GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team doubled its season-long home run total hitting six in their first home and first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader of the year, routing visiting Fort Lewis College 11-4 and 10-2 on Sunday here at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
Rylee Crouch and Aislyn Sharp homered in both games as Crouch hit a walk-off shot to implement the mercy-rule in the fifth inning of the second game.   Sharp's second game homer was a grand slam.  Crouch now has six homers on the season, equal to the most in the RMAC.
 
Miranda Pruitt also hit her first homer as a Mav in the home-opener while Brandi Haller hit the Mavs' other homer in the second game, which also saw Kennedy Vis pick up her first collegiate win during a combined 1-hitter with fellow Grand Junction native Marissa Nehm.
 
The Mavericks, who have now won 28 consecutive games over the Skyhawks since and including 2015, snapped a 6-game slid and improved to 4-6 overall while moving to 2-0 in the RMAC.  The Skyhawks have now dropped seven straight overall and are 2-7 overall and 0-2 in the early conference standings.
 
The Mavericks have now hit 11 home runs in their last four games.
 
Game 1
 
The Mavericks finished with 11 hits and benefitted from eight Skyhawk errors, which resulted in six unearned runs.  Haller was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk while Sarah Jorissen, Crouch and Iliana Mendoza all went 2-for-4.
 
The Skyhawks took the early 2-0 lead in the tom of the second on a Caydee Farnworth homer before Sharp answered back with a 2-run shot after Pruitt drew a lead-off walk in the bottom half of the inning.
 
The Mavs then took a 3-2 lead later in the inning on an Arrieta single that plated Mendoza.
 
The Skyhawks tied the score at 3 in the top of the third on a Sloan Shotton solo homer before Crouch responded with a lead-off shot in the bottom half, giving the Mavericks the lead once again.
 
FLC would again manage to tie the game at 4 in the top of the fourth thanks to a Maverick error but would commit three of their own in the bottom of the fourth as the Mavs scored five unearned runs.
 
Pruitt, a Tarleton State graduate transfer who hit 16 home runs in three seasons with the NCAA Division I Texans, delivered the biggest blow with her 1-out shot to left that gave the Mavs a 9-4 lead.
 
A Jorissen RBI ground out in the bottom of the fifth and an RBI walk by Ashley Bradford in the bottom of the sixth completed the scoring.
 
Meanwhile, Hannah Sattler spread eight hits without issuing any free passes to earn the complete game win in the circle.  She is now 2-2.
 
Farnworth (0-4) took the loss for the Skyhawks after giving up nine hits and nine runs, only four of which were earned, before leaving the game after Pruitt's homer.
 
Game 2
 
The Mavs wasted little time putting distance between themselves and the Skyhawks in the second game as Crouch hit an RBI double to put the Mavs on the board with just one out in the bottom of the first. 
 
Pruitt then drew a walk before Sharp hit her grand slam to up the lead to 5-0.
 
Haller then added a solo shot in the very next at bat to give the Mavs a 6-0 lead and their first big first-inning of the season, a patten to their success in their active run of six straight RMAC titles.
 
The Mavs then added two runs in the bottom of the second on a Sharp RBI double and Skyhawk error to increase the lead to 8-0.
 
Meanwhile, Vis gave up just one hit in the first three innings before running into a bit of trouble as the Skyhawks drew a run-scoring, bases loaded hit-by-pitch in the top of the fourth.  Nehm then came on in relief and got three outs while giving up a wild pitch that trimmed the Mavs' advantage ever so slightly to 8-2.
 
Then in the bottom of the fifth, Jorissen doubled to begin the frame before Crouch hit her walk-off homer just five pitches later to end the game early.
 
The Mavs again finished the game with 11 hits as Crouch went 3-for-3 with her double, homer , three runs scored and three RBIs.  Sharp had five RBIs and was 2-for-3 at the plate.
 
Labraida Tenorio gave up three hits and six runs, all earned, in her brief 1/3 of an inning start and took the loss to fall to 1-3.  Vis now sports the same record after a somewhat unusual and wild win that saw her give up just the single hit despite walking six and plunking two Skyhawks. 
 
Nehm had a much cleaner appearance, retiring six of the seven Skyhawk batters she faced while the other reached on fielder's choice.
 
The two teams will play another doubleheader on Monday, beginning at 11 a.m.