SPEARFISH, S.D.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team outlasted host Black Hills State University to post an 8-3, 13-inning victory in the first game of a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tripleheader before crushing the Yellow Jackets by 20-0 and 13-3 scores in five innings in the second and third games to improve their conference-leading record to 22-1.
 
The two teams were scheduled for a Saturday doubleheader at Yellow Jacket Field but decided before the games to play three with poor weather forecasts looming for Sunday.
 
Weather permitting, the teams will complete the 4-game series with an 11 a.m. single game.
 
The Mavericks outscored the now 3-23 Yellow Jackets, 41-6 throughout the tripleheader banging out 45 hits, including 14 for extra bases.  The Mavs, who scored 38 straight runs during the day, had nine doubles, three triples and two home runs, both of which were hit by Ellie Smith, who also picked up two wins while allowing just two hits and a single unearned run in nine innings of work from inside the circle.
 
Sarah Staudle had seven hits by her self while Ashley Bradford went 6-for-11 with eight RBIs at the plate.  Lauren Wedman also had eight RBIs throughout the tripleheader, including seven in the 20-0 middle game.  She also had her fifth and sixth triples of the season, all of which have come in the last eight games.
 
Despite the brief second and third games, the teams played for a combined six hours and 28 minutes plus the turn-around times.
 
Game 1
 
The first game lasted three hours and six minutes alone as the Mavericks plated five runs in the 13^th inning to pull out the win in what was CMU's longest known game in terms of innings.
 
Smith, who later had the go-ahead RBI, pitched six innings of hitless relief while striking out six to earn the win, her seventh, after Paige Adair gave up just two runs while registering eight strikeouts in regulation.
 
Crystal Amaral went the distance for BHSU, striking out seven while giving up 12 hits in her marathon 13-inning outing, but fell to 2-11.

Wedman went 3-for-6 to lead the Maverick attack while Nicole Christensen, Staudle and Bradford all had two-hit games.  Bradford also drove in three runs including two in the top of the 13^th after Aislyn Sharp delivered a key 2-run double earlier in the frame.
 
Bell Luebken was 3-for-5 in the lead-off spot for BHSU.
 
She led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run, which was the only run of the first four innings.
 
The Mavericks left five runners on base in the opening three innings and 12 overall but finally broke through in the top of the fifth as Drew Sims beat out a infield bunt single before stealing second and advancing to third on a Brooke Doumer fly-out.  Sims then scored on a Wedman ground out before Smith hit a go-ahead home run, to put CMU ahead 2-1 just one play later.
 
However, the Yellow Jackets answered in the bottom of the sixth as catcher Baileigh Hubbard hit a game-tying 2-out home run.
 
After Wedman was stranded after hitting a 2-out double in the top of the seventh, the Yellow Jackets nearly won the game in regulation as pinch-hitter Halie Litwin and Luebken both hit singles to begin the frame.  After loading the bases on a fielder's choice, the Yellow Jackets then watched Adair fan three straight hitters to get out of the jam and send the game to extra innings.
 
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the eighth as Smith struck out the first three BHSU hitters she faced.  The Mavs also could not get a base runner in the ninth although a 1-out walk to Luebken was wasted in the bottom half of the ninth.
 
With the international tie-break rule implemented for the tenth, the Mavericks had their first chance.  Bradford was placed on second base to begin the inning but was retired on a double play.  Wedman then tripled but was stranded after Smith popped out.
 
However, the Mavericks also got out of the tenth inning with a double play of their own.
 
Neither team could score in the 11^th inning either.
 
In the top of the 12^th, Sharp was placed on second base to begin the inning before moving to third on a Staudle groundout and scoring on a Bradford single.  However, the Yellow Jackets plated Luebken in similar fashion in the bottom half of the inning as the game went to the 13^th.
 
In what was the final frame, Doumer was placed on second before moving to third on a Wedman groundout.  Doumer then score on a RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Smith to put the Mavericks ahead, 4-3.
 
The Mavericks then began to dominate plating four more runs later in the inning.  Christensen began the stretch with a single before an error allowed the Mavericks to load the bases.  Sharp then hit her 2-run double to right center as the Mavericks extended the lead to 6-3.  After a ground out, Bradford then hit a 2-run single up the middle to complete the scoring as Smith retired three straight hitters in the bottom of the 13^th after Lizzy Johnson was inserted as a pinch-runner at second base to begin the frame.
 
Game 2
 
The Mavericks continued the momentum of coming out on top of the first-game thriller, scoring a season-high 20 runs on a season-high 19 hits as Smith and Shea Mauser gave up just three hits in a combined shutout.
 
The Mavs have now scored 20 or more runs in seven games this century, last doing so three times in 2018 during a 37-0 start to that season.
 
Wedman was 3-for-4 with a walk and four runs scored while driving in seven RBIs, tied for the second most in CMU single-game history.  All nine Mav starters had at least one hit as they scored in each of the five innings.
 
The Mavs had just four extra-base hits but took advantage of 15 singles, six walks and a pair of hit batsman to put pressure on the Yellow Jacket defense throughout.  They also stole four bases.
 
Wedman and Ally Distler and RBI singles in the top of the first before a Wedman run-scoring fielder's choice gave the Mavs a 3-0 lead through two innings.
 
The Mavs then broke out for seven runs in the third as Staudle, Doumer, Wedman and Smith all delivered RBI hits while Dims had drawn a bases-loaded walk.
 
The Mavericks also scored four runs on five hits in the fourth as a Wedman 2-run triple followed by a Smith RBI double made the score, 4-0.
 
Staudle was then on base twice during another 6-run, 5-hit sixth inning as Christensen delivered the biggest blow of that inning with a 2-run double that completed the scoring.
 
Smith threw the first three innings giving up just two hits before Shea Mauser came in with a 10-0 lead to close out the Yellow Jackets for the final two innings, when she allowed just one hit.
 
Luebken did go 2-for-3 with a hit off each Maverick pitcher.
 
Game 3
 
The third game was more of the same for the Mavericks, who registered their 13^th mercy-rule win of the season in the 13-3 triumph.
 
CMU scored seven runs and batted around in the first inning and plated five more runs in the second to put the game out of reach early.
 
The Mavericks also added a single run on a Brandi Haller sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.
 
Six different Mavericks starters had 2-hit games as the Mavs were able to give some bench players some playing time as well.  Smith hit a home run in the 5-run second inning after Staudle, Bradford and Doumer all had 2-run hits in the first.  Staudle and Bradford both finished the game with three RBIs.
 
Meanwhile, Mauser went the distance for the Mavericks to improve to 4-1 after giving up just two hits in the first four innings before the Yellow Jackets managed to score three runs on four hits in the bottom of the fifth in a last-gasp effort to keep the game from being ended early.  Mauser also had six strikeouts.