GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Coming off a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season and title sweep, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick Softball team will make their fifth straight and 13
th overall NCAA Division II Tournament appearance, beginning Wednesday when they open up the South Central Regional portion of the tournament against the host Texas A&M-Commerce Lions in Commerce, Texas.
First pitch in the 4-day, 6-team double-elimination tournament is slated for Noon CDT (11 a.m. Mountain) when the fourth-seeded Mavericks, who sport the nation's best record in terms of winning percentage at 38-3 (.927), face the fifth-seeded hosts (28-16) at the John Cain Family Softball Complex.
A complete bracket
can be seen here.
Tickets are on sale now and a free live stream for fans who can not make the trip can be accessed at the links above. Live statistics for all of the tournament games can be found above as well.
What's at Stake
The winner of the regional tournament, which runs through Saturday, will advance to the NCAA Division II National Championships, which will be held May 27-31 in Denver. MSU Denver will host the national championships, which will include each of the eight regional winners, at the Regency Athletic Complex.
The Mavericks are 15-24 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and have won two previous regional titles in 2000 and 2009. In 2000, the Mavericks qualified for their only other previous NCAA Division II championship after winning the South Central Regional title. In 2009, the Mavericks won the Central 2 Regional before falling in both games of the Central Super Regional. Due to a reduction in bracket size relating to the COVID pandemic, this year's NCAA Division II Tournament does not have a super regional round and only six teams from each region were selected.
The rest of the Field
The South Central Regional is arguably the toughest in the country as four of the top 15 and five of the top 20 teams, according to last week's NFCA Division II Coaches' Poll, will participate.
The Mavericks, ranked 15
th in that national poll, are the only Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference program in the field and will compete against five Lone Star Conference foes for the right to go to Denver.
Fourth-ranked Oklahoma Christian (37-7) is the top seed in the regional and would be the team the Mavericks would face if CMU can win the opening game against No. 10 Texas A&M-Commerce. No. 12 West Texas A&M won the LSC Tournament title and is the No. 2 seed with a 33-10 overall record and will take on the winner of Game 2 in the second round. No. 20 Angelo State (33-12) is the third seed and will play No. 6 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville (23-12), which is receiving votes in the NFCA poll, in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks won three games on Saturday to claim their seventh RMAC Tournament championship and the conference's automatic qualifying spot into the NCAA Tournament. The Mavericks were put in the must-win-three position after falling 8-0 to Colorado Christian on Friday but rallied to claim an 8-0 walk-off, mercy-rule win over Regis in a 6-inning elimination game on Saturday before avenging Friday's set back to the Cougars with 9-3 and 9-7 victories in the championship and if-necessary game.
The Mavericks also claimed a 2-1 win over the Colorado School of Mines on Thursday and went 4-1 throughout the double-elimination tournament.
Maverick senior first baseman
Sarah Staudle was named as the tournament MVP after going 10-for-18 (.556) at the plate., while hitting two doubles. She was joined on the RMAC All-Tournament by Maverick teammates
Paige Adair,
Aislyn Sharp,
Ellie Smith and
Lauren Wedman.
Nation's Top Team
By winning percentage, the Mavericks are the top team in Division II this year. The Mavericks also lead the country in scoring. The Mavs' 38-3 record, good for a winning percentage of .927, 22 points higher than Rollins (19-2).
The Mavericks' 38 wins are tied for fifth most in Division II. The Mavs have played fewer games (41) than any of the other teams ranked in the top 15 for wins this season.
In terms of scoring, the Mavs continue to pace the country have now tallied 381 runs in their 41 games, good for a 9.29 per game average. Winston-Salem is second in scoring average at 8.57 runs per game but played just seven times this spring.
Top-ranked (NFCA poll) Augustana is second in the country for total runs with 344. The Vikings have played 50 games and are 15
th in scoring average at 6.88.
To the victors, go the spoils
After going 34-2 in the regular season to win their fifth consecutive RMAC Regular Season Championships, the Mavericks were very well represented in the conference's major awards.
Ellie Smith was named as the RMAC Player of the Year while
Paige Adair was named as the Pitcher of the Year. Maverick interim head coach
Mercedes Bohte (Lovato) was named as the RMAC Coach of the Year.
The Mavericks also had seven athletes selected to the all-conference teams including four first team picks in Smith, at the utility/pitcher position, Adair and outfielders
Brooke Doumer and
Lauren Wedman.
Sarah Staudle and freshman catcher
Ally Distler were second team picks while
Nicole Christensen was an honorable mention selection at third base.
Staudle and Adair were also named to the RMAC Golden Glove team as both have been errorless at their respective positions this season.
Regional Awards
The Mavericks four First Team All-RMAC selections were also named to the NFCA Division II All-South Central Regional teams, which was also announced last Wednesday. Smith and Wedman were first team honorees while Adair and Doumer both picked up second team accolades. Doumer was also a second team selection as a junior in 2019. No all-conference or all-region teams were selected in 2020.
Doubles Drought, but still the leader
Despite going the last seven games without one,
Ellie Smith continues to lead the country with 21 doubles. That total also puts her in a tie for fourth on CMU's single-season charts.
Brooke Hodgson holds the Maverick record of 27, set in her 2018 RMAC Player of the Year and First Team All-America year. Makayla Kovac (2016) and Charity Richards (1997) hit 23.
A Sharp bat
Aislyn Sharp became just the third Maverick in program history to hit three home runs in a single game as she accomplished the feat in the RMAC Tournament title game.
Brooke Doumer had done the same on Apr. 18 of this season against UCCS. Current Maverick assistant coach Kelly Reese (Adams) is the only other Maverick to have done so.
Sharp's three home runs more than doubled her season total to five.
Joining the Club
Maverick freshman
Ava Fugate became the 11
th different CMU player to hit a home run this season when she did so in Game 10 of the RMAC Tournament against Colorado Christian.
The Mavericks lead the conference with 62 home runs, which is the fourth highest total in Division II this season.
1 & 2
The Mavericks No. 1 & 2 hitters in the lineup continue to stand first and second in the country for runs scoring.
Brooke Doumer, CMU's lead-off hitter in 30 games and center fielder in all 41, scored four more runs in the RMAC Tournament raising her season total to 65, good for a 1.56 per game average. Meanwhile,
Lauren Wedman, who has been in the lead-off spot in 11 games this season, including all three games on Saturday, crossed the plate three times during the RMAC Tournament. She now has 62 runs scored, equal to the second highest total in Division II. She also ranks second by herself in per game average at 1.51. West Texas A&M's Shanna McBroom, a potential regional tournament opponent this week, has also scored 62 runs, but in four more games played that the Maverick duo.
Doumer's total now ranks her eighth in CMU single-season history while Wedman is now tied for 11
th.
Both could realistically reach as high as fifth this week. Maggie Manwarren holds the Maverick single-season record of 83, set in 2018. Brooke Hodgson also scored 79 runs that year.
1 & 2, Part Two…
The Mavericks also have the No. 1 and 2 ranked players in the entire country in the RBIs category.
Ellie Smith leads the country with 76 RBIs while
Lauren Wedman is tied for second with 66. Smith drove in a team-high six runs during the RMAC Tournament and now ranks second in program history with that total. The record if 105, set by Brooke Hodgson in 2018.
Wedman's total puts her ninth in program history and just one shy of a 2-way tie for seventh. She is also just two RBIs short of a 3-way tie for third.
On Pace
Wedman went 11-for-20 (.550) at the plate during the RMAC Tournament and in the process raised her season-long batting average to .537, which puts her well on pace to break CMU's single-season record of .508, set by Brooke Hodgson in 2018.
Wedman also has an on-base percentage of .593, which is ahead of the CMU record of .587, set in 2019 by
AnnMarie Torres.
Wedman ranks fifth in Division II and first in the RMAC in both categories.
RMAC Dinger Champ
Ellie Smith hit two home runs during the RMAC Tournament raising her season-long total to 18, which leads the RMAC by three over Colorado Christian's Piper Lujan. Smith enters the regional tournament ranked fifth in the country for that total, which also puts her in a tie for fourth in CMU single-season history. Maverick assistant coach Kelly Adams holds the record of 21, set in 2001. Rebecca McClelland (2006) and Brooke Hodgson (2017) are the only other Mavericks to have hit more home runs in a single season. They both hit 19. Makayla Kovac had a pair of 18-homer seasons in 2014 and 2016.
Mercy, Mercy Me
Half of the Mavericks' 38 wins this season, have come via the mercy-rule. Winning in walk-off fashion in six innings against Regis on Saturday, the Mavericks have now ended 19 games prematurely this season via the mercy rule. CMU has recorded at least one mercy-rule victory over eight different opponents they have faced this year. The only team that the Mavericks have not mercy-ruled has been Colorado Christian, a team the Mavericks won six of seven games against this year.
20-game Winner streak continues
Paige Adair won three games during the RMAC Tournament and is now 20-2 this season. The Mavericks have now had a 20-game winner in every full season (excluding the pandemic shortened 2020 campaign) since 2015.
Player of the Year streak
With
Ellie Smith's selection as the RMAC Player of the Year, the Mavericks have now received the award all seven possible times since 2014, the first of three years that Makayla Kovac won it. Brooke Hodgson then won back-to-back awards in 2017 and 2018 before
AnnMarie Torres received it in 2019. Kovac (2015) and Hodgson (2017) were Co-Award winners.
Home Sweet Home but still quite strong anywhere
With a 23-2 home record this year, the Mavericks are now 116-18 at home since the start of 2016, good for an .866 winning percentage over that time.
They are nearly as strong when playing anywhere winning 83.6 percent of their games, going 235-46 since their current RMAC title winning streak began in 2016.
Texas A&M Commerce Series History
The Mavericks are 2-1 all-time against Lions and have a 1-1 record against them in NCAA Tournament play after facing each other in 2016 in Canyon, Texas and in 2019 at home in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The Mavs have a 15-24 overall record in NCAA Tournament play.
