GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team will look to bounce back from a tough weekend as they close out the home portion of their schedule against the newly-crowned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season champions in a 4-game series between the conference's top two offenses at the CMU Softball Stadium.
 
The Mavericks (26-17, 24-11 RMAC) stand in third place in the conference standings and will take on the nation's ninth-ranked Cougars (45-3, 35-1 RMAC), who clinched their first RMAC regular season crown last weekend.
 
This weekend's series will include doubleheaders starting at noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.  The Mavericks will recognize five of their departing players during Senior Day festivities between games on Sunday.
 
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 at the links above.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks hosted Regis last weekend and won the first game in thrilling fashion by a 5-4 count but dropped the second game last Saturday (Apr. 15) by a 3-2 count.  The Rangers then held the Mavericks to just six hits— three in each game— and two total runs while sweeping Sunday's doubleheader 10-2 and 4-0 to win the series, 3-1.
 
Iliana Mendoza led the Maverick offensive attack going 6-for-12 (.500) with a double at the plate while freshman Olivia Litzen and Ashley Bradford each finished with four hits over the weekend. Bradford also homered as did Asilyn Sharp, who had missed the preceding seven games due to injury.
 
Marisa Nehm led the Maverick pitching staff, appearing in all four games while picking up the win in Game 1.  She had a respectable 3.41 ERA in 12 1/3 innings over the weekend.
 
Senior Day
 
As mentioned in the introduction, the Mavericks will recognize their five "seniors" in between games of Sunday's doubleheader.  The Mavericks will honor Ashley Bradford, Sarah Jorissen, Brandi Haller, Iliana Mendoza and Aislyn Sharp.  Bradford and Haller are in the fifth years of collegiate softball and took advantage of the NCAA's blanket COVID related eligibility waiver to return this year.  Jorissen, Mendoza and Sharp are all listed as redshirt juniors on the Maverick roster and have decided to forgo that opportunity and not return for a fifth year in 2024.
 
The group has put together some impressive numbers and accolades throughout their career.
 
Bradford, Jorissen and Sharp have been Mavericks throughout their entire 4 and 5-year collegiate careers while Haller and Mendoza joined the Mavs as transfers and have played five combined seasons with the Mavs.
 
Haller joined the CMU team in 2021 and has been with the Mavericks for three seasons, after transferring from Division I Northern Colorado and returning home to Grand Junction.  She was a first team all-conference and second team all-region pick last year.
 
Mendoza joined the Maverick program in 2022 after spending two seasons at Eastern New Mexico, re-uniting with Bradford, a fellow Tucsonian and club teammate, and was named as the National Player of the Week earlier this season.
 
Bradford, a 3-year Maverick starter, was named as the RMAC Player of the Year in 2022 while earning Second Team D2CCA All-America honors.
 
Sharp was named as the RMAC All-Tournament Team in 2021 after hitting three home runs in the championship game victory over Colorado Christian, this week's opponent.  Jorrisen has been a 2-year starter for the Mavericks and has added pitching duties to her corner infield and designated player prowess.
 
A battle for a bye
 
Although they have not yet clinched a spot, the Mavericks are locked in quite a battle for RMAC Tournament seeding and a potential first round bye for the May 4-6 tournament.  Colorado Christian leads the conference by ten full games and will host the tournament at All-Star Park in Lakewood although the battle for the No. 2 spot and other first round bye is intense.
 
Regis currently holds that spot with a 25-11 record thanks to their series win last weekend while the Mavericks are just a half-game back at 24-11 after having a game canceled at Adams State earlier in the season.
 
MSU Denver, which lost three of four games in Grand Junction earlier this month, is in fourth place at 22-12 and just 1 ½ games behind the Mavs while the Colorado School of Mines is in fifth place in the conference standings at 21-13, just one behind MSU Denver and 2 ½ behind the Mavs after taking three of four games from the Roadrunners last weekend.
 
MSU Denver is at Regis this weekend as the top four teams in the current standings are matched up this weekend.
 
Fort Lewis, 18-16 in the RMAC, and Chadron State (18-18) are battling it out for the sixth and final RMAC Tournament qualification spot although both could qualify if any the teams above them were to falter down the stretch.
 
Top Hitters
 
Plenty of runs could be put on the scoreboard this weekend as the Mavericks and Cougars have the conference's top offensive attacks.  The Cougars have scored 347 runs in 48 games and rank 12^th in the country for scoring average at 7.23 runs per game.  The Mavs are just behind the conference leaders, scoring 309 runs in 43 games to rank 13^th nationally.
 
Meanwhile, CMU continues to pace the RMAC with 79 home runs, a team slugging percentage of .641 and a team batting average of .350.  They ranks second nationally in slugging percentage, third for home runs and 11^th for batting average.
 
The Cougars also lead the country in doubles (108) while CMU is seventh nationally and second in the RMAC with 85.
 
CCU is second behind the Mavs in the RMAC for batting average (.335), slugging percentage (.589) and home runs (61) and also lead the league in triples with 26.
 
Homer Hitters
 
The Mavericks have hit 79  home runs as a team this year, 18 more than any other RMAC team (Colorado Christian, 61).  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 three weeks without hitting one after hitting one in all four games of the Chadron State series on Mar. 23-24.
 
Brandi Haller is tied for second in the RMAC with 13 home runs while Ashley Bradford has hit 11 to rank sixth (tie) in the RMAC statistics.  Miranda Pruitt both have ten homers to stand in an eighth place tie with two others in the RMAC statistics.

Six other Mavericks have combined for 26 more home runs as well.
 
In search of records
 
With still eight 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 0.44 per game.
 
All-Around leader
 
Ashley Bradford, the reigning RMAC Player of the Year, has now taken over the team-lead with a .407 batting average.  She now ranks fourth in the RMAC for that category.  She is also fourth in the RMAC for slugging percentage (.778) and is second in the conference with her .503 on-base percentage.
 
Bradford also leads the Mavs with 41 runs scored, 11 doubles, 23 walks and 14 stolen bases and is tied for the team lead with three triples.
 
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, although the Regis Rangers were able to penetrate that fortress last weekend, becoming the first RMAC opponent to win a series in Grand Junction in nine years.
 
Still, 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 14-6 home start this season, the Mavs have won 171 of their last 200 home games over the last nearly  nine seasons, good for a winning percentage of .855.
 
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.
 
Here's a look at the Mavericks' home-field records over the last eight-plus 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- 14-6 (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 110-31 record and .780 career winning percentage as the leader of the program.
 
The Mavericks have won 85.3 percent (93-16) 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 Cougars have been a forced to be reckoned with this year winning 45 of their last 46 games after an 0-2 start.    They are 45-3 overall and have the nation's second best winning percentage (.938) and have gradually climbed to a program all-time best No. 9 in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
 
The Cougars clinched their first RMAC regular season title in program history last weekend with a 4-game sweep at MSU Denver, which raised their conference record to 35-1.
 
The Cougars, who won last year's RMAC Tournament title in Grand Junction, are 12^th in the county for scoring and 19^th nationally in ERA.  They lead the RMAC in both categories, scoring 7.23 runs per game while posting their 1.80 ERA.  They also lead the country in doubles with 108 and are third in total hits with 454 while ranking ninth in the country with 61 home runs.
 
Kenzie Middleton leads the country in doubles with 21 and is second with 73 hits.  She leads the RMAC with her .435 batting average and has hit 13 home runs while scoring 59 runs and driving in 43.  She has also stolen 13 bases.
 
Sami Edwards also has a stellar .390 batting average while Kayla Middleton and Logan Menzies are both hitting .340.  Menzies has hit 12 home runs and has 13 doubles while driving in a team-high 51 runs to rank second in the RMAC for RBIs behind CMU's Rylee Crouch.
 
The Cougar pitching staff has also been stout, combining for 19 team shutouts.  Kali Crandall is 22-2 with a 1.37 ERA in 30 appearances and 22 starts and has recorded ten shutouts by herself.  She has also fanned 173 opponents in 153 2/3 innings of work.  Abrie Castillo is also an impressive 17-1 with a 1.54 ERA and has 110 strikeouts in 118 1/3 innings. 
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks hold a 31-13 lead in the all-time series with the Cougars, including an 18-7 home field record.  The two teams, who have been the class of the RMAC in recent seasons, have grown to be bitter, but respected rivals.
 
They split last year's regular series in Lakewood on the penultimate weekend of the regular season, before the Mavericks eventually won the RMAC regular title by a single game when the Cougars faltered at New Mexico Highlands allowing CMU to win a sixth straight outright title with a series sweep of Chadron State.
 
Despite being the top two seeds, they did not face each other in the 2022 RMAC Tournament, which CCU won but played three times in the 2021 RMAC Tournament with the Mavericks winning two of three games, including wins in the championship and "if necessary" games to take the title.
 
The Mavs had also won the previous eight games between the teams.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavs will close out the regular season next Friday and Saturday facing the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in Golden.  The Orediggers are currently 22-21 overall and in fifth place in the RMAC standings with a 21-13 conference record.  They are at New Mexico Highlands this weekend and have won seven of their last eight, including a 4-game sweep of Adams State and a 3-1 series win over fourth place MSU Denver.