Cal State San Marcos senior pitcher Jordan Hill — ranked second in the nation in NCAA Division II softball with a 0.62 ERA — and senior infielder Jillian Albayati — a right-handed hitter batting .548, ranked sixth nationally — are glad to be on the same team.
If they weren’t, Hill knows exactly how she’d approach facing Albayati at the plate.
“I’m hitting her,” said Hill, an 8-2 right-hander, with a laugh. “We scrimmage sometimes, and I swear, if I throw anything elevated, it’s gone every time.”
The respect goes both ways.
“She dominates even during scrimmages,” said Albayati, who leads the team with eight home runs and made headlines in 2024 as the first woman to play baseball at Cal State San Marcos — and just the second NCAA athlete to play in both a softball and baseball game on the same day. “It’s crazy. She has this rise ball that nobody all season has been able to figure out how to hit.”
Cougars head coach A.J. Robinson, in his second year with the program, called it a “dream matchup.”
“You’ve got two of the top players in the country going head to head in that situation, so it’s really hard to predict an outcome,” he said. “It would be a lot of fun to watch that battle, because they’re both so good. I wouldn’t want to call the pitches — I’d let Jordan decide howshe wants to attack Jill. And Jill can attack anybody. I’d love to see that after the season.”
After holding the No. 1 spot much of the season, the Cougars are currently ranked No. 2 in the NFCA Division II national poll, behind West Texas A&M. CSUSM has posted a 24-4 overall record, including 6-2 in CCAA play, and rode a 20-game win streak that stretched from late January through mid-March. That streak ended March 13 with a 1-0 loss at Chico State.
“We had a really good fall, played some Division I teams, and kind of whooped on them,” Albayati said. “We’re a young team, so that really surprised me. Last year we were older, and I’d say we were performing even better than we did in the fall.”
“When I found out the rest of my pitching staff was all freshmen, that was definitely a little nerve-wracking,” Hill said. “But once we got into practice, and during those fall games and the first couple in the spring, you could tell the freshmen were stepping up. Even though they don’t have as much experience, they’re still able to get the job done, which is really nice.”
Albayati had a blunt response to the winning streak ending. “Obviously it sucks to lose,” she said.
For Robinson, the silver lining was easy to find.
“The best thing about it is, you know, I’m a little superstitious, so I can finally go and get my haircut,” Robinson said. “I don’t think they really understood that I was superstitious when I told them, so I kind of had to explain it. But it wasn’t really stressful. I think we know—you play50-plus games in a season, you’re not going to beat everyone. We just have to learn and self-reflect from a couple of losses.”
San Marcos bounced back the following day with a 12-2 win, fueled by Albayati’s three hits and four RBIs and a strong outing from freshman pitcher Daleah Cardenas, who improved to 9-0 on the season.
“We really didn’t have much of a negative reaction,” Albayati said. “We won the next day and I think that really shows how we took that loss.”
“Also maybe [a feeling of] relief,” Hill added. “But everyone knew at some point there was going to be a loss coming. So it wasn’t disappointing that it ended—more like celebrating that we got to that point in the first place.”
Despite the early-season success, the Cougars say their focus is on staying present and avoiding the grandiose.
“What we’ve been doing this entire season is just looking forward to the next series, the next game,” Albayati said.
Hill added, “When you start your season as well as we did, sometimes people can get very big-picture, thinking, ‘Oh, postseason, blah, blah, blah.’ But before every game, we always talk about one inning, one pitch at a time. Keeping it simple is key, because we can’t have those big postseason moments if we’re not winning these games.”
“I think just the consistency of every day,” Robinson said. “Whether it’s practice or a game, we’re stacking good days on top of good days and staying within the moment.”
Key contributions have also come from pitchers Madison Cabrera (2.26 ERA) and Hailey Shiflett (2.47 ERA). Offensively, Jordan Elias (.377), Rae D’Amato (.370) and Angelina Rodriguez (.381, 2 HR), along with Czar Fleischman, who has added four home runs and 18 RBIs.
“They’re really hungry this year, and it’s great,” Robinson said. “I’m really happy for them, because, you know, we’re living in a world where it’s tough to be on the bench. They’ve done a great job.”
“You can pull someone off the bench to pinch hit, and they’ll still be a hard out matter what,” Albayati said. “I think everybody on this team steps up in different ways, and it really works for us.”
CSUSM swept four games against San Francisco State in a home series that concluded Saturday. Next up is a four-game set at Cal State Monterey Bay.
Hence then, the article about cal state san marcos softball team soars after riding win streak to top of national rankings was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Cal State San Marcos softball team soars after riding win streak to top of national rankings )
Also on site :