Preview
• Sacramento State (22-21, 7-5) enters its final week of the Big Sky Conference regular season with plenty on the line. The Hornets travel to Missoula for a three-game series at Montana (8-37, 1-11). The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m. PT, followed by a Saturday single game at 11 a.m. PT.
• All three games will stream live on ESPN+. Friday's games will be televised in Missoula on SWX.
• While Idaho State has already clinched the Big Sky regular season championship and the No. 1 seed at the Big Sky Tournament (May 6-9 in Greeley, Colo.), the No. 2 seed is still in play.
• The No. 2 seed is important because the top two seeds at the four-day, double-elimination Big Sky Tournament receive a first round bye.
• Sacramento State and Weber State are tied for second with 7-5 conference records, but the Wildcats own the tiebreaker because they took two of three games vs. the Hornets in Sacramento last week.
• So the Hornets would have to finish one game better than Weber State. The Wildcats conclude the Big Sky regular season with a three-game home series vs. Northern Colorado on Friday-Saturday.
• Sacramento State has played every team in the Big Sky except Montana. The Griz recently completed a seven-game road trip. Incredibly, Montana has played just eight times at home all year (2-6 record). By contrast, Sacramento State has played a conference-high 25 home games.
• The last two Hornet home games had crowds of 773 vs. Stanford, and 817 vs. Weber State. The 1,590 combined fans are the most over a two-game stretch in Shea Stadium history.
• The Hornets have won nine of their last 13 games, but are coming off a 14-4 loss on Tuesday vs. 15th-ranked Stanford. It was the Hornets' third loss to a nationally ranked program this season (two defeats to then sixth-ranked UCLA).
• The Hornets have played just 18 games away from home this season, and are 7-5 on an opponent's home field (3-3 at neutral sites).
• Sacramento State is 29-6 all-time vs. Montana, and that .829 winning percentage is its best against any Big Sky opponent. The Hornets have won 11 straight in the series, and have not lost to the Griz since Montana beat Sacramento State twice at the 2021 Big Sky Tournament in Ogden, Utah.
• The last trip to Montana (2023) resulted in a three-game Hornet sweep with 6-0/5-2/6-0 scores.
• The Hornets are 10-2 at Montana's home field, and have won the last eight matchups in Missoula. The last Montana home victory came on May 4, 2018 (5-0 score) in the first game of that series.
• Of the nine series the teams have played, Sacramento State has won eight (Montana won in 2017).
• Head coach Lori Perez won her 300th career game in Friday's victory against Weber State. In her 12th season with the program, Perez joined Kathy Strahan (pronounced Stray-an) and E.J. McConkie as the only Hornet softball coaches to win 300 games. In addition, Perez has the second most wins among active Hornet head coaches (any sport) in the athletics department.
• Sacramento State has dealt with injuries to a pair of significant players, including shortstop Gwen Ludwig and pitcher/first baseman Caroline Evans, two of the team's four captains. The Hornets have played the last 18 games without Ludwig in the starting lineup while Evans' injury has been a tricky one that has kept her in, and out, of the lineup.
• Ludwig has been available to pinch run, and stole her program-record 44th career base in the 10-3 win over Northern Colorado. She has since added two more, and now has 46 bags.
• Right fielder Andrea Lira has hit safely in 33 games this season, and is the owner of a 15-game, and an 8-game hitting streak. The 15-gamer isn't the longest of her career, as she had a 16-game streak that stretched parts of last season (final eight games), and this season (first eight games).
• Sacramento State's average of 1.12 homers per game is the 47th best mark in the nation. The team's 48 home runs are the second most in program history - trailing 55 in 2022.
• On paper, this season was supposed to be a rebuilding year as the Hornets welcomed 14 newcomers to the program (10 freshmen) while losing nine players and five starters from a year ago. That included 2024 Big Sky Player of the Year Lewa Day, and two-time Big Sky Pitcher of the Year Marissa Bertuccio.
• In conference play, Sacramento State's pitching staff has a 2.22 ERA, easily the top mark in the Big Sky.  The staff has been led by Alexa Ortiz (0.42 ERA), Danyelle Leone (0.78 ERA), Caroline Evans (2.83 ERA) and Kennedie Magorian (3.27 ERA). Opposing hitters have been limited to a .226 batting average.