RIO RANCHO, N.M.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team scored in bunches, totaling 22 runs on 27 hits as they claimed two more victories, their third and fourth of the young campaign, on a blustery Saturday at the CMU Invitational which wraps up Sunday here at the V. Sue Cleveland High School Softball Complex.
 
The nation's eighth-ranked Mavericks (4-0) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and hung on for an 8-5 victory in the morning game against MSU Denver before coming from a slight 5-3 deficit to score nine of the game's final ten runs in a 14-6, 6-inning mercy-rule win over previously unbeaten Texas A&M-Commerce, which had knocked off 22^nd-ranked St. Mary's (Texas) earlier in the day.
 
Playing in her hometown, Brooke Hodgson went 6-for-8 with five runs and five RBI throughout the day.  She also added a 3-inning save from inside the pitching circle against MSU Denver.  Senior catcher Zoe Pakes also had an impressive day going 5-for-7 offensively adding four more RBI.
 
CMU scored three or more runs in four different innings showing off their firepower.
 
MSU-Denver Game
 
Hodgson plated CMU's run with a 1-out first inning double and then scored CMU's second run on a Pakes RBI single later in the inning.
 
The Mavericks then added four more runs in the top of the third as Hodgson hit a 2-out single to start a rally that featured three straight and four total hits along with two key Roadrunner errors.
 
An inning later, the Mavericks scored their final runs on a 2-run homer by sophomore AnnMarie Torres taking an 8-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth.
 
Junior pitcher McKenzie Surface allowed just two hits to MSU Denver in the first three innings but was touched for three in the fourth as the Roadrunners got on the board with a pair of runs. 
 
After giving up a lead-off double in the bottom of the fifth, Surface gave way to Hodgson who gave up just two hits and one earned run (three total) the rest of the way.  Surface (2-0) did earn the win, her second in as many days giving up just two runs and six hits in her 4-plus innings.
 
With the 8-2 lead, the Mavericks left two on base in both the sixth and the seventh innings before the Roadrunners pulled back half of the deficit in the bottom of the seventh before succumbing to the Mavs, who had 13 total hits in the non-conference contest.
 
Texas A&M Commerce Game
 
In what was the first ever meeting against the Lions, CMU wasted little time in jumping out to a quick 3- 0 lead after the first inning.  In that inning, Maggie Manwarren and Hodgson drew walks around an Alexandria Dufour single as the Mavs loaded the bases with no outs.  That pressure eventually led to RBI singles by Pakes and Kaila Jacobi and an RBI walk by Kellie Mrofcza.
 
The Lions, now 3-1 on the year, would get two runs in the top of the second and then took a 5-3 lead with three more in the third.
 
However, CMU, trailing for the first time of the weekend, responded with a 5-run bottom of the third to re-take the lead.
 
The Mavericks recorded seven hits in the inning, including a 2-run single by Dufour that put CMU up for good.  Teegan Woosley, Torres and Pakes also had run-scoring hits in the frame against Lion reliever Katie Dean, who suffered the loss.
 
The Lions would pull within 8-6 on a double by Lone Star Conference Preseason Player of the Year Mariah Jameyson in the top of the fourth before the Mavericks responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 10-6.
 
CMU then put the game to bed in the sixth with a 4-run frame highlighted by a 3-run triple by Hodgson down the left field and a game-ending sacrifice fly by Torres that plated Hodgson with the game-clinching run.
 
Junior Kimbri Herring earned the win for the Mavericks, her first of the season, after pitching the final four innings, allowing five hits and three earned runs.
 
The Mavericks will now look to complete a perfect weekend when they take-on St. Mary's (3-1) on Sunday at 10 a.m.