GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Riding a 9-game winning streak and coming off a fifth series sweep in six tries this season, the 19^th-ranked and 23-1 Colorado Mesa University Softball team returns home to begin a key 8-game home-stand starting this weekend against the UCCS Mountain Lions.
 
Doubleheaders against the 13-17 (12-14 RMAC) Mountain Lions will be played at noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
Tickets are available at www.cmumavericks.com/tickets and a live stream can be accessed through the RMAC Network.  Live statistics can also be found on the link above.
 
Saturday's doubleheader will be CMU's annual Swing for Life Pink Day.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks made their longest road trip of the season last weekend traveling to Spearfish, South Dakota, where they outscored host Black Hills State, 52-9 in a 4-game series sweep.  The Mavericks won the opening game of a Saturday tripleheader by an 8-3 score in an incredible 13-inning game before winning the remaining three games of the series in five innings via the mercy rule.  Those wins came by 20-0, 13-3 and 11-3 margins.
 
Throughout the weekend, the Mavericks out-hit the Yellow Jackets, 59-25 and had 20 extra base-hits, including 12 doubles, four triples and four home runs.  Lauren Wedman led the charge going 8-for-16 (.500) with five extra base hits while driving in 12 runs.  Ellie Smith also had a pair of home runs and two doubles.
 
Sixteen different Maverick hitters on the roster had at least one hit, including Ava Fugate, who registered her first career hit.  Brandi Haller also made her first start of the season and went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a triple throughout the weekend.
 
Smith also went 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA from within the circle as she allowed just six hits and three earned runs in 14 innings worth of work.  She also struck out 14 Yellow Jackets and held them to a .130 opposing batting average as she was named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Week.
 
Swinging for Life
 
The Mavericks will help raise funds for the Swing for Life Foundation on Saturday.  The foundation is run by CMU alum Kathy Howa, who diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.  Today, Howa is cancer free 19 years.  Her students and Kendra Tomsic helped start the foundation, where to the date, they have raised over a million dollars for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
 
Howa, who will throw out the first pitch on Sunday, has inducted into the Utah Softball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, and in 2019 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award for CMU.  She is now in her 28^th year as an educator and where she teaches health, and coaches softball.
 
Get out the brooms
 
The Mavericks recorded their fifth series sweep of the season last weekend and have won all six 4-game series that they have played this year.  The Mavericks also swept two of their three RMAC series in 2020 while finishing the pandemic shortened-season with a 10-2 mark to sit in 3-way tie for first place.
 
In 2019, when the Mavericks went 35-4 in conference play, the Mavs recorded sweeps over nine different RMAC teams, including five 4-game series sweeps and two other 4-0 pod-play weekends where they swept two different foes per weekend.
 
Mercy, Mercy Me
 
Impressively, the Mavericks have ended 14 games prematurely this season via the mercy rule.  CMU has recorded at least one mercy-rule victory over each of the six opponents they have faced this year, taking three mercy-rule wins last weekend in South Dakota.
 
Longest Game
 
The Mavericks' 13-inning affair against Black Hills State was the longest, at least in terms of innings, in available program history.  The game was tied at 2 through the regulation seven innings before both teams scored a run in the 12^th.  The Mavs then broke out for five runs in the top of the 13^th to post the victory.  Beginning in the tenth inning, the international tie-breaker rule was implemented as a runner was placed on second base to begin each half-inning.
 
Ellie Smith pitched six innings of hitless relief to earn the victory after Paige Adair had started the game while pitching for the first seven innings.
 
The 13-inning game, which lasted for three hours and six minutes, surpassed the known school-record of 12 innings.  The Mavs played two such 12-inning games in 2007 and another in 2016 when they won at CSU Pueblo by a 7-4 score on Mar. 20, 2016.
 
Scoring Leaders
 
With their 52 runs last weekend, the Mavericks have increased their national scoring lead.  CMU is averaging 10.42 runs per game, nearly two more than any other team is averaging.  RMAC rival Regis is second at 8.60. 
 
With 250 total runs scored, the Mavericks have a 13-run lead over Lubbock Christian in the national statistics.  The Lady Chaps have played 29 games, five more than the Mavericks, and sit fourth in the national statistics with their 8.17-run per game average.
 
In 2018, the Mavericks scored a RMAC record 508 runs in 53 games, to win that year's NCAA statistical title for scoring.
 
The reasons why
 
It is not hard to see why the Mavericks are faring so well, offensively.  The Mavericks rank second in the country in both batting average (.390) and slugging percentage (.649).  The Mavs also rank third in the country for on-base percentage (.458), home runs per game (1.46) and fourth for doubles per game (2.21).
 
Doubling up
 
Ellie Smith had two more doubles last weekend increasing her total to 17 on the season, which is the most in all of Division II.
 
With the season just past the mid-way point, her 17-double total is already tied for 11^th in CMU single-game history and puts her just two away from the top 10.  Brooke Hodgson holds the school record of 27, set back in 2018.
 
1-2 punch
 
Ellie Smith and Lauren Wedman co-lead the national statistics for RBIs per game with 2.04 per game averages.  Wedman has 49 in 24 games to co-lead the country with Shippensburg's Hannah Marsteller in total RBIs.  Smith has 47 in 23 games played to rank third in the country.
 
Impressive Wedman
 
Wedman also ranks second in the country for runs per game (1.75), slugging percentage (1.160) third for batting average (.573) and fourth for on-base percentage (.634).  She also has hit six triples to rank second in the country and ranks sixth for triples per game (0.24).
 
Her batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage marks are all on pace to set the CMU single-season records.
 
Three 3's away
 
Wedman's six triples this season are already tied for fourth most in CMU single-game history.  New assistant coach Kelly Reece (Adams) holds the Maverick record of nine, set in 2000.
 
Twenty and counting
 
Maverick third baseman Nicole Christensen has registered a hit in 20 consecutive games.  She sits seventh in the RMAC with her .444 batting average and is tied for fifth in RBIs with 31.
 
Christensen is far from the only Maverick on a tear.  Ellie Smith is on an 11-game hitting streak.  Wedman has reached base safely in 13 straight games while Sarah Staudle has done so in the last dozen games.
 
Top staff
 
With all of the offensive prowess that the Mavericks have shown, it would be easy to forget about the pitching staff.  However, the Mavericks have also the top pitching staff in the conference.
 
The Mavericks have a team ERA of 2.65, which paces the conference ahead of MSU Denver's 3.39.  The Mavericks have also combined for five shutouts, two more than MSU Denver and Regis and have held opponents to a .264 batting average, 15 points lower than Colorado Christian's No. 2 ranking average of .279.
 
Individually, Ellie Smith is tied for second in the RMAC with her 1.77 ERA while Paige Adair is right behind at 1.79.  Adair also stands second in the league with her .242 opponent batting average and is tied for the conference lead with ten wins.  Her four shutouts are also twice as many as any other RMAC pitcher.
 
Smith is 9-0 on the season and is third in the conference for wins.  Shea Mauser is 4-1 with a 5.16 ERA to rank amongst the RMAC's top 20.
 
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 23-1 record, the Mavericks lead this year's conference standings by a 2 ½ games over Colorado Christian, which is 18-3 in the conference and 19-6 overall after claiming a mid-week Wednesday doubleheader sweep over MSU Denver, which is third in the RMAC at 16-6. 
 
CMU swept MSU Denver to begin the season.
 
Colorado Christian comes to Grand Junction next weekend (Apr. 24-25) for what is looking like will a pivotal series to determine the RMAC regular season title.
 
National Poll
 
The Mavericks remained a season-high 19th in this week's NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released Wednesday (Apr. 14).  The Mavericks received 108 points in the polling of 16 coaches from around the country and are still only Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team in the poll.
 
Home Sweet Home but still quite strong anywhere
 
With an 12-0 home record this year, the Mavericks are now 105-16 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 .868 winning percentage.  They are nearly as strong when playing anywhere winning 83.3 percent of their games, going 220-44 since their current RMAC title winning streak began in 2016.
 
About the Mountain Lions
 
The Mountain Lions come into the weekend with a 13-17 overall record.  They are 12-14 in RMAC play and sit just outside the RMAC's top six with only six team's qualifying for next month's RMAC Tournament. 
 
The Mountain Lions have hit 30 home runs as a team this season, second most in the conference to CMU's 35.  They have a team batting average of .292 to stand eighth in the conference.  The pitching staff also ranks eighth in the conference with a 5.42 ERA.
 
A lot of the Mountain Lions' pop comes from Solana Martinez and Brianna Santos.  Martinez leads the team with her .420 batting average and has hit eight home runs.  However, she has driven in just 14 runs.  Santos is hitting .388 with twice as many RBIs (28) and is tied for the RMAC lead with nine home runs.  She also has seven doubles and a pair of triples while Martinez has hit eight doubles.
 
Payton Romines and Sawyer Brewster also have three home runs each.
 
Coach Ricki Rothbauer-Stubbs' pitching staff is made up of four hurlers who have all started at least six games.  Lexi Rayburn has the only winning record at 4-2 and is the team's leader in ERA at 4.57.  She has made six starts.  Braelyne Crenshaw has thrown a team-high 66 innings, making the start in 11 of her 15 appearances.  She is 3-5 with a 4.98 ERA and paces the team with 57 strikeouts.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have won 21 of the last 22 games between the teams dating back to 2014.  The Mavericks swept 4-game sets in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 before taking three of four games in the 2019 series played in Grand Junction.
 
The Mavericks are 75-34 against UCCS since 1994 and are 38-14 at home against them.
 
Up Next
 
After this weekend's series, the Mavericks will remain at home to host second place Colorado Christian in doubleheaders on Saturday, Apr. 24 and Sunday, April 25.  Those will be CMU's final home games of the regular season although a successful series against the Cougars would go a long way towards the Mavs' attempt of a RMAC regular season title and right to host the RMAC Tournament.