SAN DIEGO – The San Diego softball program (2-10, 0-0 WCC) is set to compete in the prestigious Mary Nutter Classic this weekend, playing five opponents over three days at Big League Dreams in Cathedral City, Calif.
 
The Toreros will face California (9-2, 0-0 PAC-12), Cal Poly (5-3, 0-0 Big West), No. 19 Northwestern (4-4, 0-0 Big Ten), Portland State (4-6, 0-0 Big Sky) and Utah Valley (3-7, 0-0 WAC) this weekend.
 
SCHEDULE

• San Diego vs. California – Friday, Feb. 24 at 12:30 p.m.
• San Diego vs. Cal Poly – Friday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m.
• San Diego vs. Portland State – Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m.
• San Diego vs. No. 19 Northwestern – Sunday, Feb. 26 at 9 a.m.
• San Diego vs. Utah Valley – Sunday, Feb. 26 at 12 p.m.

 
LAST TIME OUT

• San Diego earned a thrilling, bounce-back victory over local rival UC San Diego, winning 3-2.
• Mikalyn Emanuelli had a career-night, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and delivering both the game tying run on a squeeze play and the game winning run on an RBI single.
• Madison Earnshaw went 5.2 innings in the circle and struck out three to secure the win. Courtney Rose locked down her first save of the season in relief.

 
OPPONENT HISTORY

• San Diego is 1-4 all-time against California and will look to snap a two-game skid after two losses to the Golden Bears earlier this season.
• The Toreros are 3-8 against Cal Poly, but won the last meeting in the series, 4-3, on Feb. 8, 2020 in Los Angeles.
• The Toreros will resume their lengthy series with Portland State and trail 10-26 in the all-time ledger. San Diego has dropped the last two games.
• San Diego and Utah Valley will meet for the ninth time, with the Toreros leading 5-3. San Diego has won the last two meetings.
• San Diego will face Northwestern for the first time.

 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• The Toreros are concluding their last major road trip for some time, before playing at home or in the city of San Diego in 18 of their next 20 games.
• With No. 19 Northwestern on the schedule, the Toreros will face their second ranked opponent of the season. The Toreros nearly knocked off No. 2 UCLA in the back-end of the doubleheader on Feb. 12.
• San Diego has already played in five games separated by one run this season, with several additional games featuring late-game, high leverage situations.
• The Toreros have played the field well in the early part of the season, ranking in the top-50 in the nation in double plays turned per game and top-100 in fielding percentage.
• San Diego's infield has quickly become a leading unit for the team, as Izzy Owen, EJ Joyner, Amanda Limon and Taylor Johnson have started all 12 games alongside each other and are four of the team's top-five in batting average.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• Earnshaw (274) sits in eighth all-time in strikeouts at San Diego and needs eight more to pass Jade Quentin (281) for seventh.
• Earnshaw also recently moved into the top-10 in pitching appearances at San Diego with 94. She is closing in on becoming the seventh Torero with 100 appearances in the circle.
• Owen (149) will play in her 150th collegiate game this weekend.  
• Owen remains red hot and leads the WCC in hits with 15. Owen also ranks 27th in the same metric.
• Johnson continues to draw hit-by-pitches at an enormous rate, ranking eighth in the nation and first in the WCC in hit-by-pitches per game (0.58). Johnson has been hit seven times, which is already the most by any Torero since 2016.

 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Each game will be streamed via FloSoftball. Live stats will also be provided by statbroadcast. To stay up to date with Toreros softball, follow the team on Instagram & Twitter by searching "USDsoftball".