GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Hot off a perfect 5-0 weekend, the Colorado Mesa University softball team will begin the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference portion of their season this weekend taking on MSU Denver in their home-opening series at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
Doubleheaders between the 6-4 Mavericks and 8-5 Roadrunners are now slated for noon on Sunday and 11 a.m. on Monday.
 
Live statistics and a live stream for all four games of the series can be accessed at the links above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks went a perfect 5-0 at the Cactus Classic in Tucson, Arizona last Friday defeating both of their NCAA Division II South Central Regional foes in Western and Eastern New Mexico.  They also claimed wins over West Region opponents Azusa Pacific and Simon Fraser and defeated California University of Pennsylvania during the 3-day tournament.
 
The Mavericks came from behind in three of their five victories and won three 1-run games, conceding just nine runs, only five of which were earned, throughout the weekend.  They also out-hit their opponents by nearly 100 points, .279-.180.
 
Walk-off Walk-on
 
Maverick true freshman Myah Arrieta, a walk-on addition to the program in the fall, played a major role in the Mavericks' success over the weekend recording game-winning walk-off hits in both of the Mavericks' last two victories.  On Saturday evening, the second baseman out of Grand Junction's Central High School, delivered a walk-off game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Mavs to a 4-3 win over Simon Fraser.
 
Arrieta then began the bottom of the seventh on Sunday morning with a walk-off home run, powering the Mavs to a 2-1 victory over Easter New Mexico.  The home run was the first of Arrieta's young collegiate career. 
 
Throughout the weekend in Tucson, Arrieta hit .353 while recording six hits, two of which were for extra bases to aid her .647 weekend slugging percentage.
 
She is second on the team with her .321 season-long batting average.
 
Pitcher of the Year, Pitcher of the Week
 
Maverick redshirt senior Paige Adair was named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time in her CMU career on Tuesday.  Named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Year in 2021, Adair recorded a 3-0 record and perfect 0.00 ERA from within the circle during the Cactus Classic.
 
She also recorded 15 strikeouts in just 13 2/3 innings, conceding just five hits, two walks and a single unearned run during three appearances.  Adair tossed a 2-hit, 5-strikeout shutout, the seventh of her career, in Friday's 1-0 win over Azusa Pacific and then came back to record nine strikeouts while giving up just three hits and an unearned run in a long 5 2/3-inning relief stint against California (Pa.) as the Mavs came from 3-0 down to defeat the Vulcans, 6-4.
 
Adair then tossed a 1-2-3 top of the seventh against Eastern New Mexico, setting Arrieta up for her aforementioned walk-off home run moments later in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Thus far in 2022, Adair holds a 4-1 record and leads the RMAC with her 1.04 ERA, a full-half point lower than any other qualifying RMAC pitcher.  She has also struck out 32 hitters in 27 innings, giving just 12 hits.  Opponents are hitting just .136 against her, the lowest mark in the RMAC by an impressive 36 points.
 
New ways to win in '22
 
All five of CMU's wins last weekend came by three or fewer runs, including three that were 1-run decisions. 
 
The Mavs have yet to run-rule an opponent after recording 21 run-rule victories amongst the 39 overall wins in 2021, when they had just two 1-run victories throughout the season.
 
Defending & Dominant Champions
 
The Mavericks will enter the 2022 RMAC season as the 5-time defending regular season conference champions having won the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and 2021 titles.  They were also 10-2 and tied for the RMAC standings lead with Colorado Christian and MSU Denver in the 2020 RMAC standings when the remainder that season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
CMU also won the RMAC Tournament title in 2017, 2018 and 2021 and advanced to their fifth straight NCAA Division II tournament last spring.
 
Since beginning their RMAC title winning streak in 2016, the Mavericks have posted a 242-52 overall record, good for an .823 winning percentage in their nearly 300 (294 games).
 
The Mavs have been even more impressive in conference play, going a 182-18 in their 200 RMAC games since 2016, good for an .910 winning percentage.  The Mavs have not lost more than four RMAC games in a single season during that 6-year stretch.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Mavericks have been tough to beat at the CMU Softball Stadium.  The Mavericks went 23-2 at home last season and are 134-20 at home since the start of the 2015 season, good for a .870 winning percentage over the seven seasons.  They were a perfect 24-0 at home back in 2017 and have also recorded 20 or more home wins in each of their last four full seasons.
 
Here's a look at the Mavericks' home-field records over that span
 
2015- 18-2
2016- 17-5
2017- 24-0
2018- 22-5
2019-24-4
2020*- 6-2
2021-23-2
 *Pandemic abbreviated season.
 
Continuing to Shine at Home
 
Fourth-year Maverick redshirt junior shortstop Ashley Bradford continued to shine in the return to her hometown of Tucson last weekend.  Bradford hit a team-high .429 (6-14) throughout the weekend, recording her first home run of the season and the fourth of her now 95-game Maverick career.
 
Bradford also led the Mavericks in hitting during the Concordia Kickoff Classic to begin the season, earning a spot on the all-tournament team.
 
She is leading the Mavericks in multiple offensive categories this season, hitting .407 (11-27) while slugging at a .593 clip.  She also has a .529 on-base percentage having drawn six walks as well.   Bradford, has reached base safely in all ten games this season, has also scored a team-leading eight runs.
 
In the RMAC statistics, she ranks eighth with her batting average and total hits, fifth for on-base percentage, third for walks, and tied for sixth in runs scored.
 
Solid Pitching
 
Led by Paige Adair, the Maverick pitching staff conceded 24 hits and nine total runs, only five of which were earned, good for a 1.00 team ERA, during last weekend's Cactus Classic.  Their five opponents hit at  just a .180 clip.
 
Through ten games, the Maverick pitching staff has a combined 1.85 ERA and has held opposing hitters to a .208 batting average.  They have also conceded just one home run and have recorded 69 strikeouts, the second highest total in the conference.  The only team with more strikeouts is this weekend's opponent, MSU Denver, which has 72 in 13 games, three more than the Mavs have played.
 
While Adair paces the conference (see above), Ellie Smith ranks third in the RMAC with her 1.93 ERA.  Shea Mauser is also in the conference's top ten for ERA at 3.13 and matched a career-high with nine strikeouts in Sunday's win over Eastern New Mexico.
 
Top-10 Winner
 
With her three pitching wins last weekend, Paige Adair moved into the top-10 of the Mavs' career winning charts.  Adair now has 31 career victories, tied for ninth most in program history.
 
It is entirely possible that Adair could move to as high as a tie for sixth this weekend.  Kelli Caven won 33 games in her 1996-1997 career and occupies the No. 6 spot.  Brooke Hodgson (2015-18) and Jessica Severinsen (2013-14) both won 32 career games from within the Maverick circle.
 
Ellie Smith is tied for 14^th on the Mavericks' all-time pitching wins chart with 19.
 
The Maverick pitching staff posed a solid 2.76 team ERA over the opening weekend, allowing just 16 total and 13 earned runs in the first five games.  Paige Adair, Ellie Smith and Shea Mauser also combined to strike out 35 opponents and allowed just 28 hits in 33 innings of work.
 
The team ERA puts the Mavericks second in the early-season RMAC statistics.
 
Adair's 2.10 individual mark is also the second best in the conference.  She gave up just seven hits, four runs and struck out 17 opponents in 13 1/3 innings over four appearances and starts during the opening weekend.  Adair, the 2021 RMAC Pitcher of the Year took a perfect game into the sixth inning against Chico State, striking out nine Wildcats.  She also registered eight strikeouts in four innings against San Francisco State, earning the victory.
 
Ellie Smith, who made four relief appearances totaling 11 1/3 innings, has a 2.47 ERA, the fifth best in the RMAC thus far.
 
At the helm
 
Second-year Maverick Head Coach Mercedes Bohte, a member of the Maverick coaching staff since 2013, now has a 45-9 (.800) career winning percentage as the leader of the program.  In 2021, while serving as the program's interim coach, Bohte, led the Mavericks to a 39-5 overall record, good for an .886 winning percentage, which was the best in Division II softball.  She was named as the RMAC Coach of the Year for her efforts and had the interim tag removed over the summer.
 
Under her direction, the Mavericks went 34-2 in RMAC play to win the RMAC's regular season title.  They also claimed the RMAC Tournament crown and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
In her time on the coaching staff, which goes back to 2013, the Mavericks have won six RMAC Championships and qualify for five NCAA Tournaments.  As the team's pitching coach, her staffs have led the RMAC in ERA during each of the last six seasons, including in 2021, when she guided RMAC Pitcher of the Year Paige Adair and RMAC Player of the Year Ellie Smith, who had the league's top two individual ERAs.
 
Smith, who also had a monster offensive season as the team's designated player, and outfielder Lauren Wedman were also named as consensus first team all-Americans as leaders of the Maverick attack, which led the country in scoring (8.95 runs per game) and the RMAC in a multitude of statistical categories.
 
In her time as the Mavs' pitching coach, Bohte has guided 11 All-RMAC pitchers, eight of whom have also earned all-region honors, a group led by McKenzie Surface, the RMAC's all-time winningest pitcher and 2017 RMAC Co-Pitcher of the Year, 2019 RMAC Pitcher of the Year Kimbri Herring and Adair, who also picked up Second Team All-South Central Region accolades from both the NFCA and D2CCA.
 
The Mavericks also had seven overall and four First Team All-RMAC honorees in 2021 under Bohte.
 
About the Roadrunners
 
The Roadrunners went 8-5 during the non-conference portion of the season.  They went 5-3 at home in four doubleheaders to begin the season and last weekend and went 3-2 at the Desert Stinger Tournament, played Feb. 11-13 in Tucson, Arizona, in between.
 
The Roadrunners split a pair of home doubleheaders last week against South Central Regional rivals St. Mary's and St. Edward's, winning the first game against the Rattlers and second against the Hilltoppers, both by one run.
 
Rebecca Gonzales leads the Roadrunner regulars with her .462 batting average.  Hannah DiFabio, hitting .395, and Katie Maney, who is hitting .375, have provided the power, having hit seven of the Roadrunners' eight home runs while scoring a team-high nine runs.  DiFabio has three homers and eight runs while Maney has sent four over the fence while driving in 11 runs.
 
She hit .462 last weekend with five RBIs and two homers to earn RMAC Player of the Week honors.
 
Shelby Robb, a returning First Team All-American, who led the RMAC with her .535 batting average last season, is batting .327 and has a team-high five doubles to go along with seven RBIs.  She and DiFabio have three stolen bases a piece.
 
Sarah Norton has been the work-horse in the circle, posting a 4-1 record and 3.17 ERA in 42 innings.  She has appeared in ten games, making five starts, and has given up 47 hits, 11 walks and 19 earned runs, while striking out 33 batters.
 
Returning First Team All-RMAC pick Destinee Lopez has made six starts and has a 6.04 ERA in 24 1/3 innings.  She has struck out 27 hitters and is 2-3.
 
Audrey Burt is 2-1 with a 5.48 ERA in five appearances and over two starts while Julia Heitz has given up just two hits in 5 1/3 innings over four nearly perfect but brief relief appearances.  Burt is also hitting .500 in eight at bats and has the Roadrunners' other home run.
 
Annie Van Wetzinga is in her ninth year as the Roadrunners' head coach and has compiled a 266-144 (.649) record to date in her time at MSU Denver.  She has a 419-300 (.583) record in her 15 seasons as a head coach, which included 3-year stints at both the Colorado School of Mines and Upper Iowa.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have won each of the last 12 games against MSU Denver but still trail the all-time series with the Roadrunners, 25-19. 
 
Each of the last eight wins over the Roadrunners have come in Denver, where the Mavericks swept RMAC series in both 2019 and 2021.  The two teams did not play in the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season.
 
They also did not get matched up against each other in the conference schedule in 2017 or 2018.
 
However, the Mavericks also won two tournament games over the Roadrunners in 2018, claiming a neutral-site victory over them on the opening day (Feb. 3) of the 2018 season in Rio Rancho, New Mexico before claiming a 10-2, 5-innign victory over the Roadrunners on May 4, 2018 during the RMAC Tournament, which is the last game between the teams in Grand Junction.
 
The Mavericks also opened up 2017 with a non-conference doubleheader sweep of the 'Runners in Denver.
 
MSU Denver's last win in the series came by an 8-3 margin on Apr. 30, 2016 during that year's RMAC Tournament after the Roadrunners won two RMAC games over the Mavs during a regular-season pod series in Spearfish, South Dakota.
 
Amazingly, the last time the Roadrunners played a RMAC regular season series in Grand Junction was in 2014, when the Roadrunners took the last three of the four games to start what ended up being a 9-game winning streak in the rivalry.
 
The Mavs are 4-10 against the Roadrunners in Grand Junction.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will continue their season with a Mar. 5-6 series at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.  The Orediggers are currently 0-8 overall and begin RMAC play at CSU Pueblo this weekend.