Cal Poly Softball got off to a historic start this weekend, going 5-0 in their best beginning to a season in nearly 20 years.
The Mustangs (5-0) beat all five of their opponents in the NorCal Kickoff, a three-day tournament spanning Feb. 9 to 11, which was hosted at Shea Stadium in Sacramento and LaRue Field in Davis.
To begin the impressive road trip, the Mustangs beat San Jose State (1-4) by a score of 15-0 on Feb. 9 before taking down Sacramento State (3-1) 1-0 later that afternoon.
On Feb. 10, the Mustangs played Middle Tennessee (0-5), winning 4-3 before traveling to Davis and beating St. Mary’s 6-5. In a tournament-finale rematch against St. Mary’s on Feb. 11, the Mustangs dominated yet again, winning 13-6.
Leading into the season, the Mustangs had been ranked seventh in the conference preseason coaches’ poll, despite having all 10 position starters returning from last year, three of which were named to All-Big West teams last season.
The last time the Mustangs began a season this well was in 2005, in the first year of head coach Jenny Condon’s tenure, when they started 5-0 and proceeded to finish second in the Big West.
Junior outfielder Jessica Clements dominated the tournament and leads all of the Big West in hitting after going 9-for-16 with a .563 average for the weekend.
Sophomore pitcher Sophia Ramuno and junior pitcher Kate Judy were both lights-out in their Feb. 9 starts, leading the Mustangs to back-to-back shutout wins to open the season. Judy tallied 15 total innings across the tournament, finishing with a 1.40 ERA and a Big West-leading 12 strikeouts.
Sophomore outfielder Kiara Blanchard began her season well, knocking in a team-best nine RBIs over the five games.
The Mustangs start their season this year with 23 straight away games, their first home matchup being a conference game against UC Riverside on March 23.
The Mustangs will hope to continue their hot start at the Silicon Valley Classic on Feb. 16 in San Jose against Seattle University.