The Sacramento State softball team (16-7 overall) struck out in their opportunities to knock off a few of softball’s power programs at last weekend’s National Invitational Softball Tournament held in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The Hornets came into the tournament on fire, winning 14 of their last 16 games, but fell victim to their three ranked opponents: No. 24 Minnesota, No. 8 Cal and No. 11 Arizona State. The Hornets were able to defeat both Virginia Tech and San Jose State to finish the tournament with a 2-3 record.

The Hornets opened the tournament against Minnesota, losing 5-1. Minnesota’s five-run third inning proved to be enough as Sac State stranded 10 runners on base for the day. The Hornets’ only run of the game came on a two-out error by the Gophers, which scored freshman Lindy Winkler.

Facing Cal in their second game, Bears’ pitcher Kelly Anderson retired the first 16 batters in succession and allowed just two hits in seven innings of work. The Bears’scored two runs in both the third and fifth innings to win the game 4-0.

On the second day of the tournament, the Hornets rebounded by knocking off Virginia Tech (7-5) and San Jose State (4-0).

They defeated San Jose State for the fourth time in five meetings led by junior Nicole Deatherage’s complete game, one-hit shutout. Sophomore Erin Coyne provided the big blast in the third inning with a three-run home run.

“We won the games we were supposed to win,” head coach Kathy Strahan said. “We’d like to get an upset here, because we’re knocking at the door, but we just couldn’t upend anybody.”

Against Virginia Tech, the Hornets scored in every inning except the fourth and fifth, and offered a prelude to an offense that is becoming increasingly potent this season. They received contributions from all hitters, as all but one of the Hornet starters hit safely.

The offense kept clicking on Sunday against Arizona State, but they were outslugged 12-9 in the finale.

“Everybody was running out of gas and it turned out to be a slugfest,” Strahan said of Sunday’s hitting barrage. “We tried to slug it out with them but we just came up on the shorter end of the stick.

Overall, Deatherage batted .667 in the tournament. Winkler batted .333, going 6-for-18 on the weekend, scoring five runs, two RBI’s and two triples.

Cal took the tournament title with a 6-0 win over Oregon.

“We’re playing very well,” Strahan said. “We’re just missing that little extra special something to get over these top-25’s but the good thing is we’re knocking at the door. We’re getting their attention.”

They will take a quick break before they host Iowa on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader.

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