SAN DIEGO – The San Diego softball program (6-16, 0-0 WCC) returns home to start a 13-game homestand that begins with a Thursday afternoon showdown against UC Riverside (11-11, 0-0 Big West) at 3 p.m., at the USD Softball Complex.
 
LAST TIME OUT

• The Toreros held a lead for much of the game, but could not hang on late, falling to 2022 NCAA Tournament qualifier Grand Canyon, 4-3, on Tuesday night in Phoenix, Ariz.
• Courtney Rose was sensational in the circle once again, striking out a season-high eight batters over a complete six innings and threw 141 pitches.
• Emma Giaime hit her first collegiate home run in the loss and is now 6-for her last-6 with four RBI.

 
OPPONENT HISTORY

• San Diego trails 17-31 in the all-time series, but has won two consecutive games, with both coming last season in 5-2 and 10-5 decisions.

 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• Thursday's game is the sixth of seven games for the Toreros against teams from the Big West Conference. San Diego is 2-3 against those teams so far.
• San Diego has already played in eight games separated by one run this season, with several additional games featuring late-game, high leverage situations.
• Redshirt senior Izzy Owen was named the WCC Player of the Week on Monday, following a weekend where she hit .636 with seven RBI and two doubles. Owen is playing some of the best softball of her career right now, hitting a team-leading .367 with 10 RBI.
• Taylor Johnson is in the midst of a seven-game hit/on-base streak, while Amanda Limon and Owen are on six-game on-base streaks.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• Madison Earnshaw (278) sits in eighth all-time in strikeouts at San Diego and needs four more to pass Jade Quentin (281) for seventh.
• Earnshaw also sits in eighth in pitching appearances at San Diego with 98 and in a tie for eighth with Anna Russell in starts at 69. She is closing in on becoming the seventh Torero with 100 appearances in the circle.
• Johnson continues to draw hit-by-pitches at an enormous rate, ranking ninth in the nation and first in the WCC in hit-by-pitches per game (0.45). Johnson has been hit 10 times in 22 games.
• Johnson also ranks fourth in the WCC in on base percentage (.508), and 90th nationally.
• Owen ranks second in the WCC in hits (23), adding seven more during her WCC Player of the Week campaign.

 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Thursday's game will be available for streaming on YouTube. Live stats will be provided by statbroadcast. To stay up to date with Toreros softball, follow the team on Instagram & Twitter by searching "USDsoftball".