• Sacramento State (18-10) will play three more non-league games before Big Sky Conference play begins. Each of those three games will come this week on Tuesday-Wednesday.
• The Hornets begin with a home doubleheader on Tuesday vs. Saint Mary's (17-9) at 1 p.m., followed by a single game at 19th-ranked Cal (21-7) on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
• Both games of the Saint Mary's doubleheader will stream on ESPN+, and the game at Cal will be televised on Pac-12 Bay Area, and streamed on the Pac-12 Network
• Sacramento State is coming off a 3-3 week that included a doubleheader split at ninth-ranked Stanford, a pair of road wins at Pacific, and two losses to Iowa in Stockton.
• The Hornets have already defeated three Power Five schools this year in Michigan (Big 10), BYU (Big 12) and Stanford (Pac-12). That is the most Power Five wins since the 2008 season.
• Sacramento State will look to make it a fourth on Wednesday at Cal. The 2008 team was the last to do it with victories over Cal, Boston College, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
• Saturday's win at Pacific concluded a season-long stretch of 11 straight games away from home, as the Hornets will finally return for a game at Shea Stadium for the first time since beating UC Santa Barbara on March 3.
• The win over Stanford last week was the first for the Hornets against a nationally ranked top 10 program since beating seventh-ranked Stanford, 3-2, at home on April 20, 2005.
• Cal is currently ranked 19th in the nation. Sacramento State will attempt to beat two nationally ranked programs in the same year for the first time since the 2000 season when the Hornets knocked off 20th-ranked Long Beach State and 23rd-ranked Oregon.
• All-time record against this week's opponents, the Hornets are 66-25-1 against Saint Mary's, and 23-68 vs. Cal. Sacramento State went 3-1 against Saint Mary's last season, and the Hornets have won two of the last three meetings against the Bears.
• Sacramento State currently leads the Big Sky Conference in batting average (.295), fielding percentage (.971) and ERA (2.89).
• Entering last week, the Hornets were 23rd in the nation in fielding percentage at .976, but the team has combined for six errors over its last three games.
• The pitching staff has a 2.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the 33rd best mark in the country. Hornet pitchers have struck out 148 batters compared to just 55 walks.
• Senior third baseman
Lewa Day continues to be the Hornets' offensive catalyst. She ranks 23rd in the nation in home runs (9) and RBIs (32). She is also 27th in the country with 66 total bases, and her 1.19 RBIs per game rank 30th in the nation.
• Earlier this season, Day became the first player in program history with 50 career homers, and also has a program-record 163 career RBIs. She tied the program record last week with 140 runs scored, and needs just one to be all alone in first place in that category.
• Right fielder
Haley Hanson was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week on Monday after batting .500 last week in six games (four against Power Five schools). She is 15-for-16 in stolen base opportunities, and the 15 bags are one shy of the Hornet Div. I era single-season record (16), held by Nene Alas (2016). In addition, Hanson's 38 career stolen bases are just two shy of the Div. I era record of 40, held by Hilary Johnson (2005-08).
• Four Hornets starters are hitting better than .330, comprised of
Alexis Parish (.413),
Lewa Day (.373),
Haley Hanson (.351) and
Gwen Ludwig (.333). Parish is attempting to become just the fifth Hornets at the program's Div. I level (1990-pres.) to hit .400 in a season.
• Samantha and
Alexis Parish are the first sisters to play on the same Hornet softball team since Londyn and Tiffany Ray in 1997. The two are a year apart with Samantha one year older.
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Marissa Bertuccio (9-3, 1.81 ERA, .223 OBA) has 10 complete games in 11 starts, and has allowed two earned runs or less in nine straight appearances. She tossed a complete-game victory in each of the Hornets' three wins against Power Five schools (Michigan, BYU, Stanford).
