GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team will look for revenge and to move past their opponents in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings when they host the MSU Denver Roadrunners in a key 4-game weekend series at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Roadrunners (24-9, 20-2 RMAC), who ended the Mavs' season during the 2022 RMAC Tournament, are currently in second place in the RMAC standings and have won 23 of their last 26 games but will be on the road for the first time in a month.
 
The Mavericks (20-11) are in third place in the standings at 18-5 and will be looking to avenge last year's post-season results and a rare series loss after dropping three of four last week to Chadron State, which snapped the Mavs' 12-game winning streak.
 
This weekend's doubleheaders will be played at noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks played at Chadron State last Thursday and Friday.  The series, originally scheduled for the weekend, was moved up 48 hours due to weather forecasts.
 
The Mavericks left 37 runners on base throughout the series as the Eagles took three of the four games, marking the first time that CMU has lost a series since 2015, when they ended the regular season with a 0-4 pod weekend at Chadron State and against the Eagles and MSU Denver.
 
However, there were bright spots for the Mavericks.  Rylee Crouch hit a home run in each game of the series, raising her season total to 19.  She also hit .429 and slugged 1.286 throughout the weekend.
 
Ashley Bradford also had a strong series, going 6-for-11 (.545) at the plate while drawing four walks and five total free passes, allowing her to finish the weekend with a .688 on-base percentage.  She and Ava Fugate also hit home runs against the Eagles.
 
Defensively, the Mavericks were clean and had an errorless weekend.  Freshman pitcher Marisa Nehm also fared well giving up just ten hits and a 1.85 ERA in 11 1/3 innings over three relief appearances.
 
National Leader & Watchlist
 
Rylee Crouch leads all levels of 4-year collegiate softball with 19 home runs this season.  The Maverick sophomore outfielder also leads Division II with 52 RBIs and her 1.108 slugging percentage, figures just behind the Division I leader Autumn Owen of Marshall, who has 54 RBIs and a 1.116 slugging percentage.  Owen has hit 15 home runs to lead Division I players from Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee and Arizona State, who have hit 14 home runs.
 
Crouch also paces the RMAC with her .461 batting average and is on pace to win the conference's triple crown.  Colorado Christian's Logan Menzies is second in the conference with 39 RBIs and is tied for second with nine home runs.  Adams State's Kaia Bradford is second in the conference for batting average at .444, just ahead of Colorado Christian's Kenzie Middleton, who currently had a .442 mark.
 
On Thursday, Crouch was one of just three RMAC players named to the Tucci/NFCA National Division II Player and Pitcher of the Year Watchlist, which was broken down by region with up to 15 selections from each of the eight geographical regions. 
 
In search of records
 
With still a month of the regular season plus any post-season games the Mavericks should qualify for remaining in the season, Crouch is just two home runs shy of the Mavericks' single-season record of 21, set 22 years ago by Kelly Adams, the RMAC's Centennial Celebration All-Time Top Player, in 2001.
 
MSU Denver's Tara Mickelson (2010) and UCCS' Krystal Krebs (2005) share the RMAC record of 25 while UCCS' Jessika Anastos holds the NCAA Division II and RMAC record of home runs per game (0.57).  Crouch is currently averaging 0.61 per game.
 
Southern Arkansas' Brooke Goad set the NCAA Division II record for total home runs (32) in 2018.
 
Slugging Siblings
 
Crouch is far from the only Maverick swinging a powerful bat this season.  That is true for both halves of the diamonds in the Bus Bergman Complex as both the CMU baseball and softball teams lead the NCAA Division II statistics in slugging percentage this year.  The softball squad had a .679 team slugging percentage while the Maverick baseball team is slugging at a .630 clip entering their weekend home series against Regis.

This weekend will mark the first time this season that local fans can watch both teams in person on the same weekend.
 
RMAC Dinger Count
 
The Mavericks have hit at least one home run in all but one of their 23 conference games and have combined to hit 54 of their 60 home run in conference play.
 
The Mavs are second in the country in home runs, trailing only Valdosta State, which has hit 72.
 
Ten different Mavericks have hit home runs.  Six of those have five or more, including Ashley Bradford and Miranda Pruitt, who are tied for fifth in the RMAC with eight, behind Crouch.
 
The Mavs' closet competition within the RMAC is from Colorado Christian, which has hit 41 home runs, tied for 11^th most in the country.
 
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 299-68 overall record, good for an .815 winning percentage in their 367 games during the stretch.
 
The Mavs have been even more impressive in conference play, going an incredible 235-26 in their 261 RMAC games since 2016, good for an .900 winning percentage.  The Mavs did not lose more than four RMAC games in a single season during that 6-year stretch, but have dropped five this 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 10-2 home start this season, the Mavs are now 167-25 (.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 the three teams in the top four 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- 10-2 (current)
 
*Pandemic abbreviated season.
 
Century Coach
 
Third-year Maverick Head Coach Mercedes Bohte, a member of the Maverick coaching staff since 2013, recorded her 100^th career victory in the opening game of the Mavs' last home series against UCCS on Mar. 18.  She will enter this weekend with a 104-25 record and .806 career winning percentage as the leader of the program.
 
The Mavericks have won 89.7 percent (87-10) of their RMAC games under her tutelage.
 
Bohte is one of just three Maverick coaches to have won more than 100 games and was the fastest to reach the milestone, needing just 122 games to do so.
 
Her former boss Ben Garcia won 169 games in his four seasons with the Mavericks, who went 169-49 (.775) in those years.  He also surpassed the 100-win mark in his third year (2017) but needed 140 total games to reach the milestone.
 
Kris Mort holds the CMU Coaching Record, having won 537 in her 19 years from 1994-2012 but did not reach the 100-win mark until early in her fifth year (1997).
 
More about Bohte
 
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 Roadrunners are currently in second place in the RMAC standings, 2 ½ games ahead of the Mavericks with a 20-2 mark.  They have won 23 of their last 26 overall but have been able to be at home, playing each of their last 16 and 20 of their last 24 at home with the others being played only a short drive south on I-25 to Colorado Springs.
 
As a team, the Roadrunners are second in the RMAC with their .330 team batting average and have used their speed, swiping 57 bases, just one shy of the conference lead.
 
Shelby Robb leads the Roadrunner offensive attack with a .434 batting average, fifth best in the conference.  She also ranks third in the league for slugging percentage (.855) and has a team-high ten doubles and 19 extra-base hits.  Fellow outfielder Kami Grammerstorf is hitting .370 and is a perfect 19-for-19 on stolen base attempts and has drawn a team-high 13 walks.  She and Robb both have five triples, tied for second most in the league.
 
Miah Hartvigsen is also hitting .405 while catcher Jaden Geist and Alexia Boring aid in the power game.  Geist is hitting 370 and has five home runs and 24 RBIs.  Boring leads the team with six home runs and is second behind Robb with eight doubles.  She is hitting .350.
 
The Roadrunners also have the RMAC's second best pitching staff in terms of team ERA at 3.18.  Freshman Jenna Medhus has emerged as the No. 1 for tenth-year head coach Annie VanWetzinga.  She is 9-2 with a 2.34 ERA and has completed eight of her 11 starts while throwing 71 2/3 innings.
 
Another freshman in Cheyenne Preito is 6-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 48 innings of work while sophomore Audrey Burt is 5-5 with a 4.07 ERA.  She has made a team-most 17 appearances and 13 starts and has 65 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings. 
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks had won 16 straight games in the rivalry until the Roadrunners beat the Mavs twice during last year's RMAC Tournament to end CMU's season.  Prior to the Mavericks' run, that begin in 2017, MSU Denver had won nine straight games between the teams.
 
MSU Denver does hold a slight 27-23 lead in the series since 1994 and is 12-8 against the Mavericks in Grand Junction as one of the few teams to have enjoyed routine success on Maverick turf.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will be on the road next week playing at CSU Pueblo in a 4-game set on Friday and Saturday, a day earlier than the normal cadence due to the Easter Holiday.  The Thunderwolves are currently 10-21 overall and sit in tenth place in the RMAC standings at 5-17.  They are at home against 11^th place Adams State this weekend.