• Sacramento State (4-1) is back for the second week of the season when the team competes at the GCU Invite this Friday-Sunday. The tournament is hosted by Grand Canyon, and all games are played at GCU Softball Stadium.
• Sacramento State is playing South Dakota (2-3) three times during the tournament, and once each vs. Harvard (0-0) and Grand Canyon (5-0).
• Grand Canyon sits just outside the top 25 (second highest receiving votes) in both the NFCA, and ESPN.com top 25 polls.
• The Hornets play twice on Friday and Saturday, and once on Sunday. Friday's schedule (all times pacific): 12:15 pm vs South Dakota; 5:30 pm at Grand Canyon. Saturday's schedule: 8 am vs South Dakota; 10:30 am vs Harvard. Sunday's schedule: 8 am vs South Dakota.
• Only one game will have a video stream, and that's Friday evening's game against Grand Canyon. All five games will have live stats. Multimedia links can be found next to each game on the softball schedule at hornetsports.com
• The Hornets opened the season a week ago with a road win at UC Davis, followed by going 3-1 at the NorCal Kickoff at Shea Stadium. All five games went seven innings, and each was decided by at least two runs. The Hornets won their first four games, before falling Sunday to Colorado State. In each win, Sacramento State's pitching staff held its opponent to two runs or less.
• On Monday, junior right-hander Alexa Ortiz was named the Big Sky Conference Pitcher of the Week after allowing no runs and four hits with 17 strikeouts over 15.0 innings. Opponents hit .080 when she was in the circle, and she took a no-hitter into the fifth inning of both her starts.
• Five Hornet pitchers made appearances last week, and the staff put up a 1.60 ERA, and limited opponents to a .181 batting average. Ortiz (2-0, 0.00) and freshman Ella Ferguson (1-0, 0.00) led the way. The staff struck out 32 batters over 35.0 innings, and has yet to allow a run in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings. The team ERA of 1.60 is 15th best in the nation.
• The Hornets did not trail through their first four games prior to Colorado State hitting a three-run homer in the third inning of Sunday's game. The streak was 30 straight innings.
• Of Sacramento State's three opponents this week, the Hornets have not played more than two games against any of them. The Hornets have never played South Dakota. They are 1-0 against Harvard, and that victory (4-1) came two seasons ago in Riverside. The Hornets split a home doubleheader with Grand Canyon during the 2015 season. Sacramento State lost the first game, 5-0, before coming back to beat the Lopes in the nightcap, 6-5.
• Lafulafu Malepeai had a 16-game hitting streak (dating back to last season) snapped when she went hitless on Sunday vs. Colorado State.
• The Hornets (currently 4-1) will attempt to start a season 5-1 for the third straight year. The team has not begun a season 6-1 or better since the 1995 team began the season 7-0.
• Seven Sacramento State players have started all five games thus far, including Malepeai (LF/RF), Saskia Raab (CF), Katie Marsh (C/DP), Malissa George (1B), Madi Mendoza (SS), Madison Evers-Lyles (3B), and Jenna Birch (2B).
• 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 Conference. The Hornets finished in second place in the league standings, and were selected third in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll.
• Since the first year of Big Sky softball in 2013, the Hornets have been picked third or higher in the preseason coaches poll all but one season.
• The Hornets have won at least 27 games each of the last four seasons, including 27-23 last year, 28-20 in 2024, 27-20 in 2023, and 30-25 in 2022.
• Sacramento State returns 19 players from a year ago, including five pitchers and eight positional starters. The Hornets also have five newcomers.