• Winners of seven of the last eight games, Sacramento State (15-7) has another busy week on the road. The Hornets will play six games over four days from Wednesday-Saturday.
• The Hornets begin the week on Wednesday when they travel to the Farm to take on ninth-ranked Stanford in a doubleheader that begins at 3 p.m.
• Sacramento State will then play in a three-team round robin in Stockton on Friday-Saturday. The Hornets will play Iowa (2:15 p.m.) and Pacific (4:30 p.m.) on both days at the same times.
• Of the Hornets' six games this week, four will be video streamed. Both games at Stanford, and both games against Pacific will have video. Reminder all multimedia links, including video and live stats, can be found next to each game on the softball schedule at hornetsports.com.
• On Wednesday, the Hornets will seek their first win against a ranked opponent since a 5-2 victory at 24th-ranked Stanford on April 2, 2019.
• All-time record against this week's opponents, the Hornets are 12-28 vs. Stanford, 38-44 against Pacific, and 4-10 vs. Iowa.
• The Hornets' three opponents enter the week with the following records: Stanford (18-4), Iowa (8-8) and Pacific (8-15).
• Playing away from home has not been a problem for the Hornets this season. The team is 5-4 at neutral sites and 4-1 on an opponent's home field.
• This week's slate of games will conclude a season-long 11-game trip away from home. Earlier this year, Sacramento State had a nine-game trip from Feb. 11-24.
• The Hornets' 15-7 record is the program's best mark since the 2003 team was 16-6.
• Sacramento State currently leads the Big Sky Conference in batting average (.313), fielding percentage (.976) and ERA (2.91).
• The fielding percentage is ranked 23rd in the nation, the batting average 48th, and the ERA 86th.
• The pitching staff has a 3.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the 25th best mark in the country. Hornet pitchers have struck out 123 batters compared to just 40 walks.
• Sacramento State's defense has committed more than one error in a game just three times all season, and no player on the roster has more than four errors all year.
• Senior third baseman
Lewa Day continues to be the Hornets' offensive catalyst. She ranks among the top 50 players in the country in RBIs per game (25th, 1.23), RBIs (26th, 27), home runs (29th, 7), total bases (29th, 56), home runs per game (43rd, 0.32) and slugging percentage (46th, .812).
• Earlier this season, Day became the first player in program history with 50 career homers, and also has a program-record 158 career RBIs. She is just three runs shy of tying the school record with 140 career runs scored.
• There are seven current starters in the Hornet lineup that are hitting better than .300, comprised of
Alexis Parish (.419),
Lewa Day (.391),
Kennedy Echols (.345),
Gwen Ludwig (.343),
Malissa George (.324),
Haley Hanson (.311) and
Andrea Lira (.304).
• Parish leads the team with 10 multiple-hit games. The left fielder is one of four Hornets to start all 22 games: Day at third base,
Kennedy Echols in center field, and
Gwen Ludwig at shortstop.
• Right fielder
Haley Hanson is 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts this season, which is already tied for the fifth best single-season mark in the Hornets' Div. I era (1990-pres.). Her 34 career steals are third most in program history, and needs just six steals to tie, and seven to set the school record.
• Samantha and
Alexis Parish are the first sisters to play on the same Sacramento State softball team since Londyn and Tiffany Ray in 1997. Samantha has started 19 games this season.
• Led by two-time Big Sky Pitcher of the Year
Marissa Bertuccio (7-2, 1.87 ERA), the Hornets' pitching staff has a 3.23 team ERA and .274 opponent batting average. The three starting pitchers all have very good strikeout to walk ratios. That includes
Savannah Wahl (4.4-to-1), Bertuccio (3.2-to-1) and
Caroline Evans (2.7-to-1). Wahl is 4-2 with a 2.79 ERA, Evans 3-3 with a 3.87 ERA.
