PUEBLO, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University softball team scored seven runs in each game and split a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference softball doubleheader for the second straight day and will enter the final three weeks of regular season in second place of very tight RMAC standings. They won Saturday's first game 7-4 before falling 8-7 in eight innings to the host CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves as the teams split their 4-game Friday/Saturday set here at the Rawlings Softball Complex.
The Mavericks are now 25-14 overall and 23-8 in conference play, good for a half-game lead over MSU Denver (22-8), which managed a Saturday split, but just one win in a 4-game set with the Colorado School of Mines, tied with Fort Lewis, winners of eight straight games, for fifth place at 17-13.
Meanwhile, Regis is just two losses behind the Mavericks and in fourth place with a 23-10 conference record after sweeping a home series from New Mexico Highlands.
Regis will play at CMU next weekend (Apr. 15-16).
National No. 12 Colorado Christian continues to lead the standings at 31-1 and now has a 7 ½-game and more than 200 winning percentage point lead over the Mavericks after sweeping a series against Black Hills State.
Game 1
Seven different Mavericks combined for ten hits as the Mavs overcame an early 2-0 deficit to build a 4-2 lead through 2 ½ innings. CSU Pueblo (14-25, 9-21 RMAC) then tied the game with runs in the third and fourth before the Mavericks put up three runs in the top of the sixth to take the win.
Ashley Bradford had the game-winning RBI on a 1-out triple before
Ava Fugate hit a 2-run home run later in the inning.
Fugate was 2-for-4 with two runs in the game and joined Bradford and
Brandi Haller as Mavericks with three hits throughout the doubleheader.
After conceding two runs in the bottom of the first, the Mavericks pulled one back in the top of the second as Haller was hit by a pitch before stealing second and scoring on a
Rylee Crouch RBI double. However, the Mavericks later left the bases loaded and were still trailing until the third when Haller hit an RBI single before Crouch and
Iliana Mendoza both hit sacrifice flies to give the Mavs a 4-2 lead.
The Pack then scored their other two runs in the third and fourth to tie the game before both teams were held scoreless in the fifth with the game tied at 4.
After taking the lead in the top of the sixth, relief pitcher
Marisa Nehm retired six of the final seven batters she faced to close out the Maverick win.
Game 2
The Mavericks took 3-0 and 6-1 leads after the top of the first and second, respectively but fell behind 7-6 after the ThunderWolves put up two runs in the second and four in the third.
Crouch then had an RBI foul out and sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 7 before both teams clamped down defensively as the game went into extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, the ThunderWolves were able to score the winning run with three 2-out hits. Delaney Barela started the rally with a double before moving to third on a Tori Cordova single to left center. Lead-off hitter Raelynn Rodgers then delivered the game-winning hit to left to plate Barela.
Bradford went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs in the game. She also recorded three of the Mavs' six stolen bases, swiping home on a well-executed double steal in the top of the first. Meanwhile, Fugate had a 2-run triple in the top of the second, two pays before Crouch hit an RBI groundout to plate Fugate with the Mavs' third run of that frame and their sixth of the game.
The Mavericks had scored all three of their first-inning runs without a hit as Pack starter Marissa Robertson walked six Mavericks in just two-thirds of an inning.
The Mavs finished with seven hits, eight walks and a hit by pitch as Bradford was on base four times.
