The Fresno State softball team comes into this weekend’s series against Boise State having won four of its last five series and six of its last seven games.

Looking forward into the rest of the season, Fresno State head coach Trisha Ford realizes there’s still plenty of things to improve upon, but ‘controlling the controllables’ is what they need to focus on down the stretch of the regular season.

“For us it’s about controlling what we can control,” Ford said. “I’m looking forward to us bringing it up to the next level. We kind of talked about that yesterday during film — about worrying about us and not worrying about what everybody else is doing. Because at the end of the day, if we’re not taking care of business, it doesn’t matter.”

The Bulldogs host Mountain West rival Boise State this weekend for Strike Out Cancer Weekend. Boise State (10-32, 2-10 MW) is coming off a 2-1 series win over Nevada. Prior to the series, the Broncos had lost 16 games in a row.

The first game is Friday at 6 p.m. The purpose of this weekend’s promotion is to raise cancer awareness not only in the Central Valley but across the country.

Fresno State assistant coach Sara Pickering is among those that has been affected by the illness. However, the third-year coach is now cancer-free after beating the disease not once but twice. Pickering, having lost friends and family members to cancer, encourages everyone to raise awareness.

“Everybody is affected by this disease whether it’s a family member that’s going through the battle or friend,” Pickering said. “This is an important event to honor the lives that have been lost and honor the survivors. I heard of a recent stat that 1-in-3 people will be affected with cancer so I think that it’s extremely important that we bring attention to the fight.

“I feel real blessed that I have come out on top of this and feel real lucky with where I am now,” she said. “I just want to offer hope to those that are battling this thing.”

Brenna Moss drafted 13 overall in NPF Draft

Bulldog center fielder Brenna Moss was on the team bus when she heard the news: she had been drafted 13th overall in the third round to the Chicago Bandits in the National Pro Fastpitch College Draft.

“This is everything I could have dreamed of as a softball player,” Moss said. “I was so proud of myself for earning a scholarship to college, and now this is more than I could have ever imagined. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so unbelievably blessed to go through this experience.”

Being selected 13th overall is no small feat; getting drafted itself is a huge accomplishment. No Fresno State softball player has been drafted by the NPF since 2005, when pitcher Jamie Southern was selected by the Akron Racers in the first round. Her coach said it was no surprise that she got selected so early.

“In our non-conference games she’s been hitting .500,” Ford said. “So against the best-of-the-best, she showed that that’s what she is.”