GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Filling out the lineup card.
It's the pre-game tradition for softball coaches, who must weigh the balance between speed and power, offense against defense, the hot bats and who is slumping. Who could use a day off? Who is due for that big clutch hit? Right/Lefty matchups.
Finding that right mix while keeping some options open for late-game strategic substitutions can certainly be a challenge.
With good teams, the process can sometimes be even more difficult as the multitude of options and variables can make for a mind-boggling Rubik's Cube type challenge.
This week, we take that challenge head-on as we name the Colorado Mesa University All-Decade Team, continuing the series of recognizing the top Maverick student-athletes of the decade from 2010-19, using the positional methodology of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region/America team awards program.
The decade was certainly a strong one for the Maverick softball program, especially in the latter half.
Under the direction of four different head coaches in the era, the Mavs posted a combined 341-167-1 record in the decade, good for a .671 winning percentage. They posted nine winning seasons without a single sub-.500 campaign and won five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles (2014, 2016-19).
They capped the decade with four consecutive conference regular season championships from 2016-19, when they were regularly and consistently ranked amongst the nation's top programs. In that 4-year stretch, the Mavericks were an incredible 138-14 (.908) in RMAC contests and had 40-plus win campaigns in all four.
They also claimed two RMAC Tournament titles and made six NCAA Division II Tournament appearances throughout the decade as Maverick players combined to earn 11 Daktronics/D2CCA and eight NFCA All-America honors, amongst the long list of plaudits, which include the claim of the RMAC Player of the Year honor in six consecutive seasons from 2014-19.
Yeah, head-spinning success and line-up selection challenges, but here we go.
Pitchers
McKenzie Surface (2016-19)- Every good team needs a good pitching staff and this one certainly does, led by
McKenzie Surface, who finished her 4-year career as a Maverick with 90 career victories. The Colorado Springs native became CMU's winningest pitcher of all-time during her junior season before breaking the RMAC record for career wins as a senior. She posted a 2.25 ERA as a work-horse, that saw her throw a program-record 653 1/3 innings, while holding opposing hitters to a .241 batting average.
She also holds the CMU records for shutouts (25), strikeouts (592), appearances (125) and starts (101). Her strikeout total is the third highest in RMAC history.
She was a 2-time first team all-region selection and was the Co-RMAC Pitcher of the Year in 2017, when she earned honorable mention all-America honors and RMAC Tournament MVP honors as a sophomore. She was also a 4-time overall and 3-time First Team All-RMAC selection from inside the circle.
If that were not enough, Surface was also named as the RMAC Academic Player of the Year three consecutive times (2017-19) and was one just two 2-time CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in program history.
Kimbri Herring (2017-19) – When Surface went down with an injury late in the record-setting 2018 season, when CMU won 48 games, Herring stepped up to fill the role of the No. 1 pitcher, without trouble.
The Stansbury Park, Utah native, who played her freshman year at Snow College before joining the Maverick program as a sophomore, was named as the 2018 RMAC Tournament MVP just weeks after taking over the leadership of the program's pitching staff, carrying that leadership into her senior year, when she was named as the 2019 RMAC Pitcher of the Year.
Posting 58 wins with just eight losses in 84 career appearances and 69 starts, Herring completed 37 games and tossed 19 shutouts while recording a stellar 2.33 career ERA. She also struck out 378 opponents, standing second only to Surface in program history, in 376 1/3 innings and holds the Maverick record for strikeouts per seven innings (7.03). Herring also held opposing hitters to a .216 opposing batting average, by far the best mark of the decade.
She was also a 2-time all-region performer and earned three total All-RMAC certificates, including a first team honor as a senior.
Utility/Pitcher- Jessica Severinsen (2013-14)- In two years as a Maverick after transferring from Division I Northern Iowa, where she and her teammates won a Missouri Valley Conference title, Severinsen was solid in the circle and the plate. Earning Third Team Daktronics All-America honors in the Utility/Pitcher category in 2014, Severinsen was named as the RMAC Co-Pitcher of the Year that season. She was an all-region pick in both seasons and picked up First Team All-RMAC accolades in both 2013, as a designated player, and 2014, as a pitcher.
In 89 games in the offensive lineup, she hit .407, the seventh best mark in program history, with 64 runs, 26 doubles, 31 home runs and 103 RBIs. She also holds the school-record for both slugging percentage (.876) and on-base percentage (.520).
Her 2014 marks of .960 (slugging) and .539 (on-base) are also the third best single-season standards and came in a year, in which she posted a 13-12 record and 3.24 ERA in the circle. She was even better in 2013, when she went 19-6 with a 2.29 ERA and four shutouts and finished her career with a 2.75 ERA, the seventh best average in Maverick history.
Severinsen was also the first CMU softball player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, doing so as a second team selection in 2014.
Catcher
Zoe Pakes (2015-18)- Ever good pitching staff needs a good battery-mate and that's certainly the case for this all-decade team, which includes Pakes. The Lake Havasu, Arizona native was a 4-year starter behind the plate, and earns her spot on this time with both impressive hitting and defensive numbers. A 4-time overall All-RMAC selection, who earned first team honors as a sophomore in 2016 along with a pair of second team honors, Pakes hit an impressive .352 in career 202 games, the fifth most in program history, which is an impressive statistic alone, especially for a catcher.
It was not just that.
Pakes, who picked up Second Team NFCA All-Region honors in 2016, recorded 191 hits (9
th in program history), including 52 doubles (5
th) and 37 home runs (7
th). She also drove in 171 runs, fifth most in program history. Defensively, Pakes threw out 12 would-be base stealers as a freshman in 2015 and 35 throughout her career, both of which are school-record numbers.
First Base
AnnMarie Torres (2017-20)- A no-brainer selection on to this lineup card, Torres was a 3-time all-American who was on track on a fourth honor before her career and senior season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Westminster, Colorado native is CMU's only D2CCA Region Player of the Year (2019) and earned RMAC Player of the Year and consensus first team all-America honors that season, when she led the conference in batting average (.458), on-base percentage (.587), RBIs (68) and walks (45). Also named as a third team NFCA All-American in 2017 and 2018, Torres hit at a sizzling .412 clip throughout her career, which saw her record 219 hits, fifth most in program history, including 103 for extra bases. Feared by opposing pitchers, who walked her a school-record 115 times, she also hit 42 home runs (T-4
th) and drove in 221 runs (3
rd) during her impressive career.
Second Base
Alexandria Dufour (2016-19)- The product of Firestone, Colorado, Dufour earned three All-RMAC certificates, picking up first team honors in 2017 and second team plaudits in 2016 and 2018. She was also a second team all-region pick by both the NFCA and D2CCA in 2016, when, as a freshman, she hit .426.
A 4-year starter, who won an RMAC title in each of her four years with the program, Dufour hit .370 throughout her career, banging out 243 hits while scoring 191 runs, the third highest totals in program history. She also used her speed to steal 60 bases, seventh most in program-history, on just 65 attempts, and recorded 15 triples, tied for second most in program-history and just one shy of the school record.
Shortstop
Makayla Kovac (2013-16)- Named as First Team All-American by both the NFCA and D2CCA as a senior, the Erie, Colorado native had some incredible pop in her bat and is the CMU and RMAC record holder for career home runs (62), the tenth highest total in Division II history. She was a 3-time RMAC Player of the Year and all-region selection (2014-16) and earned First Team All-RMAC honors in all four years of her career. Kovac also earned Second Team NFCA All-America plaudits in 2014, when she set a single-season school-record for slugging percentage (1.000), while hitting .497.
Kovac hit .432 throughout her career, the fourth best career average in program history and ranks second in RMAC and CMU history behind only fellow all-decade team pick
Brooke Hodgson for career doubles (70), RBIs (246) and total bases (558). She also stands fifth in conference history for career hits with 276. Kovac also had some strong defensive skills as the CMU record holder for assists (417) and some good speed, which allowed her to steal 19 bases while being caught just once.
Third Base
Kaila Jacobi (2016-19)- The Scottdale, Arizona product was a 4-year starter and a versatile coach's dream, who was a part of RMAC title-winning teams in each of her years as a Maverick. Earning All-RMAC certificates in each season as well, the "Absolute Unit" as she was nicknamed, cranked out 36 home runs while driving in 162 runs and hitting .352 throughout her career. Spending most of her time at the "hot corner" during the first three years of her career, Jacobi would periodically serve as the catcher, a role she moved into on a slightly full-time basis as a senior in 2019.
She capped her career as an Honorable Mention D2CCCA All-American and First Team All-Region Utility player in 2019 after earning a pair of Second Team All-RMAC honors at third base in 2017 and 2018 before picking up First Team plaudits as a utility player in 2019, when she hit 16 home runs, equal to the ninth highest single-season total in Maverick history.
Her career total of 36 is the eighth best in Maverick history, and she finished her career tied for sixth in doubles (44) and tied for seventh in RBIs (162).
Outfielders
Brooke Hodgson (2015-18) – Our outfield selections begin with this Rio Rancho, New Mexico native who posted some incredible numbers throughout her career, especially as a senior in 2018, when the Mavericks rattled off 37 straight wins to begin the season, earning a No. 1 national ranking country for much of the season.
An incredible run producer, she hit .508 and tallied a RMAC record 105 RBIs that season, the second highest single-season total in Division II history, and finished her career with 291, also the second highest total in the Division.
Hodgson also set the RMAC record for career runs (235), doubles (71) and total bases (578) amongst other god-like statistical plaudits, which allowed for her to win NFCA and D2CCCA First Team All-America honors in both 2017 and 2018 after picking up second team utility/pitcher honors as a freshman in 2015, when she won 21 games from inside the circle.
Hodgson was a 3-time First Team NFCA All-Region selection and was named as the Co-RMAC Defensive Player of the Year before picking up RMAC Player of the Year plaudits in 2017 (shared) and 2018 (outright).
Now the top assistant coach at Division I Northern Colorado, Hodgson is also CMU's only First Team Softball CoSIDA Academic All-American (2018).
Maggie Manwarren (2017-18)- Playing alongside Hodgson for two years after transferring from the College of Southern Nevada in her hometown of Henderson, Manwarren was a key-cog in the Maverick scoring machine as the team's lead-off hitter and base-running blazer, while leading the outfield from her center field position.
A slap hitter, she posted school-record setting .449 batting average in her time as a Maverick, which is the sixth highest career mark in RMAC history. Hitting .485 as a senior, when she scored a RMAC-record 83 runs as the table setter for the most prolific offense in all of collegiate softball (508 runs, a RMAC record), Manwarren earned Third Team D2CCCA All-America honors.
She also tied the school-record for single-season stolen bases (48) in 2018 and tallied 84 in her 2-year career, the sixth highest career total in RMAC history and the second best total in CMU lore.
Manwarren was also a 2-time all-region pick and was tabbed as the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2018.
Gabriella Parra (2009-11)- The Albuquerque, New Mexico product, who started her career close to home at Division I New Mexico, put up some impressive numbers in her three years as Maverick, highlighted by a pair of Daktronics All-Region honors and a 2011 NFCA Second Team All-Region selection. She was also an All-RMAC selection in all three seasons at CMU, picking up first team accolades in both 2010 and 2011.
Statistically, she hit played and started 142 games as a Maverick regular, registering 189 career hits, the 11th most in the history of the program. She also scored 120 runs and drove in 143, ninth most in Maverick history. Those figures were aided by 38 career doubles, tenth most in program history, and 25 home runs. As a senior, Parra hit an impressive .401 with 54 RBIs.
She also helped lead the Mavs to a South Central Regional crown as a sophomore in 2009 and to another NCAA tournament appearance as a junior in 2010.
Designated Player
Courtney Maihi (2012)- Although she played for the Mavericks for just one season after transferring from Northern Colorado and sitting out of the 2011 season due to transfer regulations, Maihi made a big impact on the Maverick program as the first-ever Daktronics All-American and CMU's first NFCA All-American since 2012, earning both of those honors at the designated player position.
The Hamilton, New Zealand native hit .444 with 15 home runs and 68 RBIs that season, equal to the third highest RBI total in program-history. Offensively, the Kiwi also drew 26 walks and successfully stole all 12 bases that she attempted. She also was CMU's top pitcher in 2012, posting 13 wins and 18 complete games.
Utility
Kellie Mrofcza (2016-19)- The Colorado Springs native, who like Dufour, who was a member of four RMAC Championships teams, was a 3-time overall and 2-time First Team All-RMAC selection, who served as a true utility player for two years before moving into the shortstop position for her junior and senior seasons.
She was an Honorable Mention Daktronics All-American and Second Team NFCA All-Region selection as a utility player in 2017 and earned First Team All-RMAC and second team all-region honors as a shortstop as a senior in 2019, when she hit a career-best .386.
Hitting above .300 in all four years as a Maverick, she was a consistent career .359 hitter, who made 200 starts and played in 204 games, third most in program history. She scored 183 career runs, fourth most in CMU lore, and drove in 163 runs, the sixth highest total. She also had 202 career hits, eighth most in program history, and drew 91 walks, third most in program history.
Honorable Mention
Baylee Boren (2016-17),
Lauren Cross (2009-12),
Brooke Doumer (2019-Present),
Sara Jordan (2009-11),
Sarah Phillis (2014-17),
Danielle Vallie (2009-12)
Previous All-Decade Team Releases
Men's Lacrosse - Dec. 10
Women's Lacrosse - Dec. 3
Track & Field - Nov. 25
Men's Basketball - Nov. 19
Women's Basketball - Nov. 12
Men's Wrestling - Nov. 5
Women's Swimming & Diving - Oct. 29
Men's Swimming & Diving - Oct. 29
Women's Soccer - Oct. 22
Men's Soccer - Oct. 15
Football – Oct. 8
Men's and Women's Tennis – Oct. 1
Volleyball – Sept. 24
Men's and Women's Cross Country – Sept. 17
Men's and Women's Golf – Sept. 10
