MISSOULA, Mont. -- Sacramento State hit a program-record six home runs, highlighted by junior Alondra Mejia's school-record three homers, as the Hornets overpowered Montana, 9-4, in the series finale on Saturday afternoon at Grizzly Softball Field.

The six home runs are the most in a single game in the 54-plus year history of Sacramento State's softball program. Today's round trippers included three from Mejia, two from sophomore Lewa Day, and one from freshman Milan Machado-Buckley. No player had ever homered more than twice in a game in school history until Mejia accomplished the feat today. In addition, Machado-Buckley's homer was the first hit of her collegiate career.

Sacramento State has swept back-to-back three-game series to open the Big Sky Conference season, and the Hornets now find themselves atop the league standings with a 6-0 conference record (12-15 overall). The six-game winning streak is the longest since the 2018 season, and the Hornets are 6-0 in Big Sky play for just the second time since the league began sponsoring softball in 2013. The 2015 team also began the Big Sky season 6-0, and no Sacramento State squad has ever been 7-0.

Montana, which entered the series with a 3-0 league mark, dropped to 9-21 overall and 3-3 in the Big Sky. Sacramento State continued its dominance of the Griz, improving to 18-4 all-time against Montana, including a 10-game winning streak that dates back to 2018.

Today's highlights

• The six home runs are the most in school single-game history, surpassing the previous mark of five, set at North Dakota on Aug. 14, 2017. Day and Mejia hit back-to-back homers in both the fourth and seventh innings. The back-to-back blasts in the fourth came in the first two pitches of the inning.

• Prior to today, the school record for most home runs in a game had been two, accomplished on 15 previous occasions. Mejia now finds herself alone atop the school record list for most homers in a game. Mejia's blasts came in the second, fourth and seventh innings. It also marked her first three home runs of the season.

• Sacramento State had homered nine times in the first 26 games of the season prior to crushing six today.

• Of the Hornets' 15 homers this season, eight have come from Day. The sophomore now has 14 home runs in 141 career at-bats, good for one homer every 10.1 at-bats. Today marked Day's first career multiple home run game

• Machado-Buckley's home run also marked her first collegiate hit. The true freshman has five at-bats this season with four of those appearances coming in pinch hitting roles. That included today when her round tripper was arguably the biggest hit of the game. With the Hornets leading just, 4-3, Machado-Buckley's pinch hit three-run shot in the sixth inning stretched that lead to 7-3 in the eventual 9-4 win.

• Sacramento State scored in all but two innings, compiling single runs in the second and third innings, two more in the fourth, three in the sixth and two in seventh. The Hornets never trailed, but didn't have much breathing room until Machado-Buckley's three-run opposite field shot in the sixth. Of the team's six home runs today, three went to the opposite field, including one each from Machado-Buckley, Day and Mejia.

• Sophomore Marissa Bertuccio pitched yet another complete game while improving to 9-7 with a 2.97 ERA, and 4-0 in conference play with four complete games a 2.17 ERA. The right-hander had two wins against Northern Colorado last week, and registered two more victories in the Montana series. In seven innings today, she allowed eight hits and four runs while throwing 96 pitches. At 9-7, Bertuccio has been the pitcher of record in 16 of the Hornets' 27 games.

• The Hornets' 11 hits came from five batters, four of which recorded multiple hit games. That included Mejia who was 4-for-4 with three runs, three homers and three RBIs. Day was 2-for-4 with two homers and two RBIs, Amber Rodriguez was 2-for-4, and Haley Hanson 2-for-4 with a run scored. Machado-Buckley was 1-for-1 with her three-run blast.

• Pinch runner Katie Vretzos scored on an error in the second inning. That Vretzos run was the only Hornet run of the game not scored via home run.

• Mejia finished the three-game series 7-for-10 with three runs, three homers and four RBIs. Rodriguez was 4-for-9 with a double, Day 4-for-10 with four runs, two homers and two RBIs, and Carley Morfey was 3-for-8 with two home runs and five RBIs. Those four players combined for 18 of the Hornets' 26 hits in the series. Morfey (5) and Alexis Parish (4) had their hitting streaks snapped today.

• There are three Big Sky teams undefeated in conference play, including the Hornets (6-0), Southern Utah (3-0) and Weber State (3-0). Southern Utah had a bye week during the first week of the conference season, and Weber State had its bye week this week. Sacramento State will host Weber State next week in a three-game series. The Hornets and Wildcats will play a doubleheader on Friday at noon, followed by a single game on Saturday at noon. The Wildcats are the defending Big Sky regular season and tournament champions, and were selected first in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll (the Hornets were picked second).