• Off to an 8-2 start, Sacramento State travels to San Luis Obispo last this week to take part in the three-day, five-game Mustang Classic from Thursday-Saturday.
• Weather permitting (rain is in the forecast on Thursday), Sacramento State will play a doubleheader at host Cal Poly on Thursday at 2 p.m., followed by single games Friday vs. Manhattan (9:30 a.m.) and San Jose State (2:30 p.m.), and Saturday vs. Pacific at 9:30 a.m.
• After opening the season with a road win at rival UC Davis, the Hornets went 3-1 at the NorCal Kickoff, followed by a 4-1 record last week at the GCU Invite in Phoenix.
• The Hornets swept the Big Sky Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week awards in catcher Katie Marsh and right-hander Kennedie Bacon, respectively. Sacramento State has now won three of the four awards thus far, as Alexa Ortiz received the pitching accolade in the opening week.
• Both games against Cal Poly will have a video stream on ESPN+. The other three games will not be streamed, but every game will have live stats. Reminder that multimedia links can be found next to each game on the softball schedule at hornetsports.com.
• The Hornets' four opponents currently have the following records: Cal Poly (0-5), Manhattan (3-5), San Jose State (1-9) and Pacific (1-9).
• Sacramento State's 8-2 record is the program's best since the 1995 team began the season 9-1. That 1995 team won 40 games, hosted an NCAA Regional, and eventually started the year 13-1.
• The Hornets are 25-27 all-time vs. Cal Poly, including an 8-20 mark when playing the Mustangs on the road. Sacramento State defeated Cal Poly earlier this year at Shea Stadium, 5-2, and took two of three from the Mustangs last season in San Luis Obispo. Overall, the Hornets have won four of the last six meetings between the two teams.
• Friday will be the first-ever meeting against Manhattan.
• The Hornets are 34-31 all-time vs. San Jose State, which includes a 5-2 mark when playing at a neutral field. The last time the teams played at a neutral site was the 2004 season when the Hornets won, 7-2. The last three meetings between the schools have been decided in five innings with the Hornets winning the last two by 8-0 scores (both in 2024 and 2025).
• Sacramento State is 41-44 against Pacific, including a 3-2 mark on a neutral field. The last neutral field matchup came when the teams split a pair of games in Reno in 2020. In fact, those were two of the last three games the Hornets played in 2020 before the pandemic hit.
• Sacramento State's pitching staff has a team ERA of 1.80, the 12th best mark in the nation. The WHIP of 1.21 is 27th in the country, and the team has held opponents to a .225 batting average. The team's top two pitchers (Alexa Ortiz 1.27; Kennedie Bacon 1.33) each have sub-1.40 ERA's, while Danyelle Leone has a 1.50 ERA and Kyndal Williams a 0.00 ERA. In addition, the staff has allowed two runs or less in seven of 10 games.
• Six Sacramento State players have started all 10 games - Lafulafu Malepeai (LF/RF), Saskia Raab (CF), Katie Marsh (C/DP), Malissa George (1B), Madi Mendoza (SS), and Madison Evers-Lyles (3B).
• Marsh has hit a home run in each of the last three games, and her four home runs are a team high and 33rd in the nation. She hit nine home runs a year ago, and has 13 homers in her last 167 at-bats - one per 12.8 at-bats over that span.
• Both Marsh and newcomer Saskia Raab have reached base safely via hit or walk in all 10 games this season. Raab, a transfer from Nevada, has a current four-game hitting streak, which includes a two-out, two-run walkoff double in the 5-4 win over South Dakota. Marsh (.429) and Raab (.414) lead the Hornets in batting average.
• Madi Mendoza has a six-game hitting streak, one shy of her career best set last season at UTEP. Other Hornets with current hitting streaks are Marsh (5), Raab (4) and Madison Evers-Lyles (4).
• Evers-Lyles, Malepeai, Marsh and Ortiz were named preseason all-Big Sky Conference.
• Sacramento State finished last season with a 27-23 overall record and 10-5 mark in the Big Sky. The team has won at least 27 games each of the last four seasons.