COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The nation's top-ranked Colorado Mesa University softball team combined for 32 runs on the same number of hits, 16 in each game, as they dominated yet another Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader, posting 15-1 and 17-0, 5-inning run rule victories at UCCS (8-20, 3-13 RMAC) on Sunday here at Mountain Lion Field.
 
The Mavericks, who are now 26-0 overall and 16-0 in conference play, scored multiple runs in eight of the day's 10 innings and hit five home runs in the first game, including three in the first inning alone, before Zoe Pakes added another, her second of the day and eighth of the season, in the second game.
 
The Mavericks have not had at least one home run in each of their last 15 victories and have had 11 different players go long this season as Lexie Comer hit the first of her career, a 3-run shot, in the second inning of the day.
 
They also outscored the Mountain Lions 47-2 in the weekend series and have now swept each of their four RMAC opponents this year by a combined 192-15 scoring margin.  Impressively, the last 12 wins have come away from home, where the Mavericks have won 28 straight and 41 of their last 43 games since 2016.
 
CMU also recorded nine doubles throughout the doubleheader while McKenzie Surface picked up her fourth shutout of the year while improving to 14-0 after giving up just three hits in the second game.
 
Meanwhile, fellow junior hurler Kimbri Herring made the start in the first game and gave up just three hits and one unearned run in three innings of work before Brooke Hodgson threw two perfect innings of relief to close out the victory.  Herring improved to 9-0 with the victory and lowered her ERA to 1.32.
 
Game 1
 
Hodgson, AnnMarie Torres and Pakes all hit home runs in the first inning as the Mavericks set the early tone with a 6-run inning. 
 
Run-scoring hits from Torres and Kaila Jacobi in the early portions of the second also set up Comer for her 3-run blast as the Mavericks led 11-1 after 1 ½ innings.
 
Maggie Manwarren, who went 3-for-4 in the game and 5-for-7 on the day, then started the third inning with a double before scoring on an Alexandria Dufour single moments late.  Two more singles from Hodgson and Torres then made the score 13-1.
 
Reining RMAC Player of the Week Hailey Hinson then homered to lead off a 2-run fourth as the Mavs extended the lead to 15-1 allowing fourth-year coach Bennie Garcia to make multiple substitutions.
 
Game 2
 
After failing to score despite a lead-off base on balls to Manwarren, the Mavericks again turned in a big second inning as the Mavericks scored five runs on five hits, all with two outs.  Pakes started the rally with a single before moving to second on an Abby Toller walk.  Hinson then loaded the bases with a single before Manwarren drove in the opening run with a single to left driving in Pakes.
 
Dufour and Hodgson then both hit 2-run doubles.
 
The Mavericks would score six runs in the third as Hodgson hit her second 2-run double in as many innings while Torres traded places with her moments later.  The Mavericks also benefited from one of the Mountain Lions' five errors and a passed ball in the inning as four of those six runs and six overall were unearned.
 
Pakes 2-run homerun on the second play of the fourth inning then made the score 13-0 before the Mavericks scored four more runs with seven different bench players in the game.
 
Meanwhile, Surface retired 10 of the first 11 Mountain Lions she faced before getting out a mini fourth-inning jam with one of her four strikeouts and a groundout.  She also retired five of her final six opponents to record her 12th complete game of the campaign.
 
Twelve different Mavericks recorded hits in the game.
 
The Mavericks will now return home for 16 of their next 20 including a stretch of eight straight in an 8-day span starting Saturday (Mar. 24) against the Colorado School of Mines (15-13, 9-7 RMAC), which lost three of four in a home series against Black Hills State over the weekend in Golden.