The No. 19 Stanford softball team opens play for the 2008 season today when it begins competition in the San Diego Tournament against host University of San Diego. The Cardinal will play four games over the course of the weekend, taking on Illinois-Chicago and Long Beach State tomorrow before concluding the tournament on Sunday with another bout against Long Beach State.

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Sammy Abusrur

Junior Missy Penna spearheads a Cardinal pitching staff which also includes senior Becky McCullough and freshman Ashley Chinn. Stanford has high hopes after starting the season in the top-20 and reaching the Regional Championships last year.

“I think we’re all excited,” senior second baseman Tricia Aggabao said. “We’ve been practicing since the fall now, and it’s always exciting when you get to play someone with a different jersey on.”

Today’s game against San Diego marks the first time that the Cardinal has ever faced the Toreros. As a whole, the team figures to see tough competition throughout the weekend.

“Every team we play is going to be tough,” said junior pitcher Missy Penna. “We just have to come out strong, it doesn’t matter who we play. We expect to see some pretty good competition, especially [for] the first weekend out.”

Despite the caliber of its opponents, Stanford expects big things not only this weekend, but for the whole year.

Picked to finish fourth in the Pac-10 — which is easily the nation’s best conference — the Cardinal returns both of its starting pitchers: Penna and senior Becky McCullough from last year’s team. The team also welcomes a third, freshman Ashley Chinn, who will add depth to the rotation.

Stanford only graduated two seniors from last season’s squad, which reached the Regional Championships; the team looks to use that experience to its advantage over the course of the 60-game season that awaits them.

“We have five seniors this year, and it definitely helps when you have people who’ve been through the process and know pretty much what to expect once the season comes,” Aggabao said. “I think the seniority on this team is going to help us a lot in breaking in the new freshman and also building off of what we’ve had these past three years.”

In addition, the Cardinal expects to see major contributions from senior Michelle Smith at third base and sophomore Alissa Haber in the outfield. Smith has been All-Pac-10 her first three years and was an All-American in 2005. As a freshman last season, Haber was a third-team All-American after hitting .365. The centerfielder has already gotten positive press around the nation — she was recently named to the first team of ESPN.com’s Preseason All-American squad. Rounding out the Card’s top returnees are junior Maddy Coon at shortstop and sophomore Shannon Koplitz, who figures to see time both in the outfield and in the infield.

This weekend’s tournament in San Diego marks the beginning of the Cardinal’s non-conference schedule, a slate of games made up by a number of a tournaments. More than 20 of the team’s first games will be in tournament action; after the San Diego Tournament, the Cardinal will host the Stanford Invitational I before playing in the Palm Springs Classic, the Worth Classic, the Stanford Classic and the Stanford Invitational II.

In any case, the tournament schedule — and this weekend’s schedule in San Diego — should give Stanford a good test before the daunting conference season begins in late March.

“Any team we face on a given day has the capability of beating us if we don’t bring our A-game to the table,” Aggabao said. “This weekend should be exciting in that we get to play some pretty good teams and we get to see how far we’ve come since the fall.”

After this weekend’s tournament in San Diego, the Cardinal will take to the field when it hosts St. Mary’s next Wednesday at Smith Family Stadium.؟