WEEKLY PREVIEW

• Sacramento State (3-6) will take part in the three-day, five-game Silicon Valley Classic, co-hosted by Santa Clara and San Jose State.
• The Hornets will play five times, including a pair of games on both Friday and Saturday, followed by a single game on Sunday.
• On Friday, Sacramento State will play both UC Santa Barbara (1 p.m.) and Santa Clara (3:30 p.m.) on Santa Clara's home field. On Saturday, its over to San Jose where the Hornets will play Saint Mary's at 11 a.m. and San Jose State at 4 p.m. The tournament concludes Sunday at Santa Clara (11:30 a.m.). There is rain in the forecast on both Friday and Sunday in the Bay Area.
• The only team in the tournament sitting above the .500 mark is UC Santa Barbara (5-2). Saint Mary's is 4-5, Santa Clara is 3-6, and San Jose State sits at 2-7.
• Two of the Hornets' games during the tournament will have a video stream - both games against Santa Clara. Reminder that all multimedia links, including live stats and video, can be found at the softball schedule at hornetsports.com.
• The Hornets are coming off a trip to Puerto Vallarta where they went 1-3 over three days. That included a win over Kansas, and losses to North Dakota State, #11 Tennessee, and Southern Illinois.
• After beginning the season 2-1, the Hornets have dropped five of their last six.
• This will mark the second straight season Sacramento State has played at the Silicon Valley Classic, which includes a 3-2 record at the event a year ago.
• Sixteen different position players have started games for the Hornets this year, and only three (Carley Morfey, Lewa Day, Gwen Ludwig) have started all nine games thus far.
• After starting the first 126 games of her career at third base, Lewa Day started all four games last week at first base.
• Marissa Bertuccio, the reigning Big Sky Pitcher of the Year, has been the staff ace so far. Despite a 1-3 record, she has a 2.10 ERA and has limited the opposition to a .237 batting average. In addition, she has a 5.3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio with 21 Ks and four walks in 26.2 innings.
• Bertuccio has started four games this year in the circle, and in her three losses, the Hornets combined to score three runs. It was Bertuccio that beat Kansas on Friday by a 5-1 score.
• The Hornet offense has gotten off to a slow start, as the team is batting .205 with three homers. Only one player (Milan Machado-Buckley .333) is hitting above .300.
• However, the Hornet offense is bound to kick in. A total of 18 players, including eight positional players, return from last season's team which hit .288 with a program-record 55 home runs.
• Sacramento State did lose one of its top hitters for the season in Lexie Webb who was injured during the opening weekend. Webb was a third team all-Pacific Region selection a year ago after batting .337 with a team-high tying 16 home runs.
• The Hornets have done a nice job with runners in scoring position, batting .333 (15-for-45) in that scenario.
• Lewa Day, a 2022 second team all-Pacific Region selection, is just five RBIs shy of becoming the fifth player in program history to reach 100 career RBIs.
• The Hornets finished last year with a 30-25 overall record, 12-6 in the Big Sky Conference, and 15-6 at home. Sacramento State placed second in the league standings, and lost in the Big Sky Tournament championship game to Weber State.
• The Hornets were co-favorites (along with Weber State) in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll.
• The Hornets have an experienced roster that returns 18 players, eight positional starters and four pitchers. The Hornets welcome seven newcomers to the program.
• Sacramento State's roster features seven returning all-conference players, and three returning all-region players. That includes third team all-Pacific Region selection Marissa Bertuccio. Lewa Day was a second team all-region choice, and Lexie Webb third team all-region selection.