GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Softball team was held to just three total runs and 11 in two games as the visiting Colorado School of Mines Orediggers snapped the Maverick's 8-game winning streak while knocking them out of first place in the early-season Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings.
 
The Orediggers won both games of the Saturday afternoon doubleheader at the CMU Softball Stadium taking the first game, 2-1 before taking the second, 5-2, to post their first away wins over the Mavericks since 2010.
 
Senior shortstop Clara Larson had the go-ahead and eventual game-winning RBI hits in both for the Orediggers, who improved to 9-10 overall and to 6-4 in the RMAC.  She went 4-for-6 with five RBIs throughout the twin-bill.
 
The Mavs slipped to 14-6 overall and to 8-2 in conference play, two wins behind 10-2 Colorado Christian, which split a doubleheader at Fort Lewis for the second straight day.
 
The Mavericks entered Saturday with a percentage points lead but could still re-gain a share of the conference lead on Sunday if they are able to sweep the 11 a.m. doubleheader and split the weekend series.
 
Game 1
 
Larson had both of Mines' RBI hits driving in lead-off hitter Renata Boyd in the top of the first to give her side the early 1-0 lead.
 
The Mavericks would come back in the bottom of the second as Maverick senior Hailey Hinson hit the first pitch of that inning over the fence in left field to tie the game at 1.
 
The teams would then both go scoreless through the fifth until the top of the sixth when Larson hit a lead-off homer of her own to put the Orediggers in front, 2-1.
 
The Mavericks then went down quietly in the sixth and seventh.
 
Sydney Marchando went the distance in the circle for Mines giving just five hits while striking out two.  She earned the win to improve to 5-3.
 
Paige Adair (3-2) suffered the loss for the Mavericks despite giving up just five hits in five-plus innings.  She also had five strikeouts.  Ellie Smith came in after Larson's home run and recorded four strikeouts in two innings to keep the game close.
 
Five different Mavericks had hits.
 
Game 2
 
The Mavericks would be the team to take the early lead of the second game as freshman Aislyn Sharp led off the bottom of the third with a double down the left-field line, the first extra-base hit of her career.  Moving to third on an Ashley Bradford sacrifice, one of three the Mavericks would successfully lay down in the game, Sharp then scored two plays later on a Brooke Doumer RBI single.
 
The lead would be short-lived as the Orediggers took advantage of the second of an uncharacteristic four Maverick errors to tie the game with an unearned run through 3 ½ innings.
 
However, the Mavericks would manufacture a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth as Bailey Kleespies hit a lead-off single before Drew Sims made her collegiate debut as a pinch-runner.  Sims would go station-to-station and eventually scored on a Kaley Barker sacrifice fly, good for the first RBI of her season and 2-season collegiate career.
 
However, the Mavericks would commit another costly error in the fifth as doubles by Boyd and Larson allowed the Orediggers to go up 3-2.  A successful squeeze play later in the inning then made it 4-2.
 
The Mavericks did put two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth with two outs but could not convert.  It was the same story in the sixth after Larson drove in yet another insurance run with a 2-run single in the top half of the inning to complete the scoring as Mines closed out the victory.
 
Left-handed pitcher Claire Stringfellow picked up the complete game victory giving up just six hits and two walks.  She is now 2-4 on the year.
 
CMU's Shea Mauser threw 4 1/3 innings in the start and fell to 7-2 after surrendering sixth hits and two earned runs.  Smith tossed the final 2 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run.
 
Doumer was 2-for-3 in the game and 3-for-5 on the day for the Mavericks while Lauren Wedman had a single in each game to extend her hitting streak to eight games and her reached safely streak to 14.  Doumer now has a 7-game hitting streak and has reached safely in 12 consecutive outings.