ALISO VIEJO, Calif. - The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) announced its softball all-conference team and individual award winners for the 2026 season.
Cal State San Marcos'
Jillian Albayati was voted the CCAA Player of the Year, and Cal State East Bay's
Marissa Quintero received the CCAA Pitcher of the Year honors. The remaining three individual honors all went to Cal State San Marcos.
Zoe Karam was named Newcomer of the Year,
Daleah Cardenas earned Freshman of the Year, and
A.J. Robinson was selected by his peers as the 2026 CCAA Coach of the Year.
Jillian Albayati leads NCAA Division II with a .562 batting average and ranks second in on-base percentage (.635) and slugging percentage (.987). She has 23 doubles (third NCAA), 14 home runs (27th NCAA), and has already broken the CCAA single-season record with 71 RBI (fifth NCAA). The Anaheim native has scored 43 runs, collected 86 hits (third NCAA), and 151 total bases (fifth NCAA). She has reached base in 35 consecutive games, and she posted a 21-game hitting streak earlier in the season. Albayati collected three FloCollege/CCAA Player of the Week awards this season, and she is the first Cougar ever to earn CCAA Softball Player of the Year honors.
Marissa Quintero repeated as the CCAA Pitcher of the Year. The junior from Whittier, Calif., leads the CCAA in wins (25-6), earned run average (1.15), and innings pitched (194.1). She allowed only 4.25 hits per nine innings (8th NCAA) and recorded 124 strikeouts. Her 25 wins ranked third in the nation, and she was fifth in ERA. Quintero also had 20 complete games (18th NCAA), including four shutouts. She earned five FloCollege/CCAA Pitcher of the Week awards and was named the Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week the second week of the season. She allowed one run or fewer in 33 of her 39 appearances.
Much of Albayati's season could not have happened without the CCAA Newcomer of the Year
Zoe Karam batting right behind her. Karam ranked seventh in NCAA Division II with 67 RBI and led the CCAA with 15 home runs. The junior from Murrieta hit .347 with 16 doubles, 47 runs scored, and 121 total bases (36th NCAA). She posted a .411 on-base percentage and a .725 slugging percentage. Karam recorded 18 multiple-RBI games, including games with five and six runs driven in. She joins
Paige Donnelly (2022) as the only two student-athletes from Cal State San Marcos to win CCAA Softball Newcomer of the Year.
Daleah Cardenas led nationally-ranked Cougars with a 1.66 earned run average (25th NCAA) and was second in the CCAA in wins with a 17-1 record. The freshman from La Habra pitched the second-most innings on the team (101.1), posting a 1.13 WHIP with 55 strikeouts. She was unscored upon in 14 of her 25 appearances, and she allowed more than three runs in only two. Cardenas also picked up three saves and allowed only 10 extra base hits all season. She is the first Cougar to win Freshman of the Year since
Savannah Coyle in 2022.
A.J. Robinson led Cal State San Marcos to the program's first No. 1 NFCA national ranking and its second CCAA regular-season championship. The Cougars went 47-6 in the regular season and won the CCAA by eight games with a 28-4 record. They opened the year by going 22-1 and finished a perfect 20-0 at home. CSUSM led the CCAA in batting average (.347), home runs (47), runs per game (6.85), on-base percentage (.417), and slugging percentage (.517). On the other side, Cal State San Marcos has the conference's best earned run average (1.99) and fielding percentage (.976).
In addition, CSUSM paced the conference with seven first-team All-CCAA selections.
Madilyn Novello (1B),
Jordan Elias (2B),
Jordan Hill (P), and
Czar Fleischman (At-Large) all joined Albayati, Karam, and Cardenas on the first team.
Cal State East Bay and Cal State Dominguez Hills also had multiple selections on the 16-person all-conference team.
Cynthia Carrillo (OF) earned a first-team nod along with
Marissa Quintero for the Pioneers.
Torie Au and (DP) and
Audrey Gallegos (UT/P) represented the Toros.
Eight of the nine softball-playing CCAA institutions were represented on the all-conference team, which is voted on by the CCAA coaches. Other first-team selections included
Katelyn Bridgeman (C, Stanislaus State),
Shelby Shanks (SS, Cal Poly Humboldt),
Abreanna Alba (OF, Cal State Monterey Bay),
Ashley Legler (UT [P], Cal State San Bernardino), and
Ashley Rocha (OF, San Francisco State).
The 2026 CCAA Softball Tournament presented by FloCollege begins on Wednesday, May 6, with No. 4 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills facing No. 5 seed Cal State Monterey Bay in an elimination game starting at 2 p.m. All games will be available on FloCollege at GoCCAA.org/FloCollege. For more information about the tournament, visit
GoCCAA.org/Softball.
2026 All-CCAA Softball Team [Full PDF]
| 2026 CCAA Softball All-Conference Team |
| Player of the Year: |
Jillian Albayati, Cal State San Marcos |
| Pitcher of the Year: |
Marissa Quintero, Cal State East Bay |
| Newcomer of the Year: |
Zoe Karam, Cal State San Marcos |
| Freshman of the Year: |
Daleah Cardenas, Cal State San Marcos |
| Coach of the Year: |
A.J. Robinson, Cal State San Marcos |
| All-CCAA First Team |
| Pos. |
Name |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| C |
Katelyn Bridgeman |
Jr. |
Stanislaus State |
Tracy |
| 1B |
Madilyn Novello |
So. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Rocklin |
| 2B |
Jordan Elias |
Sr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Eastvale |
| SS |
Shelby Shanks-^ |
Sr. |
Cal Poly Humboldt |
Stockton |
| 3B |
Zoe Karam |
Jr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Murrieta |
| OF |
Abreanna Alba-^ |
Jr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Watsonville |
| OF |
Cynthia Carrillo |
Sr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Winnetka |
| OF |
Ashley Rocha |
Sr. |
San Francisco State |
Clovis |
| P |
Daleah Cardenas |
Fr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
La Habra |
| P |
Jordan Hill |
Gr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
San Dimas |
| P |
Marissa Quintero-** |
Jr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Whittier |
| UT (P) |
Ashley Legler |
Sr. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
San Diego |
| UT (NP) |
Jillian Albayati-### |
Sr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Anaheim |
| DP |
Torie Au |
Sr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
Wahiawa, Hawaii |
| At-Large (OF) |
Czar Fleischman |
Sr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Berkeley |
| At-Large (UT/P) |
Audrey Gallegos |
Fr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
West Covina |
|
|
|
|
|
| All-CCAA Second Team |
| Pos. |
Name |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| C |
Brianna Swihart |
Sr. |
Chico State |
Martinez |
| 1B |
Katlyn Gifford-# |
Sr. |
Cal Poly Humboldt |
Riverside |
| 2B |
Rylee Gomez |
Jr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Watsonville |
| SS |
Jeslyn Cuellar |
Sr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Tulare |
| 3B |
Nevaeh Martinez |
So. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Aptos |
| OF |
Marisa Dominguez |
Fr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
Chino Hills |
| OF |
Gaby Gandara |
Sr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
La Mirada |
| OF |
Leah Madden |
Jr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Lexington, Ky. |
| P |
Lily Fournier |
Fr. |
Cal Poly Humboldt |
Las Vegas |
| P |
Ashley Ogata-^ |
Sr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
Mililani, Hawaii |
| P |
Amelie Valdez-# |
Sr. |
Chico State |
Atwater |
| UT (P) |
Nat Camarena |
So. |
Stanislaus State |
Modesto |
| UT (NP) |
Brooke Brazill |
Sr. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
Clovis |
| DP |
Kieley Ganaden |
Sr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Salinas |
| At-Large (3B) |
Bella Garcia |
Sr. |
Cal Poly Humboldt |
Rocklin |
| At-Large (OF) |
Makayla Bishop |
Fr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
Bishop |
|
|
|
|
|
| Honorable Mention |
| C - Angelina Rodriquez (CSUSM); 1B - Iris Bejarano-^ (CSUSB), Shaunessy Cardwell (SFSU); 2B - Ashley Goodale (CSUDH); 3B - Mia Escujuri (CSUSB); OF - Ellie Escalante (CSUMB), Kennedy Gustin-# (CHICO), Marissa Morales (CSUSM), Isabella Venegas (CSUSB); DP - Marissa Brody (HUM); P - Alexandria Himes (STAN), Jordan Knutson (CSUMB), Kadence Nulick-^ (CSUMB), Hailey Shiftlett (CSUSM), Bella Tavares (CHICO). |
| * - previous All-CCAA first team selection, # - previous All-CCAA second team selection; ^ - previous honorable mention |