GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— With winning streaks of 14 games at home and 20 games overall, the Colorado Mesa University Softball team, which continues to be ranked 12^th in the nation, will play their final regular season home series of the season this weekend when they host the UCCS Mountain Lions for a 4-game set..
 
Friday's doubleheader will begin at 3 p.m., pushed back from the originally announced Noon start time, while Saturday's twin-bill will begin at 11 a.m.
 
Live statistics and streaming of all four games can be found at the links above.
 
The Mavericks have a 35-6 overall record and are 28-3 in RMAC play, good for a 4 ½-game lead over Colorado Christian (29-12, 22-6 RMAC) for first place in the conference standings.
 
UCCS will enter the weekend in sixth place in the conference standings.  The Mountain Lions are currently 22-21 overall and 18-13 in RMAC play.
 
Senior Day
 
The Mavericks will honor their eight seniors prior to Saturday's doubleheader and fans are encouraged to arrive early to view the ceremony.  The Mavericks' eight seniors in uniform number order are McKenzie Surface (#4), Kaila Jacobi (#5), Madysen Kearns (#7), Lexie Comer (#12), Kimbri Herring (#19), Tegan Woosley (#20), Alexandria Dufour (#21) and Kellie Mrofcza (#22). 
 
Herring joined the Maverick program in 2017 after spending her freshman year at Snow College.  The other seven are 4-year Mavericks.
 
Incredible senior class
 
To date, the Mavericks' senior class has posted an incredible 171-32 combined record, good for a .842 winning percentage.  The Mavericks seniors have won all three possible RMAC regular season titles to date and are closing in on a fourth successive title this year.  They have also won each of the last two RMAC Tournament titles as well and have advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament in each of the past three years.
 
With just five more wins, this year's Maverick squad would also reach the 40-win mark for the fourth consecutive campaign.
 
No-No Number Two
 
Maverick senior pitcher McKenzie Surface registered her second career no-hitter on Sunday when she struck out a season-high nine during Sunday's 11-0, 5-inning mercy-rule win over Regis.  Surface was named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season and the tenth time in her career on Tuesday.
 
Her first career no-hitter came on Feb. 25, 2018 against Chadron State.
 
No place like home
 
The Mavericks have won 14 consecutive home games and are 18-1 at the CMU Softball Stadium this year.  They are hitting an incredible .421 as a team at home and have outscored their visitors, who are hitting just. 171, by a 189-25 count.  The Mavericks have tallied 13 mercy-rule wins at home this season and have hit 28 home runs and 78 extra-base hits.  Opponents have just 66 hits in total.
 
The Maverick pitching staff has allowed just 21 earned runs in 107 home innings, good for a 1.37 ERA, and has pitched a shutout in 10 of their 19 home games.
 
On an individual basis, the Mavericks have nine different players who have hit .400 or better at home and three who are hitting at a .500 or higher clip.  AnnMarie Torres leads the contingent and is hitting a whopping .588 at home, recording a 1.039 slugging and .682 on-base percentage.  She has 13 extra-base hits, including five home runs, at the CMU Softball Stadium and has driven in 33 runs in just 51 official at bats.  She's also been walked 15 times at home.
 
Kaila Jacobi has also hit nine of her team co-leading 12 home runs at home this season.
 
Inside the circle, Kimbri Herring has posted a 9-1 home record with a 0.86 ERA.  She has tossed six individual and another combined shutout in her 10 home appearances.
 
Closing in on a 12th
 
The Mavericks are closing in on what would be a conference record-extending 12^th RMAC title.  They have already won three straight and four of the last five.
 
With a 28-3 conference record this year, CMU currently leads second place Colorado Christian University by 4 ½ games and have three fewer losses that the Cougars, who have played three fewer RMAC games than the Mavericks due to weather.
 
The RMAC's Regular Season Championship and the right to host the May 2-4 RMAC Tournament is determined by winning percentage in conference games.  The Mavericks currently have a .903 winning percentage while CCU is 22-6 in the conference, good for a .786 winning percentage.  The Colorado School of Mines is third in the conference standings with a .724 winning percentage (21-8) after taking both games of Monday's doubleheader with the Cougars to split the 4-game set.  Dixie State University is fourth at 23-9 (.719) after going 3-1 at Chadron State last weekend.
 
The Mavericks still have two head-to-head games against Colorado Christian left on their schedule but could clinch the RMAC title this weekend before those encounters.  Assuming both teams play all four games this weekend, the Mavericks could clinch the crown as early as Saturday if they were to sweep UCCS and see Colorado Christian drop one game in their series at Black Hills State.  A combination of three Maverick wins and two Cougar losses would also seal the deal.
 
Regional Rankings
 
Despite having the region's best overall record at 35-6, the Mavericks were slotted sixth in the debut set of NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings that were released by the NCAA Division II Softball Committed on Wednesday.  Those rankings will be updated on each of the next two Wednesdays before the official NCAA Division II Tournament selections are announced on Monday, May 6 at 8 a.m. MDT on www.ncaa.com.
 
The Mavericks and Dixie State, which is ranked 10^th, are the only two RMAC teams in the top 10 as Lone Star Conference members hold down the top five and six of the top seven spots.  Texas A&M-Kingsville holds down the top position while Texas A&M-Commerce, West Texas A&M, Tarleton State and Cameron follow in the No. 2-5 positions.
 
Defending regional champion Angelo State is ranked seventh while St. Mary's (Texas) is ranked eighth as the first of two Heartland Conference representatives.  Rogers State, also a member of the Heartland Conference, is ranked eighth.
 
The regional rankings will eventually determine the seeding and at-large selections for the region's portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  The tournament champions from each of the three conferences will receive automatic berths.
 
Moving on up
 
McKenzie Surface recorded 17 more strikeouts in her two complete game victories last weekend and now has 556 career strikeouts, fourth most in RMAC history.  She surpassed Amber Colton, who had 547 during her 2002-05 career at UCCS for that position over the weekend and is now gunning for the No. 3 spot, held by Regis's Bianca Holley, who had 586 strikeouts in her 2008-11 career.  Surface needs just 30 more strikeouts to catch Holley and would need 75 more to tie Amanda Kelly for the all-time RMAC record of 631.
 
Earlier this year, Surface became the winningest pitcher in RMAC history.  She is 15-0 this season and now has 85 career victories to her credit.
 
Mercy, Mercy, Me
 
The Mavericks picked up a pair of 5-inning mercy-rule wins last weekend against Regis during their 4-0 Pod Series weekend.    The Mavericks defeated the Rangers 13-0 and 11-0 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, and have needed just five innings to win half (10) of their games in their current winning streak.  They have recorded 18 mercy-rule wins this season, 17 of which have come in just five innings. 
 
In 2018, the Mavericks posted 24 mercy-rule victories.
 
Scoring leaders
 
The Mavericks have taken over the NCAA Division II statistical lead in both runs scored and runs per game.  They have now scored 354 runs this year, an average of 8.63 per game.  That average is well higher than West Texas A&M, which has tallied 303 runs in 37 games to stand second with their 8.19 per game average.
 
Alabama-Hunstville is just one total run behind the Mavericks through Tuesday with 353 total runs.  The Chargers have played 45 games, four more than the Mavericks and rank fifth in average at 7.84.
 
As a team, the Mavericks also rank second in the country for slugging percentage at .617 and are third in both on-base percentage (.455) and batting average (.361).
 
Fourteen and counting
 
The Mavericks have recorded 14 shutouts this season, the most in the RMAC by five (Dixie State, 9). 
 
Kimbri Herring allowed just two hits in Saturday's 13-0 shutout over Regis and now has tossed a RMAC-leading eight individual shutouts this season, three more than any other RMAC pitcher (Cambrie Hazel, Dixie State, 5).  Herring is tied for eighth nationally with that total.
 
Herring now has 19 career shutouts, trailing only teammate McKenzie Surface (24) for the most in Maverick history.  Surface has two shutouts this season, including Sunday's aforementioned no-hitter against the Rangers.

On-Base
Maverick freshman Lauren Wedman was on base regularly throughout last weekend's games.  She went 7-for-8, good for an .875 on-base percentage and also drew three walks to finish the weekend with an impressive .909 on-base percentage.  Wedman is now hitting .375 and has an on-base percentage of .438 this season.  She has played in 32 games, making 18 starts, and has recorded 18 hits, including 15 singles, and 13 walks.
 
Balance of Power & grand slams
 
Ten different Mavericks have combined to hit a RMAC-leading 56 home runs so far this season, an average of 1.37 per game that ranks CMU fourth nationally.  The Mavericks hit five more home runs in the last weekend's pod series games against Regis and CSU-Pueblo.
 
Kaila Jacobi hit two home runs over the weekend while AnnMarie Torres blasted one.  They both have 12 this year and are tied for third in the RMAC, just one behind RMAC co-leaders Kayla Michel of Chadron State and Angelique Eleman of Fort Lewis.
 
Alexa Samuels is also in the RMAC's top ten with nine home runs this season.  She hit her first career grand-slam on Saturday against Regis and became the third different Maverick to hit a grand slam this year.  Jacobi has two grand slams this year, both of which came on Mar. 30 in both games of a doubleheader against Black Hills State.  Torres had a grand slam on Feb. 24 against Fort Lewis and was one of three Mavericks to hit a grand slam in 2018.
 
RBI leader
 
AnnMarie Torres is still a NCAA Division II statistical leader, but now in a different category.  The junior first baseman went 6-for-12 and drew two walks last weekend finishing the 4-game pod series with a .571 on-base percentage which moved her season long average to .629.  That dropped her just one point below the new national leader Christa Reisinger of Truman (Mo.), who currently has a .630 on-base percentage.
 
However, Torres also drove in six more runs over the weekend and now leads the country with 56.
 
She now has 182 career RBIs and moved past two more RMAC players and into seventh place on the RMAC's career RBIs chart.  She passed former Maverick Kacey Henden (181; 1997-00) and Colorado School of Mines' Katie Kocman (179; 2006-09) over the weekend and now sits third in Maverick history behind only RMAC record holder and former teammate Brooke Hodgson and Makayla Kovac.  Hodgson finished her Maverick career last season with 291 career RBIs while Kovac had 244 in her 2013-16 career.
 
RMAC leader
 
Torres also leads the RMAC in numerous categories and is a strong candidate for RMAC Offensive Player of the Year accolades which will be announced in two weeks.  She has a .504 batting average, 56 points higher than any other RMAC player, and leads teammate Alex Samuels by 23 points with her .920 slugging percentage.  Torres also leads the with 34 walks, nine more than any other player in the conference, which has significantly contributed to her .629 on-base percentage, which is an incredible 113 points higher than teammate Brooke Doumer, who is second with an impressive .516 on-base mark.
 
Torres is fifth in the country for walks, eighth for slugging percentage and 11^th for batting average.  She also stands fifth for RBIs per game (1.37).
 
Scoring runs is as easy as 1-2-3
 
The Mavericks' normal 1-2-3 hitters in the lineup are all at the top of RMAC for runs scored.  Kellie Mrofcza leads the conference with 54 runs after scoring four last weekend.  Meanwhile, Brooke Doumer is second with 50 while AnnMarie Torres is third with 47.  They each scored three last weekend.
 
Mrofcza continues to rank second in the country for runs scored per game (1.32) while Doumer is 11^th at 1.22.  Torres is 23^rd at 1.15.
 
Thanks to this combination, the Mavericks have done a tremendous job of getting out to early leads and have outscored their opponents by an impressive 59-15 margin in the first inning.
 
Safe at first
 
Torres and Mrofcza have both reached base safely in 26 consecutive games.  Mrofcza had a team-best 15-game hitting streak from Mar. 2-30 and has now established a new 7-game hitting streak.  Torres also had a 12-game hitting streak from Mar. 3-30 and is currently riding another 9-game streak.  She has recorded a hit in 21 of her last 22 games and drew two walks in the only game (Mar. 31 vs. Black Hills State).

CMU Lead-off hitter Brooke Doumer has a 6-game hitting streak entering the weekend and has reached bases safely in 14 consecutive games after turning in an even longer streak of 16 games earlier this year.
 
Staying put for Week No. 33
 
The Mavericks remained in the No. 12 spot of this week's NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, which was released on Wednesday (Apr. 17) and have now been nationally-ranked in 33 consecutive polls dating back more than two years to Mar. 22, 2017.  The Mavericks received 222points, 13 more than a week ago, in this week's polling of 16 NCAA Division II head coaches, with two representing each of the nation's eight regions.
 
The No. 12 ranking is equal to the highest of the season for the Mavericks, who also occupied that spot in the Mar. 6 poll after taking three of four games against then No. 22 Dixie State to surge five spots.  The Mavericks were also ranked 12^th a week ago.
 
The Mavericks are still the RMAC's only nationally-ranked team and are still the fourth highest ranked team in the South Central region behind three other teams in the top 10.  That group is led by No. 3 Texas A&M-Kingsville, No. 6 West Texas A&M and No. 8 Texas A&M-Commerce.  Texas A&M-Kingsville moved up two spots this week while West Texas A&M moved up one.
 
Another South Central Regional team in Tarleton State also moved up a spot to 22^nd.
 
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.
 
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.
 
This year's team is hitting .362 as a team to rank second in Division II.
 
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 28 errors in their first 41 games this year and are fielding at a .972 clip so far this season, the best mark in the RMAC, and the 14^th best mark nationally.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 in 2017 and 2018.
 
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.
 
The Mavericks will need to go 5-3 or better down the stretch to reach the 40 win total before the end of the regular season this year but have already clinched a spot in the RMAC Tournament.
 
Scouting the Mountain Lions
 
The UCCS Mountain Lions (22-21, 18-13 RMAC) will enter this weekend's series on a 5-game winning streak after they took the final game of their Apr. 6-7 home series against Colorado Christian before sweeping Black Hills State as the host but "away" team last weekend at Mountain Lion Field.  That 4-game series was originally scheduled for Spearfish, South Dakota but was moved to Colorado Springs as the Yellow Jackets' home field was unplayable after last week's blizzard.
 
The Mountain Lions recorded a 5-inning mercy rule win on each of the two days of the series and registered a 3-0 shutout in the final game of the series.
 
They stand sixth in the RMAC standings with a comfortable 6-game cushion over seventh-place Regis.
 
The Mountain Lions have a balanced offensive attack group and are hitting .297 as complete squad this year, the eighth best mark in the RMAC.  Melissa Martinek paces the squad in numerous categories and is hitting. 390 with 17 doubles, just one shy of the conference lead, and eight home runs.  She has also driven in a team-high 38 runs and has scored 45 of her own to lead the team.
 
Meanwhile, Rayle Glover is hitting .379 and has 20 extra-base hits including a team-leading nine home runs.  She also has driven in 32 runs.  Peyton Reisman is also hitting .379 and has 13 doubles.  Alex Cook and Taylor Reidhead both have 31 RBIs as well.
 
The Mountain Lions have tallied 39 home runs as a squad, the fourth most in the conference.
 
Their 3-player pitching staff is also balanced as both Barelyne Crensh and Reidhead have 4.29 ERAs and .500 records.  Reidhead is 9-9 and leads the team with 112 2/3 innings and has struck out 112 batters to stand second in the RMAC.  Crensh is 7-7 with a pair of saves but has just 36 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings of work.  Cami Duffey has a winning 6-5 record to go along with a 5.14 ERA in her 77 2/3 innings of work.  All three have made at least 22 appearances.
 
The staff posted a 0.88 ERA in the series against Black Hills State and has an overall ERA of 4.53 to rank sixth in the conference.
 
The Last Time We Met
 
Coming into the weekend, the Mavericks have won 18 consecutive games against UCCS.  They swept last year's 4-game series in Colorado Springs on Mar. 17-18 and outscored the Mountain Lions, 47-2.  After taking a 3-1 win in the series opener, the Mavericks posted three straight 5-inning mercy-rule victories.
 
The Mavericks hit nine home runs in that series with 2018 senior Zoe Pakes recording three of them.  Current Maverick senior pitchers Kimbri Herring and McKenzie Surface each pitched shutouts against the Mountain Lions last year.
 
UCCS' last win in the rivalry was back in 2013 when the Mountain Lions recorded a 4-1 win on May 3^rd of that year in the RMAC Tournament.  The teams had split a 4-game series in Grand Junction that year as well.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will close out the regular season in Lakewood where they will play Colorado Christian and New Mexico Highlands in a 3-team RMAC pod series on Friday, Apr. 26 and Saturday, Apr. 27.  The Mavericks will play both opponents twice, once on each day.