GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Alexandria Dufour and Brooke Hodgson hit back-to-back 2-out triples coming out of one-hour and eight-minute lightning and rain delay while Kimbri Herring struck out a career-high 13 and tossing a 1-hit shutout to lift the nation's third-ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks to a 3-0 opening round win over the Chadron State College Eagles in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, which got underway Thursday here at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
Leading 1-0 going into the delay, which came in the bottom half of the fifth, Dufour hit her triple to center field on the first post-delay play before Hodgson broke the CMU and RMAC record for career total bases with her lacing shot to right center that plated Dufour.  Hodgson then scored on the play as the Eagles threw the ball into the dugout.
 
Hodgson now has 556 career total bases, two more than former teammate Makayla Kovac had in her 2013-16 career.
 
Hodgson is also now just one run away from tying the RMAC record of 230 career runs scored, currently held by MSU Denver's Amber Roundtree.
 
Meanwhile, Herring dominated the Eagles allowing just one fifth-inning double to Allie Mason and a third-inning hit by pitch in a nearly perfect game.  She had what was a career-high matching 11 strikeouts going into the break and then retired the final six hitters she faced closing out the game by catching Mason looking.
 
The effort was Herring's sixth shutout of the season and allowed her to improve to 18-1 on the year after facing 23 hitters, just two over the minimum.
 
Chadron's Jessica Jarecki fell to 10-16 after giving up four hits and four walks while striking out five.
 
The Eagles went down in order in the first and second innings before CMU left two runners on in the bottom of the second.  However, the Mavericks would get on the board in the third as Dufour doubled down the left field line to plate Hailey Hinson, who had led off the inning with a walk.
 
Meanwhile, Herring struck out five and retired six straight Eagles after hitting Abby Anderson to begin the third.  That streak was snapped at the start of the fifth by Mason's double.  However, Herring was not phased as Ellie Owens popped up a bunt to Zoe Pakes before Herring struck out two more.
 
After two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth, the game, which started 3:57 p.m. due to the length of three earlier games, was then suspended at 5:07 p.m. before resuming at 6:15.
 
Dufour finished the day 2-for-3 with a run and RBI to lead the Mavericks, who had three extra-bases hits.  Meanwhile, designated player Abby Toller had CMU's other hit while drawing two walks to reach on all three plate appearances.
 
The Mavericks advanced in the winner's bracket of the 3-day, 8-team double-elimination format tournament and will face MSU Denver in Game 8, scheduled for 10:45 a.m.

The fourth-seeded Roadrunners (33-21) defeated the Colorado School of Mines, 5-4 in the third game of the day.