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ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – San Francisco State scored six first-inning runs and held off the defending champions Cal State San Marcos, 8-6, to win the 2025 CCAA Softball Tournament Championship presented by FloCollege. It is the first CCAA Softball Tournament title in program history.
 
Tournament MVP Rylee McDaniel put the Gators on the board with a two-out RBI single. She would come around to score on Marissa Jordan’s double to extend the lead to 3-0. Senior Lexi Holihan ensured it would be a big inning when she homered to left field to plate three more runs. It was only the second home run hit in the CCAA Tournament and the fourth at the Seawolf Softball field in all of 2025.
 
The Gators would extend their lead to 7-0 on another single by McDaniel in the second inning, but after that, the Cougars would begin to chip away at the lead.
 
CSUSM scored in each of the next four innings to cut the lead to 8-6 and had runners on second and third with one out in the sixth. Mari Takeda Bajan, who was also the starting pitcher, re-entered the game and got a flyout and a groundout to escape the threat.
 
Even in the seventh, the defending champions would not go down easy. The Cougars loaded the bases with one out before Takeda Bajan got a critical strikeout and then a deep flyout to clinch the championship for the Gators. She would pitch 5.2 innings for the game, allowing nine hits and three runs to improve to 18-6.
 
McDaniel was the only Gator to have a multi-hit game as the Cougars outhit them 12-6. She was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Holihan provided the three-run home run, and Jordan posted two RBI.
 
Makenzie Guiliano had three hits and two runs scored for Cal State San Marcos. Madison Waymire was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, two RBI, and two runs scored. Jillian Albayati also drove in two runs.
 
Both teams will learn their NCAA postseason fates on the Selection Show on Monday, May 5 at 7 a.m. SF State has already earned the conference's automatic bid, and CSUSM hopes for an at-large selection.