SAN DIEGO – The San Diego softball program (2-8, 0-0 WCC) makes their return to the Mary Nutter Classic this weekend, competing in games from Friday, Feb. 23 to Sunday, Feb. 25 at the Big League Dreams Softball Complex.
 
The Toreros will open with Wisconsin (4-6, 0-0 Big Ten) on Friday at 5:30 p.m., before facing No. 20 Utah (5-4, 0-0 PAC-12) at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Toreros will face No. 24 Northwestern (5-2, 0-0 Big Ten) at 12:30 p.m., and UCF (6-3, 0-0 Big 12) at 7:30 p.m., before facing UC Riverside (3-5, 0-0 Big West) on Sunday at 2 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT

• The Toreros went 2-2 overall at the Torero Classic, earning a pair of wins over Southern Utah and Eastern Illinois, while falling in two other one-run games.
• The story of the week was McKenna Braegelmann, who shined in her first game back in the circle in 689 days. Braegelmann threw a one-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over Southern Utah, striking out seven en route to WCC Pitcher of the Week honors.

 
OPPONENT HISTORY

• San Diego is 2-6 all-time against Utah and will look to snap a four-game skid in the series.
• The Toreros dropped their lone meeting with Northwestern in a 2-1 nail-biter last season at the Mary Nutter Classic.
• San Diego is 1-0 in the all-time series against UCF.
• The Toreros will resume their lengthy all-time series with UC Riverside, trailing 18-31, but are winners of three straight.
• San Diego is meeting Wisconsin for the first time in program history.

 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• The Toreros have their most All-WCC Preseason honorees since 2017 and the most under head coach MJ Knighten.
• Mikalyn Emanuelli, Emma Giaime and Amanda Limon all earned preseason honors for the first time in their career.
• In addition, the Toreros were picked to finish in a tie for second in the WCC preseason poll.
• The Toreros freshman class continues to roll in their first few weeks in college softball.
• Tele Jennings leads all qualified Toreros in batting average while tallying four doubles in her first 10 games, while Michelle Delgado has the team's lone home run.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• Courtney Rose stands at 261 strikeouts and needs eight to match Amy Lopez for tenth on the Toreros all-time strikeout list.
• In addition, Rose already stands alone in seventh on the Toreros all-time appearances list (102) and needs two more to tie Tiffany Wasilewksi (104) for sixth.

 
HOW TO FOLLOW
All games the Mary Nutter Classic will be streamed via FloSports. Live stats will be provided by statbroadcast. To stay up to date with Toreros softball, follow the team on Instagram & Twitter by searching "USDsoftball".