GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The nation's top-ranked Colorado Mesa University Maverick softball team will look to continue their unbeaten season as the will wrap-up a 3-week, 12-game road stretch with a weekend series at UCCS in Colorado Springs.
 
Doubleheaders at the Mountain Lions Field are scheduled for noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
The Mavericks, who are 22-0 overall, have outscored their RMAC foes by a wide 145-13 margin and are tied for the conference lead with Colorado Christian (19-2, 12-0 RMAC) heading into the weekend.  Colorado Christian saw a 17-game winning streak snapped by West Texas A&M on Tuesday and host MSU Denver for a 4-game RMAC set this weekend.
 
UCCS is 8-16 overall and 3-9 in RMAC play after being swept by the Colorado School of Mines in Golden last week.
 
Extending their No. 1 ranking
 
After receiving their first No. 1 ranking in program history last week, the Mavericks have extended their lead in this week's NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released Wednesday.
 
The Mavericks received 12 of the possible 16 first place votes and lead the poll with 394 points.  North Georgia (26-1 through Sunday) received two first place votes to remain in the No. 2 spot with 385 points while future Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference member Dixie State (18-0 through Sunday) picked up two first place votes while checking in with 373 points to sit third.  Dixie State, which is playing eight PacWest games in Hawai'I this week, dropped their first of the campaign on Wednesday at Hawai'I Pacific and is currently 21-1.
 
North Georgia is currently 30-1 after sweeping Columbus State in a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader on Tuesday and another at Catawba (N.C.) on Thursday.
 
Angelo State remained in the No. 4 spot.  The Rambelles are now 25-2 after splitting a key regional doubleheader at St. Mary's on Monday.  Their only other loss came to CMU on the opening day of the season (Feb. 2) when they were ranked second in NFCA Preseason Poll.  The Mavericks also defeated St. Mary's, ranked 22^nd in the country at the time, a day later.  Angelo State has a Lone Star Conference showdown series with No. 15 West Texas A&M this weekend.
 
The Mavericks also hold wins over No. 11 Texas A&M-Commerce, Concordia-Irvine, which moved up two spots to 17^th in this week's poll, and No. 25 California Baptist, which had been receiving votes in previous polls.
 
CMU has been in the top 10 for all five polls this season, including the preseason.  They were ranked third in the Week No. 1 and 2 polls after sitting eighth in the preseason.
 
The Only unbeaten
 
The Mavericks are now the only undefeated team in Division II softball.  Dixie State (see above) and Southern New Hampshire, ranked 20th the NFCA poll, had been unbeaten to begin the week.  Southern New Hampshire was out to a 13-0 start but dropped their first game against Northwood (Mich.) on Tuesday in Clermont, Fla.  The Penmen are now 15-1.
 
Best Start Continues
 
The Mavericks' 22-0 start to this season is believed to the best in the program's history, and is certainly the best in available records that date back to 1994.
 
The 2007 squad was the last Maverick team to reach double-figures without a loss as they went 12-0 to begin the season before going on to finish 27-16 overall and 25-10 in RMAC play that year.
 
As a point of reference, the 2000 Maverick squad which reached the Division II World Series started 16-6 while going 44-12 overall.
 
Career Weekend leads to Honors
 
Sophomore right fielder Hailey Hinson had a career weekend in the series against New Mexico Highlands as she went 10-for-12 (.833) with four home runs.  She also scored and drove in eight runs and drew two walks to finish the weekend with a .857 on-base percentage and a 1.833 slugging percentage.
 
For her efforts, Hinson was named as both the Fastpitch News NCAA Division II Player of the Week and as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Week.
 
The home runs were the first of her season and the second through the fifth of her career.  She had one as a freshman in 2017 when she made 39 appearances, including four starts, while recording 21 official at bats.
 
Dinger frenzy
 
Five different Mavericks combined to hit 13 home runs in last weekend's series against New Mexico Highlands.  The Maverick have now hit 36 as a team and rank fourth in the country with their per game average of 1.64.
 
Hinson hit four in the series against the Cowgirls while Brooke Hodgson and Kaila Jacobi each hit three.  AnnMarie Torres also knocked two out of the park and leads the team with nine home runs this season, just one more than Hodgson.  Kellie Mrofcza also homered for the first time this campaign.
 
The Mavericks hit six home runs in the first game of the series, a 23-0 win, and added five in the finale game of the series, which the Mavericks won 14-0.  Both of those games were won in five innings via the run-rule.  Hinson had two homers in the 23-0 win while Hodgson tallied two in the finale.
 
RMAC homer streak
 
The Mavericks have feasted on their RMAC opponents thus far hitting 23 of their 36 home runs in their 12 conference game.  CMU has at least one home run in each of their last 11 games.
 
Speaking of streaks
 
Despite winning 22 straight games to begin the year, the Mavericks are still several wins from what would be their longest winning streak in program history and even their longest winning streak under fourth-year head coach Bennie Garcia.
 
The 2016 Mavericks won 29 straight games from Feb. 27 to Apr. 19 en-route to a 40-13 overall campaign, featuring a 35-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title winning record.
 
Tearing up the Lions
 
The Mavericks have also enjoyed a lot of recent success against this week's opponent UCCS having swept 4-game series from the Mountain Lions in each of the last three years.  The Mavericks also won both games between the teams in 2014 and have won 14 straight games in the rivalry.  Fourth-year Maverick head coach Bennie Garcia is 12-0 against the Mountain Lions.
 
Runs and Run-Rule wins
 
The Mavericks outscored New Mexico Highlands by a combined 56-2 margin in last weekend's series and have now outscored their opposition by a combined 132 runs (145-13) in their 12 conference victories.
 
They have averaged more than 12 runs per game (12.08) in RMAC play and are giving up just over one (1.08), and have won their conference games by an average of 11 runs per game.  Seven of their 12 RMAC wins have come via the run-rule.
 
Overall, the Mavericks have outscored their opponents 237-46 and rank third in the country for scoring with their 10.77 per game average.  They have won 10 games via the mercy rule.
 
Hit parade
 
The Mavericks hit a combined .485 in last week's series against New Mexico Highlands after hitting .466 as a team the week before at Adams State.  For the season, they are now hitting. 403 as a team, which is the best batting average in the country.  They are hitting .429 as a team in conference play and have recorded double-digit hits in each of their last nine games, reaching 20 or more hits in three of those.
 
The Mavericks also pace the country with 61 doubles, which is also good for a national-leading 2.77 per game average.  Queens (N.C.) is second in the country for total doubles with 50.
 
Other impressive Rankings
 
The Mavericks are also second in the country with their .689 team slugging percentage and rank third nationally with their .469 on-base percentage.
 
Set the table, clean it up
 
Led by Brooke Hodgson, who is hitting .605 in conference play, the Mavericks have seven starters and nine overall players who are hitting better than .500 against RMAC pitchers.  Hodgson is hitting .563 overall and currently ranks sixth in the country with that mark.  She also stands second nationally with for both hits (45) and RBI (44) and ranks third for RBI per game (2.00), sixth for slugging percentage (1.063) and fourth for runs per game (1.91).
 
Meanwhile, AnnMarie Torres is fifth in the country with 36 RBI and stands fourth with her 1.64 per game average.
 
They have split time in the clean-up position with Torres serving in that role 16 times while Hodgson has been fourth in the lineup six times and third in the other 16.
 
Both can thank lead-off hitter Maggie Manwarren for lots of RBI opportunities.  Manwarren is hitting .434 and has a .506 on-base percentage.  She also has 19 stolen bases to rank 14^th nationally with her per-game average of 0.86 and is eighth in the nation with her 1.55 run per game average.
 
Glove work
 
Although the offense is certainly in strong form, the Mavericks are also playing superb defense.  They were guilty of just one error in last week's series at New Mexico Highlands, one the week before at Adams State and just nine all season.  That has translated into a .983 fielding percentage, the second best mark in the country.
 
How about some shutouts
 
The Maverick pitching tandem of McKenzie Surface and Kimbri Herring have also been enjoying recent success.  Each threw a shutout in the New Mexico Highlands series.  Herring also had one against Adams State and was named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 6.  Surface has three shutouts this season and posted a no-hitter and a 1-hitter against Chadron State last month.
 
Herring has had 10 or more strikeouts in three of her last four starts and ranks seventh in the county for her 10.1 per seven inning average.  She has 65 strikeouts in 45 innings and is leading the conference in both ERA (1.56) and opposing batting average (.183).

Surface, the RMAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year and 2-time RMAC Pitcher of the Week, is the conference leader in wins (12), innings (79) and strikeouts (82).  She also ranks fifth in the conference for ERA (2.48) and fourth in opposing batting average (.204).
 
Utility player Brooke Hodgson, who has not been needed to pitch since Feb. 26 , is 3-0 with an even better 1.17 ERA but no longer qualifies to be amongst the conference leaders as she has thrown only 18 innings this season.
 
Home-Field dominance
 
Impressively, only four of the Mavericks' 22 wins have come at home, where they will play 16 out of 20 games from Mar. 24-Apr. 22.   The Mavericks are also 8-0 in true away games and 10-0 in neutral-site contests.
 
After sweeping their only home series of the season against Chadron State on Feb.25-26, the Mavericks now have a 28-game home-field winning streak dating back to the start of the 2017 season.  The Mavericks, who went a perfect 24-0 at home in 2017, have also won 41 straight regular season home games dating back to 2016.  CMU's only two losses in the last 43 home games came in the 2016 RMAC Tournament, which the Mavericks hosted.  CMU also hosted and won the 2017 RMAC Tournament with four straight victories.
 
The Mavericks are next at home on Mar. 24 and 25 against the Colorado School of Mines.
 
RMAC dominance under Garcia

Ben Garcia is in his fourth season as the Mavericks' Head Coach.  Named as the RMAC Coach of the Year in 2016, he has guided the Mavericks to 143 wins and a .765 winning percentage in his first 187 games (143-44) at CMU.  The Mavericks, who have advanced to the last two South Central Regional Championship games, are also a combined 110-18 (.859) in RMAC games and 121-22 (.846) against RMAC foes –-counting non-conference and RMAC Tournament games— under Garcia.
 
CMU has won the last two RMAC Championships under Garcia with 35-4 (2017) and 35-3 (2016) conference records.  The Mavericks also finished second in the 2015 standings in Garcia's first season claiming 28 wins, equal to MSU Denver's total from that year.
 
The back-to-back 35 RMAC win seasons are two of the third best in RMAC history behind only MSU Denver's 2010 37-RMAC win campaign.
 
The Mavericks have won 24 more RMAC games than any other team in the past 2 ½ seasons (MSU Denver, 58) and have also won 24 more than the Roadrunners (86) since Garcia joined the Mavericks.

Prior to coming to CMU in July of 2014, Garcia served as the head coach at Otero Junior College for three seasons.  He posted a 143-42 mark at Otero including a pair of Region IX Championships in 2013 and 2014.

Garcia was also highly successful at the high school rankings winning over 400 games in 21 years as head coach at Pueblo East. He led the Eagles to 19 state tournament appearances, including the state title in 2012 and four runner-up appearances.
 
Scouting the Mountain Lions
 
UCCS enters this weekend's series with an 8-16 overall record.  They are 3-9 in conference play and are in ninth place in the conference standings.
 
They have been steady at home posting a 5-6 record at Mountain Lion Park, including a 3-1 series win over MSU Denver in their last home series.
 
Whitney Weber is leading the team with a .400 batting average while Taylor Reidhead is their best power hitter.  She is hitting .320 with seven home runs and 22 RBI.
 
The Mountain Lions have used three different pitchers, including Reidhead who has thrown a 49 2/3 innings.  She has made 15 appearances and seven starts and has a 1-3 record and team-best 5.07 ERA.  Cami Duffey is 5-8 with a 7.59 ERA and has made 13 starts and 14 appearances in the circle covering 59 total innings.
 
As a team, the Mountain Lions are hitting .307 to rank fourth in the RMAC.  Their pitching staff has a 7.39 combined ERA to rank ninth in the conference.
 
Up Next 

After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will returning home to play 16 of their next 20, starting Mar. 24 and 25 against the Colorado School of Mines.  The only away weekend in the stretch will be on Apr. 7-8 at Black Hills State.