GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University senior McKenzie Surface threw her second career no-hitter while Kaila Jacobi hit a home run to lead the Mavericks to their 19^th and 20^th consecutive victories over CSU-Pueblo and Regis University to wrap up a 4-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Pod Series on Sunday here at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
Surface recorded a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed just one hit by pitch and one walk as the nation's 12^th-ranked Mavericks (35-6, 28-3 RMAC) wrapped up the weekend with an 11-0, 5-inning win over Regis after coming from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat CSU-Pueblo, 6-2 in the morning game.
 
Regis (13-20, 10-17 RMAC) defeated the ThunderWolves (10-24, 9-21 RMAC) by a 10-2 count in six innings in the middle game of the day as both of those teams wrapped up the weekend with 1-3 records.
 
The Mavericks registered 20 combined hits on the day and allowed just four.
 
CSU-Pueblo Game
 
The ThunderWolves jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Marissa Piatt home run in the top of the first and held that lead until the bottom of the third when the Mavericks loaded the bases with nobody out thanks to a single by Lauren Wedman, who went 4-for-5 on the day and 7-for-8 on the weekend, a walk by Alexandria Dufour and a pitch that hit Brooke Doumer.
 
That prompted the ThunderWolves to make an early pitching change.  Taylor Strupp came on and quickly got a double play.  However, AnnMarie Torres drilled a 2-run double to right center to tie the game at 2 through three innings.
 
After a 1-2-3 inning by Maverick starter Kimbri Herring and the CMU defense, the Mavericks would go on to score four runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Sarah Staudle hit a 1-out double to help trigger the rally before Dufour drove in pinch-runner Madysen Kearns when Dufour was hit by a pitch.
 
Doumer then hit a 2-run single to make the score 5-3 before a CSU-Pueblo error helped the Mavericks tack on another run before leaving the bases loaded.
 
The ThunderWolves had chances in the fifth and sixth innings but left runners on third in both innings as the Mavericks went on to claim the victory despite leaving nine runners on throughout the morning.
 
Herring allowed just four hits and a walk while striking out four and improved to 16-3 while Strupp fell to 6-12 after begin charged with three hits and three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings as the middle of three ThunderWolf pitchers.
 
Eight different Mavericks registered hits as Torres drove in three runs while Doumer had two.
 
Regis Game
 
Surface, who threw her first no-hitter on Feb. 25, 2018 against Chadron State, was in complete control of the Rangers, facing just 18 total batters, just three over the minimum.
 
The Rangers did have their lead-off hitter in Macy Cox reach base on a Maverick error before Surface struck out the side while setting down the next eight Rangers she faced.
 
Cox then then broke that streak when she was hit by a pitch with two outs in the third.  Carly Beard, who drew a 9-pitch walk with two outs in the fourth was the only other Ranger to reach the base against Surface, who improved to 15-0 on the year.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavericks gave the RMAC's all-time winningest pitcher (85) plenty of run support as the Mavericks registered their second mercy-rule win over the Rangers of the weekend and their 18th of the season as a whole.
 
The Mavericks could not capitalize on the first of four Regis errors in the bottom of the first but did break through for three runs on four hits in the second as Staudle stole home on a double steal before Dufour brought home Wedman from second with a single.  Doumer then recorded an RBI triple to bring Dufour around with the Mavericks' third run of the frame.
 
In the third, Jacobi hit a 2-run home run before another Ranger error and a Kellie Mrofcza RBI single extended the Mavericks lead to 7-0.
 
They then scored four more runs in the bottom of the fourth as Wedman and Alexa Samuels both had run-scoring singles up the middle before Mrofcza hit a 2-run double down the right field line to complete the scoring.
 
The Mavericks finished the game with a dozen hits as Mrofcza, Jordyn Hays, Wedman and Dufour had two each.  They also drew three walks and were hit twice by the Ranger relief pitchers after roughing up starter Taylor Armitage (10-13) for eight hits and five earned runs in 2-plus innings.
 
The Mavericks finished the weekend outscoring their opponents 34-3 and out-hit them 43-10.  Surface had 17 strikeouts and allowed just four hits and one unearned run in her two complete game victories.

Up Next
 
The Mavericks are now 18-1 at home, winning each of their last 14 in front of a home crowd.  They will attempt to continue that and their 20-game overall winning streak next week when they host UCCS (22-21, 18-13 RMAC) in a 4-game set on Friday and Saturday.  Doubleheaders will commence at noon on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday before the RMAC will take Easter Sunday off.
 
The Mountain Lions swept Black Hills State at home over the weekend but are just 2-11 in away games so far in 2019.