GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After taking the final three games of last weekend's series against preseason conference favorite and then nationally-ranked Dixie State University Trailblazers, the now nation's 12^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University Softball team will try to continue a strong run when they travel to downtown Denver for a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series with the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers.
 
The Mavericks will enter the weekend with a conference-best 14-4 overall record and are 7-1 in conference play, just a half-game behind UCCS (11-8, 7-0 RMAC) for the lead in the conference standings.  Mines enters with 5-8 overall and a 4-1 conference record, losing seven games overall, including three conference contests to weather during the early portion of the season.
 
This weekend's 4-game set will include doubleheaders at 11 a.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. on Sunday.  All of the games played at MSU Denver's Regency Athletic Complex as Mines' on-campus home field in Golden is currently unplayable.
 
Live statistics and streaming of all four games can be found at the link above.
 
Torres tabbed
 
Maverick junior first baseman AnnMarie Torres recently received her second national player of the week of the honor as she was named as the FPN (Fastpitch News) NCAA Division II Player of the Week on Tuesday.  She had been named as the NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) National Player of the Week last Wednesday (Feb. 28) after she had a phenomenal 4-game series against Fort Lewis on Sunday Feb. 24 and Monday, Feb. 25 when she hit .800 (12-15) while slugging at a 1.467 clip as she recorded four doubles and two home runs, including a grand slam while driving in 17 runs.
 
The FPN honor, something she earned early in 2018 as well, was based on both the second day of the Fort Lewis series, which was pushed back a day from the normal Saturday/Sunday format, and also last weekend's series against Dixie State, which saw her hit .455 (5-11) with three RBIs.
 
Torres was also named as the RMAC Player of the Week on Tuesday, Feb. 26 after the Fort Lewis series.
 
She was also featured on NCAA.com in a Wednesday article titled "Here are 7 DII softball players off to sizzling hot starts in 2019."
 
Surface picks up eighth award
 
Maverick senior pitcher McKenzie Surface was named as the RMAC's Pitcher of the Week for the eighth time in her brilliant Maverick career on Tuesday.
 
Against Dixie State, Surface picked up two wins.  In her first start of the season last Saturday.  Surface allowed just three hits and two runs in a complete game 6-2 victory over the then 22^nd-ranked Trailblazers.  She also had four strikeouts in that game.  She then came back on Sunday to record three strikeouts while allowing just six hits and three runs in a 4 2/3 inning outing on Sunday.  The Mavs won that game 6-3 to take three of four in the series between the RMAC's two nationally-ranked squads.
 
Nearing a record and a milestone 
 
Surface, who had two wins as a reliever earlier the year, now has 74 career wins and is just four wins away from the RMAC record.  She is also just two strikeouts shy of 500-career strikeout milestone.
 
Becoming CMU's winningest pitcher as a junior last year, Surface is just shy of the RMAC record 78, currently held by Regis' Kaitlyn Gentert (2005-08).  Surface, who is second by herself in conference history, is 4-0 this season and went 21-1 last year to lead the conference in winning percentage (.955).
 
With her seven strikeouts last weekend, Surface now has 498 career strikeouts and could easily become just the seventh woman in RMAC history to reach the 500 milestone in this weekend's series against Mines.
 
Already the school-record holder since her sophomore year in 2017, Surface could potentially break the the all-time record of 631, set by Amanda Kelly of Nebraska-Kearney (1997-2000).  She is just 133 shy of that total.  She had 144 last year and as a freshman in 2016 while recording a Maverick single-season record 195 in 2017, which is also tied for the 10^th best single-season total in RMAC history.
 
Surface has also completed 64 of her 84 career starts and already ranks seventh in RMAC history for career complete games.  She is just 14 shy of the Maverick record of 78, set by Heather Hatzenbeller from 1997-2000 and two shy of the sixth spot in the RMAC record book, a position occupied by former CMU standout Melanie Meuchel (1998-2001). 
 
Surface broke Meuchel's former school-record of 67 career wins last year.

Leading pitchers/Leading hitter

In five total appearances this year, Surface has a 4-0 record and a 1.88 ERA, which leads the RMAC.  She has throwing 18 2/3 total innings and has allowed just nine hits while striking out 15 and holding opposing hitters to a league-low .143 batting average.
 
Meanwhile, Torres is pacing the RMAC with her .521 batting average, her .641 on-base percentage and with her 27 RBIs.  She is also third in the RMAC for slugging percentage at .917, fifth in runs scored (22) and tied for second for walks (13).
 
Scoring runs is as easy as 1-2-3
 
The Mavericks' normal 1-2-3 hitters in the lineup all rank in the top five in the RMAC for runs scored.  Brooke Doumer, the Mavs' lead-off hitter in 13 of their 18 games thus far this season, is tied for second with 24 while Kellie Mrofcza, the No. 2 hitter in 15 games, leads the conference with 26.  Torres, who has hit third in 16 games, is fifth with 22.
 
As a team, the Mavericks are outscoring their opponents 31-2 in the first inning of games this year.
 
Team leader sweep
 
As a team, the Mavericks lead the RMAC in hitting at .357, ERA at 2.47 and fielding percentage (.973).  The Mavericks have also scored 158 runs, 30 more than any other RMAC squad (Fort Lewis) and have hit 25 home runs, two more than UCCS.
 
Road streak
 
The Mavericks will take a 16-game away winning streak into this weekend's series.  The Mavericks were a perfect 16-0 in away games in 2018 and were also 10-0 in neutral site games a year ago.
 
Gerber doubles her dinger total to earn family bragging rights
 
Maverick sophomore designated player Tayah Gerber hit a home run in both games of Sunday's doubleheader sweep of Dixie State as she doubled her career total to four.  As a freshman in 2018, the Utah native had just one hit in 11 at bats as a reserve player.
 
This year, she has made six starts and has played in 13 games.  She has nine hits in 23 at bats, good for a .391 batting average.  Impressively, six of her nine hits have been for extra bases, including her four home runs.  She has 13 RBIs.
 
Her Sunday home runs also gave her a few family bragging rights as they came against Dixie State, where her brother Tevita is a junior pitcher on the Trailblazers' baseball team.
 
Coincidentally, on the same day, Tevita threw an inning of relief against the Mavericks' baseball team in a non-conference baseball doubleheader on Sunday.  CMU also won that game 6-3 and swept the doubleheader in St. George, Utah.

Showing some mercy
 
The Mavericks posted an impressive 24 mercy-rule victories last season, ending 13 games in five innings and another 11 in six.   They already have eight mercy rule wins out of their 14 total victories this year, the last of which came by a 12-0 score in five innings on Sunday against Dixie State.
 
In their 36 regular season conference games last season, the Mavericks outscored their opponents by a combined 291 runs (365-74), winning by an average of 8.08 per.  The Mavericks won exactly half (18) of those conference games via the mercy-rule.
 
Thus far in 2019, the Mavericks have outscored their opponents 158-45 are scoring 8.78 runs per game and 1.49 runs per offensive inning. 
 
The Mavs had two 6-run innings in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader and put up four runs in the fourth inning of the second game.
 
They rank fifth in the country for scoring average and have outscored their opponents in every inning of regulation this year, including a 31-2 mark in the first inning and by a combined 77-18 margin in the third (29-6) and fourth (48-12).
 
Held scoreless… That rarely happens
 
The Mavericks were shutout for the first time in nearly 22 months last Saturday as Dixie State won the first game of last weekend's series by a 6-0 margin last Saturday.  Prior to that, the Mavericks had scored in 67 straight games over the entire 2018 and 2019 season to date.
 
CMU was last shutout by top-ranked Angelo State in a 2017 NCAA Division II South Central Regional title game on May 13, 2017.
 
The Mavericks had also gone more than three years without being shutout at home.  Dixie State, ranked second in the nation at the time, had also been the last to blank the Mavs, doing so on Feb. 23, 2016 in the second game of a non-conference doubleheader.  Prior to Saturday, the Mavs had gone 65 straight games without being shutout at home.
 
Record-setting record
 
The Mavericks, who have won the last three and four of the last five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Regular Season titles, are coming off a record-setting 48-5 season in 2018. 
 
The team's .906 winning percentage a year ago was a school-record, breaking the 2017 team's mark of .857 (48-8).  The 48 wins were just one shy of the school-record for wins, which was set by the 2002 squad, which finished 49-13.
 
The Mavericks started last year by winning a RMAC record 37 consecutive games.
 
Up five as streak reaches 27
 
The Mavericks are ranked a season-best 12^th in this week's NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, which was released on Wednesday (Mar. 6).  The Mavericks, who were 21^st in the preseason poll, 22^nd in the first regular season poll and 17^th on Feb. 28, received 220 points in the polling of 16 NCAA Division II head coaches, with two representing each of the nation's eight regions.
 
The Mavericks earned 91 more points in the Week No. 3 poll and moved up five spots from the week prior following their series win over Dixie State and a 5-1 overall poll week, which included the two Monday, Feb. 25 wins over Fort Lewis.
 
The series win also dropped Dixie State out of the top 25 making the Mavericks the only team in the RMAC to be ranked in the top 25.  The Trailblazers still did pick up two points to be the last of seven teams in the "receiving votes category".
 
The Mavericks are also now the second highest ranked team in the South Central region behind only No. 9, West Texas A&M (16-4), which moved up 12 spots while on a 13-game winning streak, featuring a 3-game series sweep of then top-ranked Angelo State.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville (20-3) came into the poll at No. 15 while Texas A&M-Commerce plunged 16 spots to 18^th after being swept by the Javelinas last weekend   Angelo State (16-7) had a similar dive as they fell 14 spots to 20^th after a 2-2 week on the heels of their three losses to West Texas A&M.  Tarleton State also fell from the No. 12 spot all the way out of the poll.  The TexAnns are 14-5 overall but are just 3-3 in their last six having lost a game to 2-14 Western New Mexico on Saturday after going 1-2 against Texas A&M-Kingsville on the previous weekend.
 
In 2018, the Mavericks were ranked in all 14 editions of the poll, including the preseason and post-season poll, which saw the Mavericks end up in the No. 16 spot.  They were ranked eighth in the 2018 preseason poll and were No. 1 for seven straight weeks in the midst of their 37-0 start to last year's campaign.  They were ranked in the top three of all 12 regular-season editions of the poll.
The Mavericks were also ranked in 13 of 15 polls in 2017, beginning that year ranked 19^th in the preseason and finishing 11th. CMU has now been nationally-ranked in 27 consecutive polls dating back to Mar. 22, 2017.
 
Picked second
 
Despite winning the last three regular season and last two RMAC Tournament titles, the Mavericks were edged for the top spot in this year's RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll by conference newcomer Dixie State, a team the Mavericks defeated to prove that they are still the team to beat. 
 
In the RMAC poll, the Mavericks did receive six first place votes and were picked a strong second with 135 total points.  Dixie State, which advanced to the West Super Regional after finishing third in the PacWest Conference last year, received seven first place votes and 138 total points.  Colorado Christian (113), Regis (110) and MSU Denver (102) were the other teams picked in the top five of the polling of the league's 13 head coaches, who ranked their opponents 1 through 12 without voting for their own squad.
 
This week's opponent Mines was picked sixth in the RMAC poll.
 
Nation's top offense
 
In 2018, the Mavericks led all of college softball with their .398 team batting average, which smashed the RMAC record of .369, which they had set the year prior.  The batting average was also the best of any Division II team since 2009.
 
The Mavericks also led Division II in doubles per game (2.55) last year, cranking out a RMAC-record 135 to crush the former RMAC record of 112, set by Mines in 2009.  The 135 doubles are the fourth most in Division II history while the per game average was the fifth highest.
 
CMU was also second in Division II for scoring (9.58 runs/game), winning-percentage (.906), slugging percentage (.643) and on-base percentage (.461) last year.  They also hit 1.30 home runs per game to rank fourth in the country.
 
The Mavericks scored 508 total runs to break the RMAC record of 452, set by MSU-Denver in 2010.  They also recorded 442 RBIs to break the Roadrunner's former RMAC record of 413, set in 2009.  The 508 runs scored were the seventh most in Division II history.
 
Doing it with the glove as well
 
The Mavericks also played solid defensive ball in 2018, committing just 37 errors while finishing the year ranked eighth in Division II with their .972 fielding percentage.  Their opponents were guilty of nearly 100 more errors (128) and fielded at just a .914 clip.
 
The Mavericks have only made 12 errors in their first 18 games this year and are fielding at a .973 clip so far this season, the best mark in the RMAC.
 
Title #11
 
The Mavericks, who went 33-3 in regular season play to win the RMAC's Regular Season Championship for the third straight year and fourth time in the last five years in 2018, have now won 11 official RMAC Championships, four more than any other institution in conference history.  They are the first program to win three straight outright crowns* since Nebraska-Kearney won four straight from 1996-99 after claiming a 1995 Mile High Intercollegiate Softball League title before the RMAC officially resumed official sponsorship of the sport in 1996.
 
The Mavericks also won RMAC titles in 1982, 1983, 1989, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2014.
 
The Lopers, who are no longer RMAC members, are second in conference history with seven crowns.
 
*-Colorado Mines did win 2012 and 2013 RMAC titles after sharing the top spot with MSU Denver in 2012.  MSU Denver had won the 2010 and 2011 crowns.
 
Speaking of 11
 
2018 also marked the Mavericks' 11^th NCAA Tournament appearance.  They have been included in the field of 64 for each of the last three years.  The Mavericks, who went 1-2 while hosting a regional for just the second time in program history, are 15-22 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.  They also qualified in 1997 and 1998, in three straight years from 2000-02, and again in 2009, 2010 and 2012.
 
Three straight 40s
 
The Mavericks have reached the 40-win mark in each of the last three years and have six such seasons in the NCAA Division II portion of their history, which dates back to 1992. The 2016 Mavericks went 40-13 before the back-to-back 48-win seasons.
 
The Mavericks also won 40 or more games in three straight years from 2000-02 winning a school-record 49 games in 2002 (49-13), two years after going 44-12 while reaching the Division II Women's College World Series in 2000.  The 2001 team went 41-12.
 
Scouting the Orediggers
 
The Orediggers won both games of a weather-shortened series last Friday (Mar. 1) against New Mexico Highlands, a "home" doubleheader" played at Pueblo South High School.  They won the opener 3-2 and then took the second 16-2 in five innings.
 
Freshman Kendall Murphy is leading the team with her .381 batting and .500 slugging percentages.  She also has a team-high five doubles and nine runs and is second on the team with seven RBI.
 
Meanwhile, returning all-American Clara Larson has hit .500 with nine RBI over the last six games after getting out to a slow start, which saw her hit .just .181 over the first seven games.  The junior shortstop now has a season batting average of .318 and leads the team with 10 RBIs.
 
Sophomore pitcher Sydney Marchando leads the pitching staff and has a 2.40 ERA to go along with her 4-3 record.  She is fourth in the RMAC for ERA has a WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) ration of 1.13 and has struck out 42 in 43 2/3 inning.  She has held opposing batters to a .211 batting average, the fifth lowest mark in the conference.
 
As a team, the Orediggers are hitting a conference-low .267 but do have the league's third best team ERA at 3.03.
 
The Last Time We Met
 
The Mavericks last played Mines in 2018, sweeping a 4-game series played Mar. 24 and 25 in Grand Junction.  The Mavericks scored 41 runs in that series winning two games via the run-rule and putting up 10 or more in three of the four games after winning the first by a 6-5 margin. 
 
Eventual RMAC Offensive Player of the Year Brooke Hodgson broke the Maverick and RMAC record for career RBIs in that series.
 
The Mavericks hit .412 in the four games cranking out seven doubles and five home runs.  Kaila Jacobi lead the Mavericks with her .667 batting average (8-12) over the weekend and had three doubles and six RBIs.  Kimbri Herring went 2-0 in the circle as the Mavs used three pitchers, who combined for 27 strikeouts in the four games.
 
The Mavericks have won 22 straight games against the Orediggers dating back to 2014 and defeated them, 2-1 to win the 2017 RMAC Championship.
 
Since 1994, the Mavericks hold a massive 82-10 lead in the all-time series.
 
Home field No. 2
 
The Mavericks may start to feel quite comfortable over the next two weekends as they are slated to play their next eight games at MSU Denver's Regency Athletic Complex, an all-sports turf field.  They will also play there next weekend when they face the field-owning Roadrunners in another 4-game series on Mar. 16-17.
 
The Mavericks would also love to play there in May as MSU Denver will serve as the host for the NCAA Division II Women's College World Series.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series and the series with the Roadrunners, the Mavericks will return home to the CMU Softball Field for their next eight and 16 of their next 20 games games, beginning Mar. 23 against Adams State.  CMU is 7-1 at home this year.