Aztecs to an overall record of 28-16.
• Robinson's first stint at CSUSM was as a volunteer assistant coach from 2018-20 where he was named CSUSM Athletics' Volunteer Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020.
• Robinson was the founder and president of The Factory Softball Club in San Diego until 2024. In 2018 and 2019, he and his coaching staff earned West Region Travel Ball Coaching Staff of the Year honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).