The baseball and softball fields at Cal State San Marcos are separated by about 100 yards from each other, of course they are also separated by gender.
Baseball is for boys. Softball is for girls.
On Sunday, that gender barrier was broken.
Cal State San Marcos sophomore softball player Jillian Albayati, played in the first game of the Cougars doubleheader Sunday morning, then hustled over to the baseball field and played in the Cougars baseball game.
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It was a historic double play, as Albayati became the second college athlete in history to play in a softball and baseball game on the same day.
"It was so awesome," said a smiling Albayati when asked about playing in the baseball game. "It just felt like where I needed to be at that moment, it felt pretty amazing."
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After the Cougars softball team won the first game of their doubleheader with a walk-off grand slam, Albayati ran over to the baseball diamond and, after a quick warmup, entered the game against Sonoma State.
A large portion of fans at the softball game followed her to the baseball field to see history.
Albayati pitched one inning, allowing three hits and an earned run.
Throughout the inning, she was cheered loudly, with lot's of "Let's go Jillian" chants.
Cougar baseball coach Jose Garcia said, "It was cool moment to see her out there and have her compete for us, especially knowing she just ran down from the softball field."
Cougar softball coach Stef Ewing wasn't surprised Albayati did so well on the baseball diamond.
"She was just really confident," Ewing said. "I don't think she ever had any question in her mind that she could do it."
Albayati wanted to give credit to the Cougar baseball team for their support.
"They were just all really excited," Albayati said. "Right when I got to the bullpen, they're all hyping me up and just helping me, like, get ready to go out there, and they were all really excited for me."
Right after making history in the baseball game, Albayati hopped in a golf cart, made her way through about 30-40 cheering fans and got a ride back to the softball field for Game 2 of the doubleheader.
It turns out what happened Sunday didn’t just come out of left field.
Albayati has been playing baseball since she was 3 years old. She played on her high school baseball team, she’s on the U.S. Women's National baseball team, and she's going to play with the Savannah Bananas this summer.
"You know we made her dream come true today," Ewing said. " I think we made a kid's career in more ways than you could imagine by having her go out there, because I know baseball is her first love."
Albayati agreed.
"I miss baseball, and I just felt like I was where I needed to be at that moment," Albayati said.
It's fitting that Albayati's historic day comes at a time when women's sports are breaking records, breaking barriers and reaching heights never seen before.
Albati understands the moment she's in.
"I don't have, like, words to really describe, like, this time right now," Albayati said. "It's, like, women in sports are just, like — it's like everything's climbing and growing. I think in the future you'll see a lot more girls on college baseball teams."
Albayati's coach agreed.
"Awesome to see young females doing uncommon things and continuing to do uncommon things, and do something that nobody thought you could do," Ewing said. "Just being able to be confident and do your thing regardless of the barriers that have been there before."
Christina Elsbury from NCAA Division IIl's Galluadet University was the first to accomplish the feat, pitching in both a softball and baseball game on April 22, 2023.
