After salvaging a win in its last home game against the No. 23 Arizona State Sun Devils, the Stanford softball team will close out the 2015 regular season against rival No. 19 California at Levine-Fricke Field. Although the series looks to be unfavorable for the Cardinal, last Sunday’s turnaround is enough to remind the team that anything can happen.

The Cardinal will go head-to-head against the Bears without the luck from home field advantage this weekend. Continuing its 12th straight week as No. 19 in the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls, California proves to be a formidable opponent. Coming off of a series loss to No. 2 Oregon, the Bears will be coming in swinging harder to maximize opportunities to secure an auspicious postseason fate.

This weekend, Stanford will have to keep a close eye on senior Britt Vonk, who hit a homer against Ducks ace Cheridan Hawkins. A powerhouse at the plate, Vonk and fellow senior Danielle Henderson will be the ones looking to take biggest advantage of the Cardinal’s strained pitching rotation.

For the Cardinal, the outcome of the games will depend on the team’s offense, especially getting enough runs on the scoreboard to match the Bears. Fortunately, the batting lineup for Stanford is not to be underestimated, as junior Kayla Bonstrom is hitting .432, senior Tylyn Wells has 44 hits on the year and senior Erin Ashby has six home runs and 37 RBIs.

The three-game series will begin on Thursday at 3 p.m. and carry on to Saturday. The games will be broadcasted live on the Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Elizabeth Trinh at entrinh ‘at’ stanford.edu.