GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After taking three of four on the road, the now No. 19 Colorado Mesa University Softball team has returned home to face New Mexico Highlands after a short turn-around.  The 4-game set with the Cowgirls will be played Friday and Saturday, a day earlier than the normal Saturday/Sunday cycle, and comes after last week's series at Regis in Denver was played Sunday and Monday.
 
The Mavericks will enter the series with New Mexico Highlands atop the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with a 15-1 overall and conference mark.  The Cowgirls are 5-15 overall and in the league after dropping 11 of their last 12, including three out of four last week at home to Chadron State.  Doubleheaders will begin at noon Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.
 
A limited number of tickets are available at www.cmumavericks.com/tickets and a live stream of all four games can be seen through the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can also be accessed here.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks took three wins out of four games at Regis sweeping Sunday's doubleheader by 10-8 and 6-0 scores.  The Mavericks then committed four errors in a 12-6 loss on Monday morning but rallied to post a 12-1, 5-inning mercy rule victory to split the doubleheader and claim the 3-1 series win.
 
Throughout the series, the Mavericks hit five home runs and out-scored the Rangers, 34-21.  Only 12 of the 21 runs allowed were earned.
 
Ellie Smith hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs for the Mavs and was named as the RMAC Player of the Week.  Earlier 2-time RMAC Player of the Week Lauren Wedman, also had a strong series going 5-for-9 (.556) at the plate.  She also drew five walks and recorded a .714 on-base percentage as she and Smith scored six runs apiece.  Nicole Christensen, who was 7-for-14 (.500) throughout the weekend, and freshman Ally Distler, who hit at a .400 clip (6-15) also hit homered and drove in four runs apiece.
 
Meanwhile, Paige Adair picked up a pair of wins from inside the circle.  She had a 1.02 ERA in 13 2/3 innings of work throughout the series allowing just two earned runs and 10 walks.  She also struck out 18 Rangers and tossed a 2-hit, career-high 12 strikeout shutout on Sunday.  The shutout was her RMAC leading fourth of the season.
 
Long streaks and streak-snappers
 
Monday's first-game loss ended a 16-game winning streak that had dated back more than a calendar year to Mar. 8, 2020.  The Mavericks had won their first 14 games of this season after winning their last two of 2020 in the pandemic-shortened campaign.  The long winning streak is nothing new for the Mavericks.
 
They won 22 straight games during the 2019 season after winning each of their first 37 games during the 2018 campaign.  The Mavs also won 24 straight games in 2017 and went on to take theRMAC regular season titles in each of those seasons.

Three of those four winnings streaks were snapped by Regis.
 
Top of the heap
 
The Mavericks lead the RMAC in numerous offensive statistical categories and are also near the top nationally in the same.  The Mavs have scored 9.62 runs per game to rank second nationally only behind Caldwell, which scored 22 runs in their only two games to date.
 
Regis, which was slightly ahead of the Mavericks in the RMAC scoring statistics prior to last week's series, is ranked fifth nationally and is the closest to the Mavericks amongst teams who have played 10 or more games.  They have scored 8.72 runs per game.
 
The Mavericks also rank second nationally in slugging percentage at .640, fourth in batting average (.383), fifth in home runs per game (1.56), sixth in on-base percentage (.455).
 
Top staff
 
The Mavericks also continue to lead the RMAC in pitching as well.  They have a team ERA of 2.67, nearly a full point below second place Colorado Christian, which has a 3.61 team ERA.
 
Individually, Paige Adair is tied for the RMAC lead in ERA at 1.57 and paces the conference with her eight wins (8-0) and four shutouts.  Ellie Smith ranks fourth in the RMAC with her 2.18 ERA.  She is 5-0.
 
Triple Crown Threat
 
Maverick redshirt sophomore Lauren Wedman leads the RMAC with her .563 batting average and is also amongst the RBI and home run leaders with a chance to win the RMAC's triple crown.  She is fourth in the RMAC with 26 RBIs, just three off the lead, and is tied for second in the conference with six home runs, just one shy of the conference lead.
 
Wedman also paces the conference with her 1.104 slugging percentage, .644 on-base percentage and 27 runs scored.
 
Extra-special Smith
 
Meanwhile, fellow redshirt sophomore Ellie Smith, a utility player for the Mavericks, has also put together a special season thus far.  The Riverside, California native was named as the RMAC Player of the Week on Tuesday and leads the conference with 15 extra-base hits and 29 RBIs.  She is tied for second in the league with six home runs and tied for second with nine doubles as well.
 
She is hitting .418 and has a .909 slugging percentage to stand third.
 
As mentioned earlier, Smith is also having a nice season from inside the circle, posting her 5-0 record and 2.18 ERA in seven appearances spanning 25 2/3 innings. 
 
Looking to match her number
 
Redshirt sophomore third baseman Nicole Christensen will enter the series with New Mexico Highlands with a 12-game hitting streak.  If she is able to get a hit in the first game, she will match her uniform number of 13.
 
Christensen is hitting .412 throughout the season has banged out five home runs while driving in 20 runs.  She had three home runs and 10 RBIs in the Mavericks' last home series against Adams State.
 
Speed at the top and bottom
 
The Mavericks also have some speedsters in both the top and bottom spots of their lineup.
 
No. 9 hitter Drew Sims has successfully swiped all 11 bases she has attempted to steal this year.  She is third in the RMAC for total stolen bases and is one of just two RMAC players to have ten or more steals without being caught.  Regis' Taylor Armitage (10-10) is the other.
 
Meanwhile, lead-off hitter Brooke Doumer is second on the team with stolen bases and has been caught just once.
 
As a team, the Mavericks have 35 stolen bases, the second most in the RMAC (Regis, 52) and have been caught just five times.  Christensen is 5-for-5 while Wedman is 4-for-4. 
 
Defending Champions
 
The Mavericks are the 4-time defending RMAC Regular Season Champions having won the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 titles.  They were also 10-2 and tied for the lead with Colorado Christian and MSU Denver in the 2020 RMAC standings when the remainder of last year's season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.­
 
The Mavericks, who went 16-6 overall in 2020, have won 11 RMAC Championships in their program history, including in five of the last six completed seasons.
 
With their 15-1 record, the Mavericks lead this year's conference standings by a half-game over Colorado Christian, which is 14-1.  The Cougars swept a Wednesday tripleheader at Black Hills State but did not play the fourth game of that series in Spearfish, South Dakota due to weather.  The two teams had planned to play doubleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
National Poll
 
The Mavericks moved up yet another spot to a season-high 19th in this week's NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released Wednesday (Mar. 31).  They had also been ranked 20^th after spending the previous two weeks at No. 22.
 
The Mavericks received 115 points in the polling of 16 coaches from around the country, 40 more points than on Mar. 17, and are still only Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team in the poll.
 
It should be noted that the poll shows the Mavericks with a 14-0 record.  Only games through Sunday were included in this week's poll.  Next week's poll will factor in the Mavs' series with New Mexico Highlands and this past Monday's split with Regis.
 
Polling Third

Despite the Mavs' recent success, they were picked third in what was the tightest RMAC Preseason Coaches' Polls in conference history.  MSU Denver was picked first in the poll with 113 points while Colorado Christian was tabbed second with 110 points.  The Mavericks, fired up by the poll received 108 total points but proceeded to sweep last weekend's series at MSU Denver.  All three teams split the 12 first place votes evenly, garnering four a piece after each finished 2020 with 10-2 RMAC records.
 
Poll procedures called for each of the league's 12 head coaches to rank their opposition 1-11 without voting for their own squad.  Eleven points were awarded for a first place vote with ten going for a second place vote and so on.
 
New Mexico Highlands was picked 11^th.
 
Home Sweet Home but still quite strong anywhere
 
With an 8-0 home record this year, the Mavericks are now 101-16 at home since the start of 2016, good for an .863 winning percentage. 
 
The Mavericks are an impressive 97-16 at home since the start of 2016, good for an .858 winning percentage.  They are nearly as strong when playing anywhere winning 82.8 percent of their games, going 212-44 since their current RMAC title winning streak began in 2016.
 
About the Cowgirls
 
The Rangers got out to a solid 4-4 start after splitting each of their first four doubleheaders.  However, they have won just one of their last 12 games, which were all played at home in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
 
That win came last Saturday over Chadron State, which came back to win two extra-inning games on Sunday.  With a 5-15 record, the Cowgirls stand 11^th in the RMAC standings.
 
They are hitting .276 as a team to rank ninth in the conference, but have four players hitting over .300.  Camrynn Ziegler leads the group at .377 and is tied for second in the RMAC with nine doubles.  She also has two home runs and 11 RBIs.  She has stolen six bases but has also been caught stealing five times.
 
Carlee Gonzalez is hitting .360 and has four of the team's ten total home runs.  She also paces Head Coach Kevin Jannusch's squad with 16 RBIs and has a team-best .760 slugging percentage.  She has also drawn 13 walks and has an on-base percentage of .529.
 
The Cowgirls' 4-player pitching staff has posed a combined 6.20 team ERA, which also ranks them ninth in the league.  Nathalie Blattmann has started 12 of the 20 games and has thrown 62 innings over 14 total appearances.  She has completed half of her starts and sports a team-best 5.98 ERA.  Opposing hitters are hitting .358 against her as she has allowed 97 hits and 25 walks while striking out 24.
 
Samantha Gamboa (0-3, 6.10 ERA) and Paige Varni (2-4, 6.24 ERA) have started the other eight games.  Varni has completed two of her five starts and has thrown 46 innings, giving up 90 hits and 19 walks.  Gamboa has made three starts and leads the team with an opponent batting average of .280 in 20 2/3 innings of work.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have dominated the series with the Cowgirls and hold a 77-23-1 record against them since 1994.  The Mavericks have won 16 straight games in the series since Mar. 14, 2015 and have conceded two or fewer runs in each of the last 12.
 
The teams did not face each other in the brief 2020 season.  They played twice in 2019 at a 3-team RMAC Pod in Lakewood.  He Mavericks also swept a 2018 series outscoring the Cowgirls 56-2 during the Mavericks' impressive 37-game winning streak.
 
NMHU's last visit to Grand Junction was in 2017.  They also came in 2015 when the Cowgirls claimed their only win in the series since 2012 although the Mavericks still won that year's series, 3-1.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will head out on the road for what will be their longest road-trip of the season, at least from a mileage standpoint.  They will play at Black Hills State in Spearfish, South Dakota on Apr. 10-11.  The Yellowjackets are currently last in the RMAC standings with a 2-17 record.