CHADRON, Neb.— The old adage of defense wins championships was proven on Saturday as the Colorado Mesa University softball team allowed just four combined hits in pair of shutout wins at Chadron State College, which allowed the Mavericks to clinch their fifth consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title.
 
The Mavericks also hit three home runs on the day in the 7-0 and 10-0 victories over the Eagles as they completed the 4-game series sweep while improving to 34-2 overall and in the conference.  They will wrap up the regular season next Friday and Saturday at Fort Lewis in Durango and then turn their attention to hosting the RMAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive time from May 13-15 at the CMU Softball Stadium. 
 
The Eagles, who had their hopes of qualifying for that 6-team tournament all but ended by the series sweep fell to 12-24 overall and to 12-20 in RMAC play.
 
The Mavs had hit six home runs in Friday's doubleheader winning 15-2 in the series opener before coming from 8-4 and 10-6 down to win 11-10 in eight innings.
 
Game 1
 
Ellie Smith, who hit a 2-run homer to put the icing on the cake, carried a no-hitter into and with two outs in the seventh inning as she dominated the Eagles, needing just 65 pitches to record her first individual shutout of the campaign.  She recorded five strikeouts and 12 ground outs as the Eagles had just one base runner reach third base throughout.
 
She set the Eagles down in order in each of the first three innings before hitting Bailey Marvel with a pitch to begin the fourth.  Two groundouts allowed Marvel to move to third before Smith struck out Angelica Maples.
 
The Eagles also drew a 2-out free pass in the fifth before a 2-out error in the bottom of the seventh allowed Ellie Owens an additional opportunity to break up the no-hitter, which she did with a single up the middle.  However, Smith got Micah Stouffer to line out to finish the shutout.
 
Meanwhile, the Maverick offense scored early taking control of the game from the gun.
 
Brooke Doumer started the game with a double and then moved to third a wild pitch as Lauren Wedman drew one of her single-game school-record four walks.  Two plays later, Doumer scored the first run as Nicole Christensen reached on an error.  Sarah Staudle then doubled the lead to 2-0 as she hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Wedman.
 
The Mavericks also put up two more runs in the second inning as redshirt freshman Camryn Mullen hit her first home run of the season to begin the inning before a 2-out walk to Doumer and another Eagle error set up Smith for an RBI single.
 
Staudle then added another RBI in the top of the fourth as she delivered a 2-out single to drive in Wedman, who had drawn a 4-pitch walk, just two plays later.
 
Later, Smith hit a 2-run homer, her RMAC-leading 16^th of the season, in the top of the seventh to complete the scoring before going out to try to complete her no-hit bid, which came just one out short.
 
The Mavericks finished the game with seven hits as Smith, Staudle and Ally Distler, who had a 3-home run game on Friday, all finished with two hits.  Smith also had thee RBIs while Wedman scored three runs.
 
Game 2
 
The Mavericks continued the domination as they posted their eighth shutout and 18th mercy-rule win of the season to complete the weekend sweep.
 
Staudle gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead in the first as she delivered a 2-run single before a double steal allowed Christensen to steal home putting the Mavs up 3-0 after just a half-inning.
 
The Mavericks then scored seven more runs in the third inning.  Staudle began the inning with a 1-out single as Distler walked.  Shortstop Ashley Bradford then delivered a 3-run home run with two outs to double the lead to 6-0.
 
The Mavs continued the rally with singles by Brandi Haller and Wedman around a drawn hit by pitch from Doumer.  Smith then delivered another RBI single to make score 8-0 before another hit by pitch set up Staudle and Distler for back-to-back bases-loaded walks.
 
Meanwhile, Paige Adair picked up her third win of the series and RMAC-leading 17^th of the season, as she spread three hits over three innings.
 
She then gave way to Shea Mauser, who tossed two innings of hitless relief to help the Mavs clinch the conference crown on a strikeout.
 
Offensively, the Mavericks finished the game with ten hits, from eight different players including pinch-hitters Bryerly Avina and Alexia Europa.  Wedman was 2-for-4 with two runs scored while Staudle was 2-for-3 with three RBIs to cap a strong 8-for-12, 5-RBI week.  Bradford also drove in three runs in the game.
 
The Mavericks have now won a dozen RMAC titles, winning in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 prior to this season.  They were also tied for the 2020 conference lead when last year's season was abruptly canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The Mavericks have also won each of the last 18 games against the Eagles since 2017.