CHADRON, Neb.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team's 12-game winning streak was snapped as the Chadron State College Eagles held the normally potent Maverick bats in check to post 5-1 and 5-3 wins over the Mavericks on Thursday.
The Mavs, defeated for the first time in the month of March, fell to 19-10 and to 17-4 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play while the Eagles improved to 10-19 overall and to 8-14 in RMAC play while snapping a string of 22 consecutive Maverick wins in the rivalry which had dated back to 2017.
The Mavericks were held to just five hits while leaving nine runners on base during the first game. They did have an 11-8 edge in hits in Game 2 but left six more runners on base and were doomed by a 5-run Eagle first inning.
CMU's
Rylee Crouch hit the Mavs' only two home runs on the day one in each game, extending her NCAA Division II-leading total to 17 on the season.
Game 1
Crouch led off the top of the second inning with a solo home run as the Mavs took their only lead of the doubleheader.
However, the Eagles turned a double play to end that half-inning and then scored two runs of their own on a Sloane Quijas single to take a 2-1 lead in through two innings.
The Mavs tried to answer back in the third but left the bases loaded before X Garner hit a solo home run to extend the lead to 3-1.
The Mavs also left two runners on base in both the fourth and fifth innings as the Eagles extended the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a Lauren Zimmerman RBI single before Garner hit a sacrifice fly.
The Mavs were retired quickly in the sixth and then left two more runners on in the seventh as Tori Haug pitched a complete game to record the win. She struck out five but did walk six.
CMU's
Hannah Sattler (10-5) took the loss after going three innings before
Marisa Nehm pitched the final three innings.
Game 2
After stranding runners at second and third base in the top of the first, the Mavericks gave up four hits and a walk as the Eagles scored their first three runs before an out was recorded. Brady Laucomer then hit a 1-out, 2-run double to give the Eagles all the runs they would need.
The Mavericks pulled one run back in the third as
Ashley Bradford hit an RBI single to plate
Bella Aragon, who had led off the inning with a single.
Bradford, who went 3-for-4 in the game, then led off the sixth with a single before Crouch hit her second homer of the doubleheader to close the gap to two (5-3).
However, the Mavs could not cash in on late chances wasting a 1-out singles by Mekayla Westmoreland in the sixth and a lead-off single by Aragon in the seventh.
Delaney Farnsworth struck out six Mavericks in her complete game win for the Eagles while
Kennedy Vis fell to 5-4 after giving up four hits and five runs in the early going. Nehm was solid the rest of the way, allowing just four hits in her six innings of work.
The two teams are scheduled to play another doubleheader on Friday at 11 a.m. to wrap up the 4-game series, which was moved up two days due to weather forecasts.
