GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University's Brandi Haller hit three home runs throughout the day as the Maverick softball team held on for a 5-4 win in the second game to claim a Sunday split and weekend series win over MSU Denver here at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Mavericks won three games in the 4-game set and improved to 23-12 overall and to 21-6 in RMAC play, just a half-game behind the Roadrunners (25-12, 21-5 RMAC) for second place in the conference standings.
 
After Haller hit a walk-off 2-run shot in the bottom of the tenth in Saturday's second game, she hit two home runs in Sunday's first contest, which the Roadrunners won 13-8, before giving the Mavs a 3-0 lead in the first inning of the final game of the series on Sunday afternoon.  They then built a 5-1 lead before holding on for the win as Marisa Nehm earned her third save of the campaign in relief of Hannah Sattler, who turned in a gutsy 6-inning performance to earn a bounce-back win, her 13^th of the year, after being roughed up early in the first game of Sunday's twin-bill.
 
Haller now has 11 home runs on the season and finished the weekend with seven RBIs and six runs scored while going 5-for-11 (.455) and drawing four walks on Sunday alone.
 
Game 1
 
Both teams hit four home runs as the game turned into a slugfest.  The Roadrunners posted 18 hits as eight different players had two or more.  The Mavericks finished with a dozen as Ava Fugate and Haller both had two home runs.
 
The Roadrunners jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 1 ½ innings thanks to solo home runs by Shelby Robb and Miah Hartvigsen along with three more RBI singles in the second.
 
Haller then answered with a solo homer of her own in the bottom of the second.

However, the Roadrunners added three more runs in the top of the fourth, two of which came on a Jaiden Geist RBI double, to build an 8-1 lead.
 
The Mavs battled back as Fugate hit her first homer in the bottom of the fourth before Miranda Pruitt hit an RBI single three plays later to cut the cap to 8-3.
 
Fugate then added a 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to cut the gap to 8-5 before the Mavs loaded the bases with just one out.  Pruitt then drew a RMAC walk to cut the gap to 8-6 before being unable to cash in for any further runs.
 
The Roadrunners made them pay, plating five runs in the top of the sixth, as Jenna Medhus hit a 2-run homer as part of a 4-hit inning that gave the visitors an 11-6 cushion.
 
The Mavs then went quietly in the bottom of the sixth before Hannah DiFabio hit another 2-run homers to make it a 13-6 game.
 
Haller then added her second home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh before an Iliana Mendoza sacrifice fly with the bases loaded completed the scoring.
 
Fugate went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the game while Haller was 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored.  Sarah Jorissen and Pruitt both went 2-for-3.
 
Game 2
 
After falling behind in the first game, the Mavericks came out firing in the second as Rylee Crouch delivered an RBI single before Haller hit a 2-run homer later in the first inning to give the Mavs a 3-0 lead.
 
Hartvigsen, who drove in all four of the Roadrunners' runs in the game, then cut the cap to 3-1 in the top of the fourth before Maverick freshman Olivia Litzen and Mekayla Westmoreland answered with run-scoring singles of their own in the bottom half to put the Mavs up 5-1.
 
Hartvigsen then cut the cap to 5-4 on one swing of the bat in the top of the sixth before Sattler was able to escape the inning striking out the final two Roadrunners she would face.
 
Nehm, who had thrown four innings of relief earlier in the day, then came in for a hit-less seventh, which saw her strikeout Medhus in between two walks.  She also got DiFabio and Hartvigsen to ground out to Westmoreland at second base to earn the save.
 
Sattler, who threw 49 pitches in the first game, allowed just one hit through three innings and seven overall as she gutted it out for 98 more pitches in the second to improve to 13-6.
 
The Mavs also did just enough offensively and played some stellar defense behind her.
 
Crouch went 2-for-3 as the Mavs out-hit the Roadrunners, 8-7.

Up Next
 
CMU has now won all four of their home series this year.  They will head out on the road to face CSU Pueblo on Friday and Saturday (Apr. 7-8) before returning home for their next eight games.