The Cal State Stanislaus Warriors will make a return appearance to the California Collegiate Athletic Association Softball Championship tournament, this time as the No. 2 seed. The Warriors will face No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino in game one on Thursday at HSU Softball Field on the campus of Humboldt State in Arcata.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 1
Game #1 — No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino vs. No. 2 Cal State Stanislaus, 1 p.m.
Game #2 — No. 4 Cal State Monterey Bay vs. No. 1 Humboldt State, 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 2
Game #3 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 10:30 a.m. (Loser eliminated)
Game #4 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game #5 — Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 3:30 p.m. (Loser eliminated)

Saturday, May 3
Game #6 — Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon
Game #7 — If necessary, 30 minutes following Game 6
(Winner receives Automatic Berth to NCAA Regionals)

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
#15 Jessica Gaumnitz (RHP, JR, Chowchilla) — 14-7,1.96 ERA, 164 1/3 IP, 102 Ks, 29 BB, 17 CG, 6 SHO
#22 Jen Arnold (RHP, SO, Ceres) — 13-11, 2.36 ERA, 148 1/3 IP, 46 Ks, 24 BB, 11 CG, 2 SHO

WHAT'S AT STAKE: The winner of the conference tournament will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on May 7. The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA Regional tournament.

IN THE RANKS: Cal State Stanislaus enters the week ranked No. 23 in the NFCA Top 25, pending Wednesday's release of the latest rankings … the Warriors were ranked No. 22 on April 9 and was No. 6 in the preseason poll … Stanislaus is No. 4 in the most recent NCAA West Region poll.

ROAD WARRIORS: It might actually be a good thing that the Warriors will have to play on the road in the postseason. They are 17-5 in away (and neutral site) games this season with a 14-game winning streak away from Turlock … CSUS is 10-16 at home at Warrior Softball Field and Pedretti Park this season.

WINNINGEST PITCHER: Warrior ace Jessica Gaumnitz is just one win shy of tying the Cal State Stanislaus record for wins in a career. In three seasons, Gaumnitz has tallied 52 victories and is 14-7 this season. Jenny Brown (1998-2001) holds the CSUS record with 53 wins in her career … while we are talking about career rankings, Gaumnitz is also second — behind Brown in every category — in innings pitched (479 2/3), complete games (45) and strikeouts (356) … Gaumnitz has already tied the single season record with six shutouts (Brown, 2001).

ARNOLD ON A ROLL: Sophomore pitcher Jen Arnold has now won three straight decisions, including two wins over Cal State San Bernardino last weekend … she went the distance on April 12 against San Francisco State and allowed one run on six hits with two strikeouts for the win … last Friday she earn a win after going six innings and allowed two unearned runs on seven hits with four Ks against CSUSB … on Saturday she threw another complete game on a five-hitter (2 Rs, 4 Ks).

DOMINATING CCAA PITCHING: Meghan Franksen has dominated CCAA opponents this season as the junior is batting .408 in 32 conference games. She's 42-for-103 with eight doubles, four triples, three homers and 17 RBIs (.650 slugging pct.) with 21 runs scored … Franksen has hit safely in 7 of last 8 games, going 12-for-26 with seven RBIs during that stretch … two other Warriors are also hitting at least .290 against conference foes with Alyssa Guzman batting .315 and Sarah Shamblin hitting .290 … Guzman has 29 hits, 18 RBIs, 2 HRs and 11 (of her season total 13) stolen bases during CCAA games.

RECENT HOT HITTERS: The hottest Warrior hitters are Kimiko Wright, Jessica Scholl, Casey Stephenson and Jen Arnold as they all hit .300 or better last weekend against the Coyotes … Wright, who moved up to the No. 2 spot in the batting order, went 4-for-10 with three walks in four games against CSUSB … Scholl was 4-for-11 with a double, Stephenson batted .333 with two doubles and a home run and Arnold was 3-for-10 with a triple.

LAST YEAR'S CCAA TOURNAMENT: In the inaugural CCAA Softball Championship tournament, the Warriors went 2-1 to finish second in the tournament. The Warriors defeated UC San Diego, 6-2, in game one at the tournament held at Arcata. Stanislaus then beat San Francisco State, 8-5, before losing to host Humboldt State, 6-5, in the championship game.

HOW FAR WE'VE COME: It has been a tale of two seasons for the Warriors in 2008 as they recovered from a 5-13 start and rallied all the way back to finish second in the CCAA and currently ranked fourth in the West Region … Stanislaus went 19-4 during one stretch that included two five-game winning streaks.

SERIES SWEEPS: One of the factors to the Warriors CCAA success with the three series sweeps on the road. Stanislaus went on the road and swept four-game sets at Sonoma, Chico and Carson (Cal State Dominguez Hills). The only time the Warriors did not sweep a CCAA series on the road was a split at Monterey Bay.

AGAINST THE OPPONENTS: The Warriors are 2-3 against Cal State San Bernardino in 2008 with a series split last weekend in Turlock. All five games were decided by three runs or less. Stanislaus holds a 31-18 all-time record against CSUSB … CSUS is 0-5 this season against Humboldt State with the last game a 5-4 loss during the Tournament of Champions presented by Mizuno in Turlock. HSU has now won 11 straight against the Warriors, including two wins last year at the CCAA tournament … the Warriors are 2-2 against Cal State Monterey Bay, splitting a CCAA series in Seaside on Feb. 22-23. Stanislaus is now 8-4 against the Otters with a two-game winning streak.