LA JOLLA, Calif. - With four league series left to play in the regular season and the playoff picture just beginning to come into focus, the UC San Diego softball team is playing its best ball. After starting the year by going 8-8 in February, the Tritons won 15 of their 18 games in March to move up to third place in the conference standings.

UCSD, holding a 23-11 overall record that marks the program's best start to a season at the Division II level, will host Cal State Dominguez Hills for a four-game set starting Friday at 1 p.m. In the NCAA regional rankings that debuted this week, the Tritons sit at No. 4 in the West while the Toros hold the No. 10 spot.

In 2000, UCSD's final year in Division III, the team went 26-8 through the first 34 games before going 3-5 to end the year. The Tritons will aim for a better finish this season with league matchups against Humboldt State, Cal St. Monterey Bay and Cal St. San Bernardino following this weekend's series with CSUDH. The CCAA tournament will start April 30 in Stockton, Calif.

UCSD continues to receive votes in the national top 25 poll tallied by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

Taking three of four from San Francisco State on the road sparked the Tritons' impressive 15-3 March run, which was then bolstered by home sweeps of Dixie State, Cal St. Stanislaus and Cal St. San Marcos and capped off by a 4-2 performance at the Tournament of Champions this past weekend.

Junior outfielder Kris Lesovsky and sophomore pitcher Camille Gaito have been key contributors to UCSD's stretch of wins. Statistically, the two have been featured on the national leaderboards at the Division II level. Currently, Lesovsky is 28th in batting average (.463), 24th in slugging percentage (.806) and 24th in triples (3). Among the pitching leaders, Gaito is third in earned run average (0.59), 11th in walks allowed per seven innings (0.98) and fifth in shutouts (7).