GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team will look to continue its home-field success this weekend when the Mavericks host the Regis University Rangers in a key Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Mavericks (25-14, 23-8 RMAC) moved up into second place in the RMAC standings last week and are just a half-game up on MSU Denver (26-15, 22-8 RMAC), which plays conference leading Colorado Christian (41-3, 31-1 RMAC) this weekend.  Regis, 25-17 overall is in fourth place of the conference standings at 22-10.
 
This weekend's doubleheaders will begin at Noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
A live stream for all four games can be found on the RMAC Network.  Live statistics will also be accessible at the link above.
 
Special Events
 
Saturday's doubleheader, expected to be played under sunny conditions with temperatures in the 50s will include some special events as the CMU campus is sure to be buzzing.
 
At the softball stadium, the Mavericks will help raise funds for the Swing for Life Foundation on Saturday.  The foundation is run by CMU alum Kathy Howa, who diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.  Today, Howa is cancer free for over 20 years.  Her students and Kendra Tomsic helped start the foundation, where to the date, they have raised over a million dollars for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
 
Howa, who will throw out the first pitch on Saturday, has inducted into the Utah Softball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, and in 2019 she received the Distinguished Alumni Award for CMU.  She is now in her 30^th year as an educator and where she teaches health, and coaches softball.
 
Meanwhile, their will also be an Alumni Zone in conjunction with this weekend's Maverick Days' events.  The zone, located in the outfield quad between the softball and baseball diamonds is open to faculty/staff, students and the community at large and admission is just $5 and will be held from 2-4 p.m.
 
For more information, visit here.

The nation's ninth-ranked Maverick baseball team is hosting No. 3 Rollins in a 3-game series this weekend, including a 3 p.m. game series on Saturday.
 
The Maverick track & field team is also hosting a meet this weekend while the Maverick tennis teams are playing CSU Pueblo and MSU Denver in their final regular season duals of the season.
 
The spring concert and beer garden featuring Bryce Vine, BabyJake and Kid Caravan is also taking place on Saturday evening.  More info on that event and the ability to save $5 by purchasing tickets in advance can be found here.

Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks split both doubleheader and the series as a whole last week at CSU Pueblo.  On Good Friday (Apr. 7), the Mavericks dropped the  first game of the series 3-2 after leaving 11 runners on base.  However, they responded for an 11-3 victory via the mercy rules in five innings.
 
The Mavs then won the third game of the series last Saturday (Apr. 8) by a 7-4 margin before falling 8-7 in eight innings in the last game of the set.
 
The Mavericks hit seven home runs and did not concede any throughout the weekend and out-scored the ThunderWolves, 27-18.
 
Ashley Bradford, Brandi Haller and Ava Fugate all had two home runs apiece while Miranda Pruitt added another.  Bradford went 8-for-13 (.615) at the plate, recording five extra-base hits (two doubles, one triple) while slugging at a 1.385 clip.  She also drew four free passes and had an impressive. 706 on-base percentage while swiping four bases and scoring six runs. 
 
Haller hit .500 (6-12) and slugged at a 1.167 clip with six RBIs and five runs scored while Fugate drove in seven runs while slugging 1.000.  One of Haller's home runs was an inside-the-parker while Fugate also added a triple.
 
Marisa Nehm led the Maverick pitching staff posting a 2-1 record and solid 1.05 ERA in three appearances, spanning 13 1/3 innings.  She allowed just two runs and recorded the complete game win in Game 2 of the set on Friday.
 
Top Sluggers
 
As a team, the Mavericks continue to lead the NCAA Division II statistics with their .666 slugging percentage.  The only other NCAA squad with a higher percentage is Division I top-ranked Oklahoma (.680).
 
The Mavs have hit 77 home runs, second only to Valdosta State's 94 in Division II, and are ranked for fourth in the national statistics for doubles (77).  The Mavs are also ranked sixth in Division II for total hits (394), tenth in Division II for total runs (300) and are eight for scoring average, putting up 7.69 runs per game.
 
Homer Hitters
 
The Mavericks have hit 77 home runs as a team this year, 28 more than any other RMAC team (Colorado Christian, 49).  Four different Mavericks have now reached double-figures.
 
Rylee Crouch continues to lead the conference and is tied for the national-lead with 19, but has gone two weeks without hitting one after hitting one in all four games of the Chadron State series on Mar. 23-24.
 
Brandi Haller is second in the RMAC with 13 home runs while Ashley Bradford and Miranda Pruitt both have ten homers to stand in a third place tie with two others in the RMAC statistics.

Six other Mavericks have combined for 25 more home runs as well.
 
In search of records
 
With still 12 games 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 0.49 per game.
 
The leader shines
 
Ashley Bradford, the reigning RMAC Player of the Year, has now taken over the team-lead with a .415 batting average.  She now ranks fourth in the RMAC for that category.  She is also fourth in the RMAC for slugging percentage (.789) and is second in the conference with her .510 on-base percentage.
 
Bradford also leads the Mavs with ten doubles, 21 walks and 14 stolen bases and is tied for the team lead with 39 runs and three triples.
 
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 304-71 overall record, good for an .811 winning percentage in their 375 games during the stretch.
 
The Mavs have been even more impressive in conference play, going an incredible 240-29 in their 269 RMAC games since 2016, good for an .892 winning percentage.  The Mavs did not lose more than four RMAC games in a single season during that 6-year stretch, but have dropped eight 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 13-3 home start this season, the Mavs are now 170-26 (.867) in the last nine seasons at home.  They have won each of their four home series this year and each of their last 16 since splitting a 4-game series against the Colorado School of Mines on Mar. 7-8, 2020 right before the COVID cancelation of the rest of the season.
 
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, playing conference-leading Colorado Christian next weekend in their final home series of the regular season.
 
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- 13-3 (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' home series against UCCS on Mar. 18.  She will enter this weekend with a 109-28 record and .796 career winning percentage as the leader of the program.
 
The Mavericks have won 87.6 percent (92-13) 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 Rangers will enter Grand Junction after having swept New Mexico Highlands at home last weekend in Denver.  Now 25-17 overall and 22-10 in RMAC play, the Rangers have not been on the road for over a month playing their last four series at home after their Mar. 24-25 set with Black Hills State was moved to Denver from Spearfish, South Dakota.
 
The Rangers are 10-6 in road games this season.
 
Fourth-year Head Coach Nichole Thompson's Rangers are hitting .304 as a team to rank fourth in the RMAC and are led by Rachel Williams and Jessi Case.  Williams has a .403 batting average to rank seventh in the RMAC and has nine doubles, three triples and six home runs to her credit.  She is also slugging .659 and has driven in 32 runs while scoring 36 of her own.  She also has a team-best .519 on-base percentage to rank fourth in the RMAC, thanks in part to her 30 bases on balls.
 
Case, a 2-time All-RMAC pick and 2021 Third Team D2CCA All-American, is hitting .376 in her fifth season.  She has ten doubles and leads the RMAC with nine triples.  She has also swiped a RMAC-leading 34 bases, a dozen more than any other RMAC player, and has been caught stealing just once.
 
Mia Campos has also been solid and is hitting .336 while driving in a team-high 36 runs.  Olivia Wick has a .331 batting average and 28 RBIs.  She has seven doubles and four home runs to her credit as well.
 
Thompson has used six pitchers this season in a deep pitching staff, five of whom have thrown over 32 innings.  Kylie Harpman is certainly the ace of the staff and holds a 10-7 record and 2.48 ERA to rank fourth in the RMAC.  She has also struck out 141 opponents, second most in the RMAC, in 104 1/3 innings over 21 appearances.  She also had an impressive 1.19 WHIP (Walks + Hits/Innings Pitched)
 
Abby Covington has made 24 appearances, all out of the bullpen, and holds a 3-2 record and 3.89 ERA. 
 
The Mavericks are also likely to see Vanessa Candito, who has made 15 starts while posting a 3-3 record and 4.58 ERA.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks hold a 70-40 lead in the series against the Rangers since 1994 and have won each of the last six series between the teams, which have generally been more competitive than many of the Mavs' RMAC games.  The Mavs won three of the four games last season (Mar. 26-27) and home but needed ten innings to win the first before dropping the third game of the set, 6-5.  The other two wins were via the mercy-rule.
 
In 2021, the Mavericks won three of four games in Denver and added a RMAC Tournament win over them.
 
The Mavs are 33-18 at home against the Rangers and hold a 51-33 record in RMAC regular season contests against them.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will remain at home to take on Colorado Christian next weekend (Apr. 22-23).  The Cougars are currently ranked 12^th in the country and are currently 41-3 overall and 31-1 in RMAC play, leading the Mavs by 7 ½ games.  However, they have yet to play the other two top teams in the RMAC and will be on the short-road to MSU Denver this weekend before heading to Grand Junction next weekend in their pursuit of dethroning the Mavs as the RMAC Regular Season champions.  The Cougars did take three of four games from Regis earlier this month and won the 2022 RMAC Tournament title.