[Box score]

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Jayline Sloss went the distance, and No. 4 seed Cal State San Marcos held off a late rally to defeat No. 1 seed Western Washington, 4-3 in the NCAA Softball West Regional Pod #1.
 
The Cougars fell behind early on an unearned run in the first. A sacrifice fly by Makenzie Guiliano tied the game in the second and Jillian Albayati's solo home run in the third gave CSUSM the 2-1 lead. They continued to tack on runs, with two more in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to 4-3.
 
Cal State San Marcos would be very grateful for the RBIs provided by Czar Fleischman and Guiliano in the sixth as Western Washington mounted a two-out rally in the seventh.
 
Sloss struck out the first two batters of the inning before a Viking doubled and came around to score on a single by pinch hitter Riley Anderson. She would come around to score one batter later when another pinch hitter, Amaya Davis, doubled.
 
With the game-tying run on second base, leadoff hitter Maleah Andrews worked the count to 3-1 but Sloss got her to ground out to second base to end the threat and secure the win.
 
Sloss earned the victory to improve to 19-8. She went seven innings allowing six hits and three runs (two earned). She walked only one and struck out seven.
 
Kestler was the only Cougar to record a multi-hit game. She went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.
 
Cal State San Marcos will advance to the championship game of NCAA West Regional Pod #1 to face Western Washington for the right to advance to next week's super regional. The Cougars will need just one win on Saturday, while WWU would need two wins to claim the title