GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team will put an 8-game winning streak on the line this weekend when they return home to face the UCCS Mountain Lions in a weekend series at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Mavericks, who can give Head Coach Mercedes Bohte her 100^th career victory this weekend, have exploded for 121 runs over their winning streak and have improved to 15-8 overall and to 13-2 in RMAC play with series sweeps over Adams State and New Mexico Highlands in the last two weeks.  They are in third place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic standings, 2 ½ games behind Colorado Christian (16-0 RMAC) and 1 ½ behind MSU Denver (15-1 RMAC).
 
UCCS (8-17, 5-11 RMAC) will enter the weekend after sweeping Sunday's home doubleheader against Regis, allowing them to split the overall series with the Rangers, fourth in the conference standings at 11-5.  The Mountain Lions are currently tied for eighth in the RMAC standings,
 
This weekend's series will feature doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday's twin-bill will commence at noon while Sunday's will begin at 11 a.m.
 
A live stream for all four games can be found on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics will also be accessible here and tickets can be purchased here.

Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks put up 61 runs and banged out 71 hits, including 19 doubles and 15 home runs in a 4-game sweep on the road at New Mexico Highlands University last weekend. 
 
The Mavericks hit .511 and slugged 1.000 as a team as five different Mavericks hit .500 or higher throughout the weekend.
 
RMAC Player of the Week Ashley Bradford hit .667 (12-18) and slugged 1.500 as she recorded eight extra-base hits while driving in 13 runs throughout the weekend.  She also scored ten runs.
 
Rylee Crouch also added five more home runs to raise her season total to 15 and added 13 more RBIs to her total.  She slugged 1.563 throughout the series and was 9-for-16 (.563) with eight runs scored.
 
Aislyn Sharp also hit .667 and scored ten runs while drawing five walks and two hit by pitches, finishing the weekend with an incredible .789 on-base percentage.
 
The Maverick pitching was also solid allowing just ten earned runs throughout the weekend as Kennedy Vis and Hannah Sattler both went 2-0.  Sattler also tossed a 2-hit shutout, the first of her collegiate career at both Southern Nazarene University and CMU.
 
What a Turn Around
 
Maverick fifth-year senior shortstop Ashely Bradford was named as the RMAC Player of the Week after her aforementioned weekend at New Mexico Highlands.  She also had an impressive weekend at Adams State, going 9-for-12 at Adams State and has gone 21-for-30 at the plate over the last two weekends. 
 
That mark has allowed her to raise her season-long batting average to .387.
 
Bradford, the RMAC Player of the Year in 2022, was hitting just .043 with a single hit after the non-conference portion of the season but has gone on to hit .538 (28-52) in the conference portion of the slate.
 
She has raised her batting average by more than 200 points in the last two weeks alone after entering the Adams State series with a .178 mark.
 
RMAC Dinger Count
 
The Mavericks have hit at least one home run in all 15 of their RMAC games, hitting 42 of their RMAC-leading 48 total home runs since the start of conference play.
 
The Mavs led the country with 100 home runs as a team last year and currently sit second in the country for home runs this season, trailing only Valdosta State, which has hit an impressive total of 67 this year.
 
Top Sluggers
 
The Mavericks will enter the weekend with a team slugging percentage of .728, the best mark in Division II.  They have racked up 482 total bases in 662 official at bats, hitting 60 doubles, 11 triples and 48 home runs amongst their 256 total hits.
 
Their 60 doubles are second most in the country, only behind Lubbock Christian's total of 61, and also put the Mavs second with their 2.40 per game average.
 
The Mavs are also tied for third in the county with their team batting average of .387.
 
National Homer Leader

With five home runs last weekend, Rylee Crouch has taken over the national lead with 15 home runs this season.  Her total has come in just 23 games and has her on pace to break the RMAC and NCAA Division II record of 0.57 per game, set in 2009 by UCCS' Jessika Anastos, who hit 24 in 42 games that year. 
 
Crouch is averaging 0.65 per game thus far in 2023.
 
MSU Denver's Tara Mickelson (2010) and Crystal Krebs (2005) co-hold the RMAC record for total home runs in a season (25).  Kelly Adams holds the CMU record of 21, set in 2001.
 
Crouch also leads the country with 45 RBIs and is third in the country for slugging percentage at 1.203.
 
Series Winning
 
Maverick Coach Mercedes Bohte has repeatedly mentioned that the Mavericks' goal is to win every RMAC series this season.  They have been able to do just that thus far taking three of four games against both Fort Lewis and Black Hills State before sweeping Adams State and New Mexico Highlands in the last two weekends.
 
In fact, the Mavericks' series winning streak has been quite impressive over recent history.
 
In 2022, the Mavericks won nine of their ten conference series and split the other 2-2 on the road with conference runner-up and tournament winning Colorado Christian.  The Mavs also won all nine of their RMAC sets in 2021.
 
Incredibly, the Mavs have not lost a RMAC series since the end of the 2015 regular season, when they went 0-4 in a pod weekend against MSU Denver and at Chadron State.
 
Powerhouse Program
 
As mentioned above, the Mavericks led Division II in home runs (100) and slugging percentage (.646) last season.  The Mavs were also ranked 11^th in the country for batting average (.348) a year ago.
 
The CMU pitching staff was also quite impressive and finished fifth in the country for WHIP (Walks + Hits/Innings Pitched) at 0.96 and sixth for ERA (1.63) last year.
 
The Mavs also ranked seventh in the country for shutouts (17) and had the fourth best winning percentage (.833) in the entire country last season.
 
Dominant Champions

The Mavericks were able to six-peat as RMAC Champions last year.  The Mavericks had also won the 2016, 2017, 2018, 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.
 
Since beginning their RMAC title winning streak in 2016, the Mavericks have posted a 294-65 overall record, good for an .819 winning percentage in their 359 games during the stretch.
 
The Mavs have been even more impressive in conference play, going an incredible 230-23 in their 253 RMAC games since 2016, good for an .909 winning percentage.  The Mavs have not lost more than four RMAC games in a single season during that 6-year stretch and lost just three out of 38 last year.
 
The Mavs have reached the 40-win mark in five of their last six full seasons (excluding the 2020 COVID canceled season) and won 39 games in 2021, a year in which the Mavs only played RMAC regular season games due to continued COVID ramifications.
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The CMU Softball Stadium has proven to be a fortress for the Mavericks and a house of horrors for opposing squads in recent years.
 
The Mavericks have been tough to beat at home and went 23-3 at home last year, raising their home record to 157-23 at home since the start of the 2015 season, good for a .872 winning percentage over those eight seasons. 
 
With their 6-2 home start this season, the Mavs are now 163-25 (.867) in the last nine seasons at home.
 
They were a perfect 24-0 at home back in 2017 and have now recorded 20 or more home wins in each of their last six full seasons.
 
They Mavs are slated to play 24 home games during the regular season this year, facing each of the other four teams in the top five of last year's RMAC standings at home in coming weeks.
 
Here's a look at the Mavericks' home-field records over the last eight years.
 
2015- 18-2
2016- 17-5
2017- 24-0
2018- 22-5
2019-24-4
2020*- 6-2
2021-23-2
2022- 23-3
2023- 6-2 (current)
 
*Pandemic abbreviated season.
 
Smoothing sailing at the helm
 
Third-year Maverick Head Coach Mercedes Bohte, a member of the Maverick coaching staff since 2013, now has an 99-22 (.818) career winning percentage as the leader of the program. 
 
She could claim her 100^th career win on Saturday.
 
The Mavericks have won 92.1 percent (82-7) of their RMAC games under her tutelage.
 
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 then had the interim tag removed over the summer of 2021.  Under her direction in that year, 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 2022, the Mavericks were just as successful going 45-9 overall and 35-3 in RMAC play, clinching a sixth consecutive RMAC Regular Season title on the final day.
 
That year's team had eight overall All-RMAC picks, including six first team selections.  The Mavericks also laid claim to the RMAC Player of the Year in Ashley Bradford, later named as a Second Team D2CCA All-American, and the RMAC Pitcher of the Year in repeat selection Paige Adair. 
 
The Mavs also won the NCAA statistical titles for home runs (100) and slugging percentage (.646) and set a school-record for team ERA (1.63), the sixth best mark in all of Division II softball.
 
In Bohte's first season (2021), the Mavericks also had seven overall and four First Team All-RMAC honorees.  The Mavs led the country in scoring (8.95 runs per game) that year and had a pair of consensus first team all-Americans in Ellie Smith and Lauren Wedman.
 
In her time on the coaching staff, which goes back to 2013, the Mavericks have won seven RMAC Championships and have qualified for five NCAA Tournaments.  As the team's pitching coach, her staffs have led the RMAC in ERA during each of the last seven seasons, including in 2021 and 2022, when she guided 2-time RMAC Pitcher of the Year Paige Adair, who set a new single-season record for individual ERA (1.30).  Adair also became the first Maverick to earn D2CCA South Central Region Pitcher of the Year.

In her time as the Mavs' pitching coach, Bohte has guided pitchers to 14 All-RMAC and 11 all-region honors, a group led by Adair, 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.
 
Know Your Foe
 
The UCCS Mountain Lions snapped a 10-game losing streak last Sunday when they swept Regis in a home doubleheader.  That doubleheader sweep allowed them to split the 4-game weekend series.  Previously, they had been swept by MSU Denver and Colorado Christian, the top two teams in the RMAC standings thus far.
 
Now 8-17 overall and 5-11 in the RMAC, the Mountain Lions are led by sophomore catcher and third baseman Paige White.  She is hitting .392 and has recorded 13 doubles and nine home runs to register an .899 slugging percentage thus far.  White ranks second in the conference in both doubles and homers and is fourth in slugging.
 
Meanwhile, she has just 18 RBIs to her credit as Courtnie Heller and Lexi Warner co-lead the team in that category with 23 each.  Heller is hitting .349 and has hit four doubles and three homers.  Warner has hit seven homers and is hitting .263 overall.  She has been struck out 25 times.
 
As a team, the Mountain Lions are hitting .286 to rank in the middle (7^th) of the 12-team RMAC.  They do have 27 home runs to their credit, third most in the league, but have stolen just two bases all season.
 
Their pitching staff ranks tenth in the RMAC with a team ERA of 6.51.  Four different pitchers have pitched regularly.  Autumn Kunze has the staff's lone winning record and 3-2 and has the best ERA at 4.62.  She has appeared in 12 games but has made just one start.
 
Braelyne Crenshaw (1-7, 6.65 ERA) has started 12 games and has tossed 67 1/3 innings.  She has given up 104 hits and 22 walks but does have 50 of the staff's 122 total strikeouts.  Lexi Rayburn (2-4, 9.33 ERA) is also likely to start this weekend after making eight starts and 11 appearances thus far.  Mackenzie Rutkoff (1-3, 5.77 ERA) has made four starts.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks hold an 83-35 series lead over the UCCS since 1994 and have won seven straight games in the rivalry.  UCSS has just two victories since 2014.

The Mountain Lions have not been able to score more than four runs in any of the last ten games.
 
The Mavs swept last year's series in Colorado Springs and then took a 3-1 win in the RMAC Tournament.
 
UCCS' last win in the series was on Apr. 17, 2021, when they won 4-3 in Grand Junction in the second game of a 4-game series, that the Mavs won 3-1.
 
The Mavs are 42-15 at home against the Mountain Lions since 1994.
 
Mercedes Bohte is 8-1 as the Mavs' head coach against the Mountain Lions and their head coach Ricki Rothbauer-Stubbs.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will be on the road next weekend playing a 4-game series at Chadron State.  The Eagles are currently 7-16 overall and 5-11 in the RMAC heading into a 4-game home series with the Colorado School of Mines, which has already been moved to Sunday/Monday due to weather forecasts.