GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Facing elimination and needing to post three consecutive wins, the Colorado Mesa University softball did just that as the Mavericks put up 39 hits and 26 runs to claim their seventh conference tournament crown in program history on Saturday at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Mavericks, who won their third in the last four conference tournaments (2017, 2018), started the day with a walk-off, 8-0, 6-inning victory over Regis University and then avenged a 8-0 Friday loss to Colorado Christian University with 9-3 and 9-7 wins over the Cougars in Game 10 and the if-necessary championship game of the 6-team, double-elimination tournament.
 
In the championship game, the Mavericks built 6-0 and 9-1 leads before holding off a furious Cougar rally in the bottom of the seventh game to claim the victory, fueled by a 3-home run performance from redshirt freshman second baseman Aislyn Sharp, just the third Maverick in program history, and the second this season to accomplish the feat.
 
Sharp was named to the RMAC All-Tournament Team alongside Paige Adair, Ellie Smith, Lauren Wedman and tournament MVP Sarah Staudle.
 
Adair, who went 3-1 during the tournament, pitched a 2-hit shutout against Regis and then came back to allow just one hit in 5 1/3 innings of shutout softball in the final game before the Cougars hit three home runs against her and four in total during the final 1 2/3 innings to make the game interesting.
 
However, Sharp put the Mavericks up 1-0 in the second inning with a solo shot before hitting another solo bomb in the sixth to give the Mavericks a 5-0 lead.  She then hit a 2-run homer in the top of the seventh to give the Mavs a 9-1 lead, with what proved to be two very valuable insurance runs.
 
With the tournament championship, the Mavericks ensured a spot in next week's South Central Regional portion of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  CMU will be making its fifth consecutive and 13^th overall appearance beginning Wednesday in Commerce, Texas.
 
The now 36-3 Mavericks, who entered the RMAC Tournament ranked fifth in the regional rankings, will learn their final seeding and opposition for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening at 8 o'clock MST (10 p.m. Eastern) via a NCAA.com selection show live stream.
 
CMU 8, Regis 0 (Game 9)
 
Smith hit her RMAC-leading 18^th home run in the bottom of the first as the Mavericks jumped out to a 2-0 lead, which would end up being more than enough as Adair needed just 77 pitches in a masterpiece of a 2-hit shutout.
 
Meanwhile, Wedman hit a 2-run single in the second before Staudle added a RBI single in the fifth and a 2-run walk-off double in the bottom of the sixth as the Mavericks claimed their ninth shutout and 19^th mercy-rule win over the season to eliminate the Rangers, who saw their season come to an end with a 21-17 record.
 
The Mavericks finished the game with 11 hits as five different players posted two apiece. 
 
CMU 9, Colorado Christian 3 (Game 10)
 
Playing as visitors on the scoreboard, the Mavericks gave up a first-inning run but took the lead in the top of the second as Ashley Bradford hit an RBI triple before scoring the go-ahead run on a Drew Sims infield single.
 
The Cougars then took a 3-2 lead in the third before a 2-run single by Nicole Christensen in the top of the fourth put the Mavericks up for good, 4-3.  The Mavericks then put up three more runs in the sixth as Christensen scored on a wild pitch before a Staudle sacrifice fly and Ally Distler double.
 
In the seventh, pinch-hitter Ava Fugate hit her first career homer to complete the scoring.
 
Meanwhile, Shea Mauser pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout relief after Smith had been touched for five hits and three earned runs in the opening 2 1/3 innings.  The Mavericks banged out an impressive 16 hits in the game as Brooke Doumer went 3-for-4 while five other Mavericks tallied 2-hit games to force an if necessary contest.
 
CMU 9, Colorado Christian 7 (Game 11; If Necessary)
 
Playing as the visitors once again, the Mavericks, broke through first as Sharp hit the first of her record-tying bombs before a Smith single later in the in the inning plated two more runs for the Mavericks, who claimed an early 4-0 lead.
 
With Adair in complete control, the Mavericks then extended the lead to 5-0 on Sharp's sixth-inning lead-off homer before Fugate delivered a pinch-hit RBI double to plate Bradford, who had followed Sharp's homer with a double of her own. 
 
The Mavericks led 6-0 at that point before CCU's Stephanie Day hit a 2-out solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to break up's Adair's shutout.
 
Sharp then hit another homer an inning later to make the score 9-1 before Samaria Roope, Kenzie Middleton and Piper Lujan all homered in a 6-run Cougar seventh inning, which fell short when Smith, who came on in late relief of Adair, got two ground outs around what was her first surrendered homer of the year to Lujan.