Watch the video release
CALIFORNIA - Defending CCAA regular-season champion and NCAA Division II Championship Finals participant UC San Diego has been tabbed to take the title again in 2020, as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.

The Tritons received 99 total points and nine first-place votes to lead the pack, with Chico State closely behind mimicking last year’s finish with 90 points and the remaining two nods for first. Next was the pairing of San Francisco State (75) and Sonoma State (72), with Cal State Monterey Bay (68) and Cal State San Bernardino (58) rounding out the predicted postseason squads in 2020.

Should the picks ring true, the seedings and standings will mimic those from 2019 to a T.

The Tritons return what was a youthful squad in 2019 as seasoned bunch with NCAA Championship Finals experience under their belts on 2020. With reigning CCAA Coach of the Year Patti Gerckens at the helm, the Tritons have three All-CCAA first teamers in pitcher Robyn Wampler, first baseman/utility player Sherriah Harrington and outfielder/utility player Keila Bosinger back in the lineup complementing a class of seven seniors. Wampler is a back-to-back All-West Region honoree after leading the league with 24 victories and five saves in 2019, and Bosinger led the team in average (.381), home runs (6), RBI (31) and OPS (1.067).

Chico State received the other two first-place votes by the coaches and are just nine points behind the Tritons in the total tally. The Wildcats will be led by junior Brooke Larsen, who was named First Team All-West Region, First Team All-CCAA and the conference's Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year in 2019 after fashioning a 20-8 record and a 1.84 earned run average. Senior shortstop Kristin Worley, a First Team All-CCAA and Second Team All-West Region selection, will enter the 2020 campaign attempting to become the Wildcats' top career base stealer, needing just four swipes to take the top spot in the Chico State record books. 

San Francisco State looks to ride the momentum from a stellar season to back-to-back CCAA postseason appearances for the first time in program history. The Gators will look to reigning CCAA Freshman of the Year and second team All-American Brylynn Vallejos to keep pace with her record-setting first collegiate season where she earned San Francisco State single-season records in batting average (.442), hits (95), doubles (18), and runs (55).

Defending CCAA Tournament champion Sonoma State lands in fourth in the preseason poll, just three points back from San Francisco State. The Seawolves will look to redshirt senior outfielder Alee Balanon, an All-CCAA first team pick in 2019 to help propel the squad back into trophy contention.

Back-to-back All-Conference performer Hayley Fein will be back in the circle and in the batter’s box for Cal State Monterey Bay, slated for a fifth-place finish. Despite a senior class of six including Fein, the team features 16 upperclassmen on Andrea Kenney’s squad, the only head coach in the history of the Otters softball program. 

With 58 points in the voting, Cal State San Bernardino rounds out the top six teams in the preseason poll. The Coyotes boast consecutive runner-up finishes in the conference tournament, each time as the last team into the field. Cal State San Bernardino will look to fill the void of CCAA Most Valuable Player Morgan Ratliff and CCAA first-teamer Dominique Walker, leaving junior shortstop Jamiana Gateb as the top statistical returner for the Coyotes.

Cal State San Bernardino was followed in the voting by Cal State Dominguez Hills with 48 points and just out of the tournament picture in seventh. Stanislaus State (36), Humboldt State (24), Cal State San Marcos (20) and Cal State East Bay (15) round out the preseason prognostications.

All 11 squads hit the diamond next weekend, Jan. 31-Feb. 2. The foursome of UC San Diego, Sonoma State, San Francisco State and Cal State San Bernardino each participate in the 11th annual Desert Stinger hosted by Montana State-Billings at Majestic Park in Las Vegas. Chico State, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State San Marcos, Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay open at the Cordordia-Irvine Kickoff Classic. Meanwhile, Humboldt State travels to Colorado for a five-game weekend trip, and Cal State Monterey Bay opens at home, hosting Menlo College and Antelope Valley before the first conference contests dot the schedule Feb. 7. 

After completing a 40-game conference schedule, the top six CCAA squads convene at Triton Softball Field, last year’s Turface Athletics/NFCA Division II Field of the Year. The 2020 CCAA Softball Tournament is set for April 30-May 3 in La Jolla, as UC San Diego hosts the conference finale for the first, and sure to be last, time. The event will cap UC San Diego’s 20th and final season in the CCAA as the Tritons play host before departing for the the Division I Big West. Three games will be contested on the first three days of the tournament bracket with the championship finals slated for Sunday. 
 

2020 CCAA Softball Preseason Coaches Poll
Rank	Institution	Points (First-place votes)
1.	UC San Diego	99 (9)
2.	Chico State	90 (2)
3.	San Francisco State	75
4.	Sonoma State	72
5.	Cal State Monterey Bay	68
6.	Cal State San Bernardino	58
7.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	48
8.	Stanislaus State	36
9.	Humboldt State	24
10.	Cal State San Marcos	20
11.	Cal State East Bay	15