The postseason focus turns to three NCAA Division II programs this week.
Cal State San Marcos is sending both its fourth-ranked softball team and its baseball team to the California Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs this week, while Point Loma Nazarene University’s ninth-ranked baseball team is a strong favorite in the PacWest Conference Tournament.
PLNU (41-10, 37-7) won the PacWest regular-season title by 10 games. The Sea Lions will begin the conference’s postseason tournament Wednesday against Westmont in Santa Barbara.
Infielder Josiah Rodriguez (.419 batting average, five home runs, 42 RBIs) and outfielders Tristan Moore (.378-14-61) and Aiden Arriaga (.376-3-42) led PLNU offensively during the regular season while Devin Norton (8-1, 2.43 ERA), Derek Silva (8-1, 2.93) and Vaughn Neckar (9-2, 4.15) paced the pitchers.
The CSUSM baseball team (32-15, 19-13) finished the regular season by winning three of four games at Cal Poly Pomona last weekend to finish second in the final regular-season standings. They’ll play Pomona again Thursday in the first round of the CCAA Tournament. Outfielders Zech Samayoa (.382-19-67) and Canon King (.340-12-54) led the Cougars’ offense, while PJ Wendler (9-2, 4.63 ERA) was the top pitcher.
The Cougars’ softball team (47-6, 28-4) finished the regular season with a four-game sweep of Cal State San Bernardino to win the CCAA title by eight games. CSUSM opens the postseason tourney Thursday.
Shortstop Jillian Albayati (.562-14-71), third baseman Zoe Karam (.347-15-67) and CCAA Player of the Week center fielder Czar Fleischman (.348-7-41) led the Cougars’ offense during the regular season, while Daleah Cardenas (17-1, 1.66), Jordan Hill (15-3, 1.73) and Madison Cabrera (9-1, 3.09) were the leading pitchers.
More baseball
San Diego State outfielder Zane Kelly was named the Mountain West Player of the Week on Monday. The Aztecs have climbed to the top of conference standings, taking an 11-game winning streak into the final six games of the regular season.
• UC San Diego (19-24, 14-10) was swept by Long Beach State.
• USD (17-27, 9-12) lost two of three West Coast Conference games at Portland last weekend.
More softball
UC San Diego (23-26, 12-15) will play in the Big West Tournament starting Wednesday against UC Santa Barbara in Fullerton.
• San Diego State (24-26, 9-16) ended its season by losing seven of its final 10 games.
• USD is 18-30 going into its final three games
Women’s track and field
Samantha Wood ran the second-fastest 3,000-meter steeplechase in San Diego State history while finishing fourth in the Steve Scott Invitational at UC Irvine. Isabella Nilsen had a personal-best and the sixth-best pole vault in Aztec history at 13 feet, 11.32 inches at the Texas Invitational. Sydney Ash was third at 12 feet, 9.54 inches.
Xiamara Young finished second in the long jump (19-3 ½) and Alyssa Alumbres was fourth with a personal best (18-7¼ inches). Anna Mager (58.60 seconds) was third in the 400 hurdles and Lidia Major (59.73) was fifth.
• CSUSM finished third in team scoring at the CCAA championships at San Marcos. Freshman Nadia Miechowicz won both the 100 (11.89) and 200 (23.93) dashes. Danielle Patrick won the pole vault with a school-record height of 12-8.36 and Jordyn Brooks finished second in the triple jump with a school record of 40-0 1/3.
Men’s track and field
CSUSM’s Kevin Meumann won the CCAA 110-meter hurdles in 14.45 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in program history. Jason Wells picked up three bronze medals in the 100 (10.55), 200 (20.99, a school record) and 4×100 relay.
3C2A playoffs
San Diego’s community college teams will be involved in state playoffs for baseball, softball, beach volleyball and track and field this week.
Palomar’s baseball team is seeded No. 1 in the Southern California Regionals. The Comets will host the winner of Tuesday’s Saddleback/College of the Desert game in a best-of-three series starting Thursday.
The top-seeded Palomar softball team will host ninth-seeded Antelope Valley and third-seeded San Diego Mesa will host No. 11-seeded El Camino in the best-of-three Southern California Regionals on Friday and Saturday.
Mesa and MiraCosta colleges will be competing in the state beach volleyball championships this weekend at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. The regional track and field finals will be held this weekend in Bakersfield.