LAKEWOOD, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Maverick softball team answered back in a massive way as Paige Adair threw her second no-hitter of the season while Ashley Bradford hit a go-ahead 3-run home run in the first before adding a grand slam in the second game as part of an 8-RBI day that saw the Mavericks re-join a tie for first place in the conference standings with 3-1 and 11-0 victories over Colorado Christian University in an Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader on Sunday here at All Star Park.
 
The Cougars had won both of Saturday's doubleheader between the teams, snapping the Mavericks 13-game winning streak coming in to the weekend.
 
The Mavericks then took their turn snapping CCU's 29-game winning streak, which had been the longest in the country, on Sunday to claim a series split that will keep the RMAC title chase going into the final weekend.
 
Both teams are now 31-3 in RMAC play with four games remaining.  CMU, now 39-7 overall, will return home to host ninth-place Chadron State (10-32, 9-21 RMAC) on Friday and Saturday.  The Cougars (43-7) will head to Las Vegas, New Mexico for a 4-game series at last place New Mexico Highlands (7-41, 5-31 RMAC) on the same days.
 
If either the Mavericks or Cougars win more games than the other next weekend, they would then claim the RMAC title outright, assuming all eight games are played.
 
If the Mavericks and Cougars both manage to win the same number of games against the respective foes, they will share the RMAC's regular season title. 
 
The hosting rights for next month's (May 5-7 RMAC) Tournament would then be determined by the RMAC's Performance Indicator tie-breaking procedure.
 
Both the Mavs and Cougars are assured of the No. 1 or 2 seed and a first round bye in the RMAC Tournament.
 
Game 1
 
Bradford delivered the heroics in the top of the fourth inning as she hit her 3-run shot to center field with one out after Brandi Haller had doubled to begin the inning before Iliana Mendoza reached on an error and stole second. 
 
Meanwhile, Ellie Smith tossed a strong 3-hitter in the circle giving up just one hit in the bottom of the fourth, erased by an ensuing double play, before pitching relatively clean fifth, sixth and seventh innings.  In the process, she improved to 14-2 while her counterpart Alexis Hamilton fell to 18-2 after giving up seven hits and five walks to the Maverick offense.
 
The Cougars were the first to score and did so in the top of the first after Piper Lujan singled home Sami Edwards after the Cougars had drawn three free passes (two walks, one hit by pitch) earlier in the inning.  However, the Mavericks got out of the inning with limited damage thanks to a double play and Smith strikeout.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavericks left six runners on base in the first three innings before finally cashing in with Bradford's season-saving home run.
 
The Mavs also left two runners on in the fifth and another in the sixth but instead relied on Smith's pitching gem.
 
Haller and Brandi Christensen both had 2-hit games for CMU offensively.
 
Game 2
 
Adair's 3-walk, 5-strikeout no-hitter was somewhat overshadowed by the Mavericks' offensive explosion of four home runs, including Bradford's sixth-inning grand slam, part of a 6-run inning that put the game away via the mercy-rule.
 
Sarah Jorissen also hit her second home run of the game later in the inning after Ally Distler hit her team-leading 16^th home run of the season in the top of the second to begin the scoring.
 
Lauren Wedman and Bradford then hit back-to-back doubles later in the second to increase the lead to 3-0 before Adair struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning around one walk.
 
The Mavs then increased the lead to 4-0 in the top of the third on a 1-out Jorissen solo shot before Adair worked out of a lead-off error in the bottom.
 
In the fourth, Bradford hit a 2-out ground-rule double and then scored moments later on a wild pitch to give the Mavs a 5-0 advantage.
 
In the sixth, Distler singled before being lifted for a pinch-runner.  Haller was then hit by a pitch before a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Ava Fugate and Wedman walk loaded the bases for Bradford to deliver a grand slam.
 
Two plays later, Jorissen the hit a 2-run home run to complete the scoring as Adair got three successive pop outs in the bottom of the sixth to complete the no-hitter, her second of the month and her career.  She had thrown her first on Apr. 3 to complete a series sweep of New Mexico Highlands.

Adair is now 14-2 while Abrie Castillo fell to 17-3 as the first of three Cougar pitchers who all gave up home runs to the Mavs, who lead the country with 85 this season, four more than CCU.
 
The Mavs also had three doubles and three singles in the game, finishing with ten hits in total.  Bradford had two doubles and her grand slam to go 3-for-3 with a career-high five RBIs while Smith, Jorissen and Distler all had 2-hit games.