There’s no place like home for the Cardinal.

The No. 8 Stanford softball team hosts Sacramento State for their home opener at 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon at the Smith Family Stadium.

The Cardinal are coming off a 3-2 showing at last weekend’s Kajikawa Classic in Phoenix with its losses coming from No. 4 Northwestern and No. 17 Texas, 3-1 and 7-6, respectively.

Sacramento State (2-2) is coming off a 35-20 season and a second-place finish in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference. The Hornets return 13 letterwinners and six starters, including Hilary Johnson, who had 49 hits while batting .353 last year. Catcher Jamie Schloredt was chosen to the All-PCSC first team with a .333 average.

The Hornet pitching staff is led by sophomore Cassie Cervantes who finished last season with a 14-4 record, including 221 strikeouts and a 1.82 ERA. Last weekend, Sacramento State fell to Cal Poly and fellow Pacific-10 Conference rival No. 11 Washington. They closed the weekend with a pair of ‘W’s against Santa Clara.

“It’s always nice to play at home,” head coach John Rittman said. “You get to sleep in your own bed and go to classes. We’re always looking forward to playing at home. The players are definitely excited.”

Today’s game is followed by the Stanford Invitational this weekend. Then the Cardinal embark on a two-week road trip to Miami and Fullerton.

“The biggest thing right now is to take it one game at a time and improve on things we need to work on,” Rittman said.