ST. GEORGE, Utah— Sophomore AnnMarie Torres and senior Abby Toller each hit go-ahead home runs while each of the first four Mavericks in their potent lineup had 2-hit games as the nation's eighth-ranked Colorado Mesa University softball team came from behind twice to defeat Hawai'i-Hilo by an 8-5 margin in the Mavericks' first game of the Dixie State Easton Classic, which got underway here at Canyons Softball Complex.
 
The victory allowed the Mavericks to improve to a perfect 6-0 on the young season.  The Vulcans, who edged Western Washington 6-5 earlier in the day, fell to 6-3 despite hitting three homers.
 
Torres hit a 3-run blast to center in the bottom of the fifth to give CMU a 6-5 lead and finished with a 4-RBI day while Toller broke a 5-5 deadlock with a lead-off homer in the bottom of the sixth to trigger the Mavericks' 3-run game-winning inning.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavericks banged out 13 hits as a team and got another respectable start from junior McKenzie Surface, who struck out eight Vulcans while allowing just five hits to personally improve to 4-0 on the year.
 
The Vulcans would jump out to an early 2-0 lead on an Isabelle Mejia homer in the top of the first before a 3-base error allowed CMU lead-off Maggie Manwarren, who had begun the game with a bunt single, to score in the bottom of the first.
 
Manwarren, who finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two stolen bases, then laid down a bunt in the bottom of the third and put pressure on the defense as the Vulcans threw the ball away, which allowed Hailey Hinson to score a game-tying run after starting the inning with a double.
 
The 2-2 tie would be short-lived as Skylar Thomas put the Vulcans in front 4-2 with a 2-run blast in the top of the fourth.
 
The Mavericks then left two runners on base in the bottom of the fourth but took full advantage of a fifth-inning scoring opportunity when Torres hit her third home run of the season with one out plating both Alexandria Dufour and Brooke Hodgson, who had hit a single and double, respectively, moments before.
 
The Hawaiians would answer in the top of the sixth with a lead-off homer by Brinell Kalekini before Surface caught two Vulcans looking later in the inning.
 
Mejia then came in to pitch for the bottom of the sixth and surrendered the home run to Toller before Manwarren beat out yet another bunt single.  The senior speedster then stole second and scored on a Dufour single.  Hodgson them moved Dufour to third with her sixth double of the year before Torres drove in Dufour for yet another insurance run.
 
Leading 8-5, the Mavericks then erased a lead-off single with a seventh-inning double play and closed out the victory moments later on a ground out to shortstop Kellie Mrofcza.
 
The Mavericks will continue the tournament Friday with games against Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) (4-5) and Western New Mexico (1-6) starting at 10 a.m.  Northwest Nazarene defeated Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squads Chadron State and UCCS on Thursday while Western New Mexico split a pair of games against former RMAC rivals.  The Mustangs fell 5-2 to MSU Denver before picking up an 8-7 win over CSU-Pueblo.