SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Making it to the NCAA West Regional for the fourth consecutive season, the third-seeded Cal State San Marcos softball team (38-20) will face sixth-seeded Biola (38-19) on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at SFSU Softball Field on the campus of San Francisco State. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The Cougars' comeback rally fell short in the CCAA Tournament last Saturday, falling 8-6 to San Francisco State.
• CSUSM opened the tournament with a 4-3 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills in the single-elimination game on Wednesday, April 30. 
• After falling 3-1 to SF State, the Cougars took down then-No. 13 Cal State East Bay in their first elimination game by a score of 3-1 on Thursday, May 1. 
• On Friday, May 2, CSUSM eliminated host Sonoma State in a 10-inning, 7-6 victory to secure a spot in the championship. 
• Paige Donnelly, Dahlia Fink and Delaney Prater were named to the 2025 CCAA All-Tournment Team. 

COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM concluded CCAA play in the top spot with a .310 batting average. 
• The Cougars have drawn a conference-high 174 walks this season. 
• CSUSM is No. 2 in the CCAA with 16 sacrifice flies this season. 
• The Cougars are No. 3 in the conference in on-base percentage (.381) and slugging percentage (.408). 
• CSUSM ranks seventh in NCAA Division II (third in the CCAA) with 29 double plays. 
• The Cougars have the third-best fielding percentage in the CCAA at .966. 
• 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. 
• Two Cougars are ranked in the top 10 in the CCAA in batting average – Paige Donnelly is in sixth (.368) and by Jillian Albayati in 10th (.359)
• Albayati ranks second in the nation with 150 assists. 
• Coyle is ranked 19th in Division II with fourth saves. 
• Donnelly's 41 RBIs rank fourth in the CCAA. 
• Jayline Sloss is the CCAA leader with 40 strikeouts looking and second with 108 strikeouts.
• Waymire ranks third in the conference with 45 runs and tied for fourth with eight home runs. 
• Three Cougars are in the top 10 in on-base percentage in the CCAA with Waymire in sixth (.449), Coyle in seventh (.447) and Donnelly in ninth (.439). 
    

THIRD-SEEDED CSUSM VS. SIXTH-SEEDED BIOLA

• CSUSM and Biola have never faced each other in a postseason game in the NCAA Division II era (2015-present). 
• The Eagles have made two appearances in the NCAA Division II West Regional, with their most successful run coming in 2021 when CSUSM and the rest of the CCAA didn't compete due to COVID-19. Fifth-seeded Biola defeated fourth-seeded North Georgia twice (4-0, 5-2) and top-seeded Augustana once (3-0) before taking down sixth-seeded West Texas A&M in game one of the championship series, 5-0, before falling twice, 7-4 and 4-1, to capture runner-up honors. 
• Their most recent West Regional appearance came in 2023 when the Eagles went 1-2 in the West Regional pod at Concordia University Irvine. Biola fell 4-0 to top-seeded CUI 4-0 before taking down fifth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino 1-0. The Eagles' season ended with a 3-2 loss to fourth-seeded Northwest Nazarene. 
• This is CSUSM's fourth consecutive NCAA West Regional appearance. 
• The Cougars made their NCAA West Regional debut in 2022 as the top seed, hosting one of the pods. CSUSM dropped a 4-0 decision in the tournament opener to eighth-seeded Northwest Nazarene before bouncing back with a 5-0 win over Cal State Monterey Bay, 4-0 victory over NNU and back-to-back wins over Sonoma State by scores of 4-3 (10 inn.) and 3-1 to secure its spot in the West Super Regional.
• In 2022, the Cougars hosted Cal State Dominguez Hills in the Super Regional and took game one 3-2 in 13-innings before falling 10-2 (6 innings) and 3-1. 
• The Cougars made their deepest run in the postseason in the 2023 season, going 3-0 in the West Regional in Rohnert Park, taking down host and third-seeded Sonoma State 13-1 in five-innings, second-seeded CSUDH 5-0 and seventh-seeded Azusa Pacific 7-1. 
• In the 2023 West Super Regional, CSUSM took down host and top-seeded Concordia University Irvine by scores of 9-0 and 4-3. 
• In the 2023 NCAA Softball Championships, the eighth-seeded Cougars fell 5-1 to top-seeded UT Tyler before snagging a 3-2 win over fourth-seeded Wilmington (Del.). CSUSM's season came to an end in a 10-6 decision to second-seeded Central Oklahoma. 
• After winning the CCAA Tournament Championship for the first time in program history, the Cougars got the automatic bid to the West Regional. Fourth-seeded CSUSM faced fifth-seeded Cal State East Bay for the ninth time in 2024, registering a 9-1, five-inning victory. The Cougars won game one against the top-seeded Western Washington, 4-3, before dropping two in a row, 7-1 and 2-1. The Vikings went on to be crowned NCAA National Runner-Up. 
• The Cougars swept the Eagles in La Mirada this season in a rescheduled doubleheader due to field conditions from heavy rain by scores of 7-5 and 3-1. 
• CSUSM is 24-18 in the all-time series against Biola and 6-7 in the NCAA Division II Era (2015-present). 
• CSUSM has the fifth-best batting average (.310) and eighth-best ERA (2.94) in the West Region while Biola is supporting the fourth-best batting average (.316) and sixth-best ERA (2.56)

 
SECOND-SEEDED SAN FRANCISCO STATE (37-18)

• The Gators won the program's first CCAA Tournament last weekend, taking down the Cougars 8-6 on Championship Saturday. 
• SF State, as the second seed, went 3-0 to win the title with 3-1 and 8-6 wins over CSUSM with an 8-5 win over fourth-seeded Sonoma State sandwiched in between. 
• 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. 
• The Gators are fast on the bases, leading the CCAA with 1.73 stolen bases per game. 
• SF State has the 11th-best batting average (.300) and ninth-best ERA (3.00). 

 
SEVENTH-SEEDED SAINT MARTIN'S (32-14)

• The Cougars and Saints have only faced each other four times in program history with Saint Martin's sweeping CSUSM 8-6 and 6-1 in 2016 in San Marcos before the Cougars registered a 6-5 win at the Tournament of Champions in 2018 over the Saints. In its most recent meeting, CSUSM fell 8-4 in 2019 at the TOC in Turlock. 
• This will be SMU's second consecutive appearance in the West Regional as they were in the Northwest Nazarene pod in 2024, taking 3-2 and 7-3 losses to second-seeded NNU while earning an 8-2 win over third-seeded CUI in between.
• The Saints have the second-best batting average (.334) in the West Region while supporting the 21st-best ERA (4.98). 

2025 OUTLOOK

• 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).