Box Score LAKEWOOD, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks.
The walk-off wonders.
One in the same.
The Maverick softball team claimed its ninth walk-off victory of the season, in somewhat unusual fashion as
Iliana Mendoza scored from second base on a
Sarah Jorissen sacrifice fly to lift the Mavs to a 7-6 victory over Regis University in an elimination game of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament which continued on Friday here at All Star Park.
After winning 2-0 over Chadron State in a previous elimination game earlier in the day, the fourth-seeded Mavericks will now take on MSU Denver on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
The winner of that game will then have the opportunity to play tournament host Colorado Christian, which came from behind to defeat MSU Denver earlier on Friday, in the championship game at 1:30 p.m. The if-necessary game will then follow at 4 p.m.
The Mavericks, now 31-22 overall, will have to win three more games to win the RMAC Tournament title, something they accomplished in similar fashion at home in 2021.
In Friday's victory over the Rangers, the Mavericks led 4-0 through two innings but watched the Rangers storm back to take a 6-4 lead through six.
However, the Mavericks scored three times in the seventh to claim their second walk-off win of the year against the Rangers.
In the seventh,
Rylee Crouch registered a 1-out single before pinch-hitter
Miranda Pruitt hit a double.
Brandi Haller, then re-entered to run for her replacement before both she and Crouch scored on a Mendoza single that tied the game at 6.
After a pitching change and
Olivia Litzen walk, Jorissen hit an Abby Covington pitch to left field, which left fielder Hannah Sisul dove to catch. However, Mendoza tagged up on the play and rounded third to score the game-winning run.
The Mavs also had a big second inning as freshman
Makayla Westmoreland and redshirt senior
Ashley Bradford both delivered 2-run singles to give the Mavs the early lead.
The Rangers then scored in the third, fourth and fifth innings to close the gap to 4-3 before scoring three separate times in the top of the sixth to take their only lead.
The Mavs then left two runners on base in the bottom half of the sixth before the seventh-inning heroics.
Both teams finished the contest with ten hits as
Marisa Nehm (7-2) picked up the win for the Mavs, pitching six innings over two different spans while allowing just six hits and a single earned run.
Aislyn Sharp and Crouch both went 2-for-3 with a walk to lead the Maverick offensive attack.
