• Sacramento State (30-17) will play its final regular season game on Friday night at 15th-ranked Stanford (35-12). First pitch at Stanford Softball Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
• Friday night also marks Stanford's final regular season game.
• The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and ACC Network Extra.
• Sacramento State will begin play in the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Monday in Pocatello, Idaho, while the Cardinal will begin the ACC Tournament on Thursday in Charlottesville, Va.
• The Hornets open their double-elimination Big Sky Tournament on Monday vs. Portland State at 10:30 a.m. PT. Sacramento State (9-6 in league) is the No. 3 seed at the six-team tournament, and swept Portland State in a three-game series at home last weekend.
• The Hornets have four straight, and have reached 30 wins for the first time since the 2022 squad went 30-25. Sacramento State is attempting to secure 31 in a season for the first time since 2019.
• If the season ended today, the Hornets' .638 winning percentage would be the second best mark in the program's Div. I era (1990-pres.), trailing only the .727 mark (40-15) secured in 1995.
• While the Hornets have won four straight, Stanford has won 13 in a row, and has not lost in nearly a month (5-1 loss to Saint Mary's on April 4).
• Sacramento State has faced just one ranked opponent this season when they played a pair of games at 18th-ranked Oregon in Eugene on March 6-7. The Hornets lost both those games by a singe run, including a 7-6 loss on March 6 when the Hornets took a 6-3 lead into the fifth. On March 7, the score was tied at 1-1 until Oregon walked it off with a run in bottom seven.
• Sacramento State is 12-30 all-time vs. Stanford, including 5-15 when playing at Stanford. However, the Hornets have won two of the last three matchups on the road at Stanford, including a 3-2 win in 2024 and a 5-2 victory in 2019.
• That 3-2 Hornet win on March 13, 2024, was also the last time the Hornets beat a ranked opponent. In that game, with the score tied at 2-2 in the sixth, Samantha Parish singled down the left field line scoring her sister Alexis Parish. The game-winning hit came against NiJaree Canady.
• Last season, the Cardinal beat the Hornets, 14-4, in five innings at Shea Stadium.
• The Hornets are 6-8 in true road games this season. Away from home, the Hornets are 15-9 as the team is 9-1 when playing at neutral sites.
• Friday will mark the Hornets' first non-conference game since beating UC Davis, 11-4, on March 24. Since then, Sacramento State has played 15 straight league games.
• Stanford is 26-8 at home, including a 4-2 win over Pacific on Wednesday. Last weekend, the Cardinal swept a three-game series over Cal, outscoring the Bears by a combined 31-1 margin.
• On Thursday, the Hornets received seven all-Big Sky Conference awards. That includes senior outfielder Lafulafu Malepeai being named the league's player of the year, and junior shortstop Madi Mendoza named the league's newcomer of the year.
• Two first team selections: Malepeai and third baseman Madison Evers-Lyles. Four second team selections: pitchers Alexa Ortiz and Kennedie Bacon, catcher Shannon Garcia and outfielder Saskia Raab. One honorable mention selection: Mendoza.
• Sacramento State's pitching staff is currently ranked 25th in the nation with a 2.87 ERA. All six Hornet pitcher have records above the .500 mark, including a pair of 10-game winners. Alexa Ortiz (10-8, 2.85) and Kennedie Bacon (10-6, 3.24) have been the Hornets' primary two starters while Danyelle Leone (5-2, 2.20) is the primary reliever with 19 appearances out of the bullpen.
• Malepeai continues to close in on top spots in the Honret single-season record book. Many of her numbers rank high in the record book with games to play - .791 slg% (3rd), .506 ob% (3rd), 29 walks (3rd), 117 total bases (3rd), 48 RBIs (4th) and 15 home runs (4th). She is just five RBIs and three home runs shy of the program records.
• The Hornets are averaging 1.4 runs in the first inning, outscoring the opposition, 66-34, in the first…Hornets are 22-3 when scoring first…22-3 when leading after four innings…24-0 after six.