LAS VEGAS, N.M.— Fifth-year senior Paige Adair tossed her first career no-hitter in her home state while her teammates hit a grand slam and an inside the park home run during another Colorado Mesa University softball sweep over New Mexico Highlands University on Sunday at the Cowgirls' Brandt Field. 
 
Ellie Smith also added three extra-base hits, including a 3-run home run, while recording a 3-hit shutout in the first game of the doubleheader as the Mavericks posted 12-0 and 5-0 victories over the Cowgirls to sweep the weekend series without conceding a single run.  The 12-0 victory came in five innings as Nicole Christensen hit a first-inning grand slam while Smith and Ashley Bradford hit later homers.
 
The Mavs then scored three runs on six hits in the first inning of Game 2 before Ava Fugate hit a 2-run inside the park home run in the top of the seventh to help the Mavericks cement the win and series sweep.
 
Meanwhile, Adair, a native of Aztec, New Mexico, fanned seven Cowgirls en-route to CMU's first no-hitter since Apr. 14, 2019 when Mackenzie Surface tossed a 5-inning one against Regis.  Adair's 7-inning no-hitter was the first for a Maverick pitcher since Surface threw one on Feb. 25, 2018 against Chadron State.
 
The Mavs were nearly perfect throughout the weekend as they out-scored the Cowgirls, 35-0 while hitting ten doubles and nine home runs during the weekend.  They hit .417 as a team while Adair, Smith and Shea Mauser all tossed complete game shutouts.  Adair had two and held the Cowgirls to just two hits and two walks while registering 16 strikeouts in 12 innings.  The Cowgirls hit just .056 against her and hit just .132 against the Maverick pitching staff as a whole throughout the weekend.
 
The Mavericks were also perfect defensively throughout the series and have now won 28 of their last 29 games while improving to 29-5 overall and to 21-1 in RMAC play.  They have also won 24 straight games over the Cowgirls.
 
The Mavs are still tied for the RMAC lead with Colorado Christian, which completed a series sweep at Regis with 13-5 and 14-5 wins on Sunday.
 
NMHU is now 7-27 overall and 5-19 in the loop.
 
Game 1
 
The Mavs scored five runs in both the first and third innings and finished the game with ten total hits, seven of which went for extra bases.
 
The Mavericks got all of the offense they would need from the start as Bradford hit a lead-off homer before Smith hit a one-out double.  Ally Distler, who hit two home runs against the Cowgirls on Saturday, was then intentionally walked before Sarah Jorissen was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
 
Two plays later, Christensen hit her first grand slam to center to make the score 5-0.
 
Smith, who had a grand slam earlier this season against Fort Lewis, then hit an RBI double to plate Bradford for a single run in the top of the second.
 
Brandi Haller and Christensen then doubled to begin the third as the Mavs went up 7-0.  Christensen then scored on a Cowgirl error to make it 8-0.
 
Later in the inning, Smith hit a 3-run homer to put the Mavs ahead 11-0.
 
Rylee Crouch then added a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of fifth to complete the scoring.
 
Meanwhile, Smith retired nine of the first ten Cowgirls she faced before getting out of the fourth on a double play that saw the Mavericks gun down Brooke De La Garza at the plate after she had moved to third on a Arianna Ramirez double.
 
Smith then record two of her five strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth to toss her third individual shutout of the season.  Now 12-2 as a pitcher, Smith also had four RBIs and scored two runs offensively.  Christensen went 2-for-3 with five RBIs while Bradford drew two walks after her lead-off homer while scoring three runs from the lead-off spot in the lineup.
 
Game 2
 
Each of the first five Mavericks tallied hits as they jumped all over the Cowgirls.  Myah Arrieta led things off as Bradford and Smith got the game off.  Arrieta hit an infield single before Lauren Wedman hit the first of two doubles.  Distler then plated Arrieta with a single before Haller scored Wedman with yet another single.
 
The Mavs then had some base-running troubles as the Cowgirls got two outs before Iliana Mendoza hit an RBI single up the middle to score Fugate, who had also singled.
 
The Mavs did go five more innings without scoring as they left seven runners on base while pounding out 13 hits.
 
In the seventh, Wedman hit an infield single on a come-backer to Ramirez before stealing second.  She then moved to third on a Distler fly out the right before Fugate  sped around the bases on her rare inside the park homer in the left field corner.
 
Meanwhile, Adair (9-1) tossed  perfect first inning before giving up a walk to Ramirez to begin the second.  However, the Mavs erased pinch-runner Gloria DiLauro on a double play.
 
The Cowgirls did not have another pinch runner until De La Garza was hit by a pitch with one out in the sixth.  However, Adair struck out the remaining two Cowgirls setting the stage for Fugate's homer.
 
Adair then completed the no-hitter and her second shutout of the weekend with a flyout to center, a strikeout before catching a soft line drive off Ramirez's bat.
 
Up Next
 
Winners of 15 consecutive RMAC series over the last two seasons, the Mavericks will return home to face Black Hills State in a 4-game set next Saturday and Sunday (Apr. 9-10.  The Yellow Jackets (10-16, 8-16 RMAC) scored 18 runs in a Sunday sweep at CSU Pueblo after they were swept by the ThunderWolves on Saturday.