UCD and UCSB will both participate on the road this week against Cal State Bakersfield and Hawai'i, respectively. CSUB and UH have both collected a pair of league wins after two weeks of action.  

Cal State Fullerton travels to the central coast to take on Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo this weekend.  

Conference leading Highlanders head down south to La Jolla, Calif. for dates with UC San Diego to round out the list of league series this week.  

A total of 15 contests will air live on ESPN+ over the next two weeks. Check our listings online here at our softball schedule page.  

2025 Big West Softball Schedule 

Around the Dugouts
Cal Poly (4-19, 0-6 BW) — CP looks ahead to its home series with CSUF this weekend. Kiara Blanchard leads the Mustangs and ranks 14th in The Big West with a .438 batting average.   

Cal State Bakersfield (11-18, 2-4 BW) — The Roadrunners will look to take advantage of hosting UCSB at the Roadrunner Softball Complex where the teams holds a 4-3 record. CSUB currently carries two batters who have logged more than 20 hits this season with Maalia Cherry (27) and Karissa Munsey (21).

Cal State Fullerton (16-12, 3-3 BW) — CSUF hits the road for a series against CP after suffering a sweep in its last conference outing. Sarah Coccillos drove in a team-high nine RBI across three games this weekend, including the tying run that pushed game two against the Gauchos to extra innings. Coccillos (10-for-21) batted .476 with a double, a run scored and a stolen base.  

CSUN (11-14, 4-1 BW) — The Matadors make way back at home to the Matador Diamond for a series against LBSU. During the team's 4-1 win over UH last week, Lauryn Carranco tossed a complete game after striking out eight batters. Carranco has collected a 3-1 record in league play while ranking in the conference with a 1.11 ERA for CSUN. Overall, the Matadors lead the league in team ERA at a 1.78 clip.  

Hawai’i (16-11, 2-3 BW) — The Rainbow Wahine went an even 1-1 on the week after splitting a doubleheader with CSUN and having a game cancelled. During the 4-3 win, Carys Murakami led UH with two hits while Kolbi Kochi and Liliana Thomas knocked in a pair of RBI apiece. Currently, Izabella Martinez continues to led UH with 27 total hits.  

Long Beach State (14-10, 4-2 BW) — LBSU landed the series win over UCSD last week after taking two games. Makayla Medellin has managed to lead the team in hits so far with eight total. Overall, the team is hitting at .294 rate over the course of six conference games.  

UC Davis (10-18, 4-2 BW) — The Aggies are fresh off their first season sweep of the year against conference foe CP. UCD has three batters who have registered 20 plus hits between Mickey Buscemi (24), Rylee Reeves (24), and Alyssa Dethlesfon (26) so far this season. The duo of Dethlesfon and Caroline Grimes gathered Big West weekly recognition after their performances for the Ags.  

UC Riverside (14-14, 5-1 BW) — The Highlanders are riding a five-game winning streak and enjoying their best conference start (5-1) in program history fresh off a sweep of CSUB. Leilani Juan led the way for the Highlanders after rocketing a pair of home runs alongside three RBI and four runs scored in the series at a .625 hitting percentage. In game two of the series, UCR reached its new Division-I record of 18 runs in a game. 

UC San Diego (3-18, 1-5 BW) — UCSD took down LBSU 8-2 in the first game of the double header this past weekend. The win snapped a 12-game losing streak for the blue and gold. Jaden Hill hunkered the Tritons down after going 6-for-10 at the plate with three runs and an RBI during the series.  

UC Santa Barbara (15-13, 4-2 BW) — For the first time in program history, UCSB swept CSUF in a regular season series. The Gauchos reached home base 32 times in the three road contests. Mejia Gissle had two of the freshman's hits go for extra bases while also driving in five runs to help highlight UCSB.  

Weekly Highlights
- Junior Bella Fuentes batted .455 with two home runs, 10 runs batted in, and two runs scored walked once and never struck out. Fuentes has now logged five multi-hit games on the season and seven multi-rbi games. Defensively, the infielder made every play in the field to help highlight the Gauchos in their sweep over the Titans for first time since 2017.  

CSUN's Jadyn Neilsen recorded a .571 batting average in the two games versus Hawai'i and sent a pair of Matadors to home base. The infielder found four hits and four total bases over the double header. The two RBIs led the team in their split against Hawai'i while also posting a 1.000 fielding percentage.
 

Makayla Medellin managed to hit safely for a .500 percentage. The highlight of Medellin's week came when the junior sent a solo shot that sparked a comeback 5-4 win over UCSD. Overall, Medellin managed to slug 1.000 alonside a .583 on-base percentage. 

Complete in the Circle
- Malya Johnson started all three contests, going a perfect 3-0 in UCSB's historic sweep over the Titans. The pitcher put in 15.2 innings of work that resulted in only allowing seven earned runs while striking out seven batters in a total of 22 innings.  

Maddie Heinlin spun a 0.70 ERA while going 2-0 in two appearances for UCR against CSUB over the weekend, surrendering just one earned run. The senior sat down four batters and tossed a 3.0 inning relief in game three to secure the sweep.  

Sisters Square Off
- The Alano household will have a lot to cheer for in the UCR versus UCSD this weekend when two sisters will square off against each other in the field. Senior Alyssa Alano, who is also on the Philippines National softball team will help the Tritons take down league leading UCR and freshman Ryanna Alano.


 

Big West Weekly Recognition
- Alexia Lopez accumulated Big West Field Player of the Week recognition after leading the Titans at the plate (11-for-19) against the Gauchos. This is the first weekly distinction of the junior's career. In the three games, Lopez recorded six RBI, two doubles, and found home plate five times. In addition, the senior stole a base and walked twice. Behind the dish, the infielder made 34 putouts and four assists, while preventing three runners from stealing a base. Lopez leads The Big West in total hits during conference play with 11 while simultaneously ranking second in batting average at a clip of .579.  

Caroline Grimes threw 12.0 scoreless innings and went 2-0 to help UC Davis sweep Cal Poly, earning The Big West Pitcher of the Week award. This is the first weekly distinction of the junior's career. Grimes gathered a complete game shutout while striking out six and not allowing a single earned run in the opening game of the doubleheader against the Mustangs. The pitcher returned to the circle during game two of the double header and sat down a CP batter to secure the double header sweep and one-inning save. Threw 4.0 shutout innings in winning start, earning the junior's second win of the weekend as the Aggies finished off the weekend sweep of Cal Poly. Overall, Grimes has tossed 44 strikeouts this season over 66.0 innings or work, both ranking second on the team. 

Alyssa Dethlefson slashed .566/.600/.556 to lead the Aggies and help sweep Cal Poly and take home The Big West Freshman of the Week accolade. This is the first weekly award of the freshman's career. Offensively, the freshmen added five hits across an RBI, walk, and a lone run. Dethlefson stole bases over the weekend, increasing the mark to thirteen total which ranks second overall in The Big West.  

Inaugural Championship at Bat in 2025 
- The Big West's top six teams will compete for the conference title in the inaugural 2025 Big West Softball Championship, with the champion earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Championship. The four-day double-elimination format sees the top two teams with a first round bye will be the first of its kind in The Big West.  
 
Three games highlight the first day of competition on Wednesday, May 7 with No. 4 and No. 5 seeds leading off at 1:00 p.m., followed by the No. 3 and No 6 seeds going head-to-head at 4 p.m., with the first elimination game of the championship rounding out Day 1. Action resumes on Thursday, May 8, when the top two teams take to the diamond for their first taste of championship action with an elimination matchup to close out Day 2 and bring the field to four. Friday, May 9 features a winner's bracket showdown, with the victor in that contest advancing to the championship. Two elimination games round out the action as one team will battle back to earn a spot in the championship.  
 
The championship game will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 10. If the undefeated team loses, a decisive second game will be played approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first to crown the 2025 Big West softball champions. 


Championship Ticket Information
- Tickets for the Big West Softball Championship are on sale now. The Big West's first-ever conference championship in softball is scheduled for May 7-10 at Anderson Family Field on the campus of Cal State Fullerton.  
 
All-session tickets, priced at $77, provide access to all four days of the double-elimination event. senior and youth all-session tickets are $65. Senior is defined as 65 and older and youth are 12 and under.  
 
Single-session general admission tickets are also available for $16 for adults, $14 for Senior/Youth and $12 for groups of 20 or more. For additional details or to purchase tickets, visit BigWest.org/SBtix.  
 
The Big West's top six teams will compete for the conference title, with the champion earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Championship. 

Ticket link: BigWest.org/SBtix. 

New Faces Around the Dugouts
- 2024 Big West Champion Cal State Fullerton enters a new era under leadership of former Titan Gina Oaks Garcia. The skipper was promoted after serving as the pitching coach last year for a team that claimed the conference title and was one game away from advancing past the NCAA Regional final. 

Head coach Nikki Palmer returns to UC San Diego as its skipper after graduating from the program in 2007. During eight seasons at the helm of UC Riverside, Palmer became the winningest head coach in program history and notched the eclipsed 200th career victories a year ago. Brittney Matta now takes the reigns at UCR after being named the 2023 ACCAC Coach of the Year last season at UTEP. 


2025 Preseason Prognostics
- Long Beach State has been picked as the top team in The Big West heading into the 2025 season, as voted by the league's 10 head coaches.   

The Beach (25-29, 22-5 BW) earned 81 points in the poll and claimed the top spot in the poll after being tabbed in second place back-to-back years. LBSU earned nine first-place first votes, the most of any team this year. 

Coaches in the conference also voted on an 11-person Preseason All-Big West team. Long Beach State saw two of its student-athletes make the list with senior infielder Jacquelyn Bickar and senior pitcher Shannon Haddad cracking the preseason team for consecutive seasons. Bickar brought in 13 runs across the infielder's 42 hits a year ago (third on team) earning approval on this year's preseason team. LBSU teammate Haddad sat down twelve batters during the pitcher's five games last season.  

Defending Big West champion Cal State Fullerton was selected as the second-best team heading into the year with 63 points and a first-place vote. The Titans put a pair on the preseason team too with sophomore infielder Sarah Perez and sophomore outfielder Kate Verhoef dotting the list. Perez and Verhoef both capped 2024 off with All-Big West Freshman Team honors. The duo also received Freshman of the Week accolades with Verhoef winning once and Perez hoisting the hardware twice.  

UC Santa Barbara sees itself at the No. 3 spot with a total of 59 points. The Blue and Yellow boast sophomore pitcher/utility Ainsley Waddell as the Co-Freshman of the Year in 2024 after the San Marcos, Calif. native led UCSB in slugging percentage (.523) and RBI (35).  

Hawai'i harnessed the No. 4 position with 52 points, the last team in the league to earn over 50 tallies. Catcher/Infielder Izabella Martinez managed to secure a spot on the list after the senior finished second on UH with 39 hits and earned All-Big West Second Team honors last season.  

Narrow margins sperate the middle of the pack around the conference with Cal Poly at fifth (45 points), UC San Diego at sixth (43) and CSUN (41) residing at seven.  

Pitcher India Caldwell steps back into the circle for as the ace for the Tritons this year. The Fallbrook, Cailf. native spun a 2.63 ERA last season (6th in The Big West) across 178.1 innings of work (1st in The Big West) last year.  

The Matador combination of senior outfielder Mikayla Carman and junior pitcher Lauryn Carranco made way on the team following stud seasons from the two. Carman collected All-Big West First Team accolades after leading CSUN with 56 hits, good enough for sixth best in the conference. Carranco's 103 strikeouts were also sixth best in the conference for the preseason honoree.  

UC Davis, UC Riverside and Cal State Bakersfield round out the 2025 edition of the preseason poll with 38, 17 and 11 points, respectively. 

Reigning Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year Ashley Sawai represents the Aggies alongside a 2.75 ERA a year ago, ranked seventh amongst all student-athletes in The Big West.  

The 2025 Big West conference schedule consists of a 27-game slate, with each side facing all nine opponents in three-game sets starting Friday, March 7. Check listings to see which contests air on ESPN+. Regular season play starts Thursday, Feb. 6 with conference action officially beginning on Friday, March 7.  

The 2025 Big West champion will earn the league's automatic berth again this year into the 64-team NCAA Division I Softball Championship. The 2025 WCWS remains at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla., May 29-June 5/6.