GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Six days ago, they were honored during Senior Day festivities.
 
On Friday, Colorado Mesa University veterans Paige Adair, Nicole Christensen, Shea Mauser and Lauren Wedman played the role of heroes, leading the Maverick softball team to a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament elimination game victories on Friday here at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
Facing the possible, if not likely end of their season, the Mavericks staved off elimination to advance to championship Saturday with a 9-1 run-rule win over Fort Lewis College and a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over UCCS.
 
Now 45-8 overall, the top-seeded Mavericks will have the chance to avenge Thursday's second round tournament loss to No. 4 seed MSU Denver in another elimination game on Saturday at Noon.  The winner will then face Colorado Christian University in the championship game at 2:30 p.m. looking to force the "if necessary" game of the double-elimination tournament, scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
The Mavs were also in this same position a year ago and claimed three final day wins, including two over CCU, to claim the 2021 RMAC Tournament crown.
 
Against Fort Lewis, Christensen went 3-for-3 with a record-setting home run, a triple, a single and five RBIs while Mauser allowed just two hits in the 5-inning win.
 
Against, UCCS, Wedman delivered a go-ahead 2-run double in the top of the seventh before Adair closed out her complete game victory with a 1-2-3 bottom half as the Mavs came from 1-0 down to win in the late innings.
 
Fort Lewis Game
 
The Mavs surrendered a first-inning run on a sacrifice fly, but scored two of their own in the bottom half on a 2-run Christensen single.
 
They then exploded for six more runs, all of which were unearned, in the bottom of the second capitalizing on two Skyhawk errors and Christensen's 3-run home run.
 
The blast was their school-record s setting 99^th home run of the season for the Mavericks, who lead the NCAA Division II statistics.
 
The 2001 Maverick squad hit 98 home runs, a NCAA Division II National Record at the time.
 
The Mavs then wrapped up Friday's mercy-rule win in the bottom of the fifth win pinch-hitter Kaley Barker hit a RBI single to score Christensen.
 
Meanwhile, Mauser was dominant and efficient, retiring 15 of the final 16 Skyhawks she faced after giving up a double and single to begin the game.  She needed jus 55 pitches to record the win, walking just one while striking out two.
 
The Mavericks finished with eight hits and left just three runners on base as Aislyn Sharp, who got the start as the designated player, Sarah Jorissen, Barker and Wedman all had singles.  Sharp also stole two bases and scored two runs while being hit by a pitch.  She had hit CMU's record-tying 98^th home run as a pinch-hitter on Thursday night.
 
UCCS Game
 
The Mavericks again gave up the first run of the game as Paige White hit a solo home run in the second inning to give the Mountain Lions the lead.
 
Meanwhile, the Mavericks had just three hits through four innings, leaving all of them stranded.
 
However, they converted in the top of the fifth when Brandi Haller led off the inning with a double before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt by Iliana Mendoza.
 
Two plays later, Haller came across to the game on a wild pitch.
 
The Mountain Lions then left a runner on base in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth as the Mavericks breathed a sigh of relief.
 
They then took advantage in the seventh as Christensen hit a single to right field to begin the inning before moving to second on a UCCS fielding error.  Christensen then moved to third on another Mendoza sacrifice.
 
Wedman then hit a double to left center to plate both Christensen and pinch-hitter Ava Fugate, who had reached on the error, to give the Mavs a 3-1 lead.
 
Adair then tossed a quiet bottom of the seventh to improve to 17-3 with her 6-hit win.
 
The Mavs finished with seven hits from seven different players.