PUEBLO, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University shortstop
Ashley Bradford went 5-for-6 with two walks and homered in both games of a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader split with the CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves here at the Pack's Rawlings Softball Complex.
The Mavericks hit five home runs as a team throughout the day dropping the first game, 3-2, before posting two 3-run innings and a 5-run barrage in the top of the fifth to win the second, 11-3 via the mercy rule.
The Maverick pitching staff conceded just two earned runs, one in each game, as
Hannah Sattler and
Marisa Nehm both tossed complete games.
The split left the Mavericks with a 24-13 overall and 22-7 RMAC record while the ThunderWolves are now 13-24 overall and 8-20 in conference play.
Game 1
Bradford, the 2022 RMAC Player of the Year, and
Miranda Pruitt both hit solo home runs, but the Mavericks were unable to come from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits while leaving 11 runners on base throughout the game.
The Mavericks left seven runners on base in the first three innings alone, including with the bases loaded in the first.
The ThunderWolves then made them pay scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the third when Caitlyn Cole doubled home Seaerra F. Arellano moments before Jill Bishop hit a triple to plate Cole.
Bradford then hit a 2-out homer in the top of the fourth to slice the gap in half before the Pack went ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth as a leaf-off single turned into a run as the freshman catcher stole second and third before scoring on a fielder's choice.
However, the Mavericks did not go away as Pruitt hit a 1-out homer in the top of the sixth to close the gap to 3-2. The Mavs then loaded the bases on an error and walks to Bradford and
Ava Fugate but again left the bases loaded as pitcher Jacelynn Trujillo got a strikeout and come-back ground out to get out of the jam.
She then retired the Mavericks in order in the seventh to improve to 4-8.
Sattler took the loss for the Mavs to fall to 13-7 despite after giving up nine hits and no walks and just one earned run.
Bradford went 2-for-2 with two walks in the top spot of the Maverick lineup, which drew six walks and a hit by pitch from Trujillo.
However, the Mavericks were out-hit, 9-6.
Game 2
The Mavericks did not waste any time in the second game as Bradford hit a lead-off homer, her tenth overall bomb of the season, to give the Mavs an early lead. They did not let up as freshman
Bella Aragon doubled before scoring on a 2-run home run by
Brandi Haller to center field, giving the Mavs a 3-0 lead. The blast was Haller's 12
th of the season and her fifth in the last six games.
The ThunderWolves would get one run back in the bottom half of the inning as Madelyn Huerta hit an RBI ground out to Bradford at short as Cole scored after reaching on a 1-out single up the middle.
Both teams then went quietly in the second before the Mavericks went on to score three more runs in the top of the third, two of which came on a Haller hit to right field that got past a diving Tori Cordova. Haller came all the way around to score on the play.
The Mavs also added a later run in that inning as
Rylee Crouch drew a 2-out walk before moving to second on
Olivia Litzen single and scoring on a
Makayla Westmoreland hit.
The ThunderWolves then pulled two runs back in the bottom of the fourth to close the gap to 6-3 before the Mavs answered back in a big way in the fifth.
Bradford hit a 2-run double with two outs in that inning before she and Aragon, who drew a walk, both scored on a Fugate homer to right that completed the game's scoring.
Nehm then shut the ThunderWolves down in the bottom of the fifth as the Mavs claimed the 8-run victory.
The Maverick freshman is now 4-0 on the season after giving up just six hits and one hit batter.
Bradford went 3-for-4 with three RBIs' while Fugate was 2-for-4 with her home run. Haller was also 2-for-3 as the Mavericks finished the game with 11 hits, including five for extra-bases.
The two teams will play another doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m.
