BLOOMFIELD, N.M. — Miranda Pruitt hit a pair of home runs and the Colorado Mesa softball team collected nine extra-base hits Saturday (Feb. 17) in a doubleheader sweep of Fort Lewis to open RMAC play, 5-2 and 13-3.
The games were moved 45 miles south of Durango because of field conditions after recent snowstorms and were played on Bloomfield High School's "Smurf Turf" blue infield. Sunday's games will also be at Bloomfield, with first pitch at 11 a.m.
The Mavericks evened their overall record to 4-4 and opened conference play 2-0, improving to 89-23 all-time against the Skyhawks.
Home runs accounted for all five of CMU's runs in the opening 5-2 victory, with Pruitt blasting a three-run shot to right field in the third inning to bring home Chloe Valdez, who drew a two-out walk, and Ally Distler, who beat out an infield single.
After the Skyhawks, coached by former CMU standout pitcher Paige Adair, pulled within one run in the sixth inning, Distler all but sealed the game with a two-out, two-run home run to center after Myah Arrieta led off wit a bunt single and was bunted to second by Ava Fugate. Valdez's groundout to third couldn't advance Arrieta, but Distler's first home run of the season gave Hannah Sattler enough breathing room to secure the victory in relief of Preslee Christensen (1-2). Christensen allowed one run on three hits, walked five and struck out seven in five innings. Sattler allowed one run in the sixth, but retired the Skyhawks in order in the seventh.
Distler was 3 for 4 with two RBI in the opener, the only Maverick with multiple hits — CMU won with only six hits, but changed that in the second game, a 13-3 run-rule victory.
The Mavs used a 10-hit attack, with two doubles, two triples and three home runs to blow the game open.
Up 2-0 after Arrieta led off the game with a home run to right, Fugate used her speed, beating out an infield hit and stealing second, then swiped third after a walk to Distler. Pruitt took a called third strike as Distler took off for second. The throw from the Fort Lewis catcher sailed into the outfield, allowing Fugate to come home for a 2-0 lead.
It was 2-1 after the Skyhawks' Catheryn Rodman hit a home run to center off Christa Zagala in the second inning, but the Mavericks responded with a four-run third inning.
Pruitt's second home run of the day got it started, and with one run in and Jackie Oster and Iliana Mendoza on base, Arrieta hit a two-run triple to right-center for a 6-1 lead.
The fourth inning was when the Mavs really did their damage, scoring seven runs on five hits, all with two out. Distler singled and Pruitt was hit by a pitch, and both moved up on a two-out passed ball. Cailynn Parsons lashed a two-run double to right, followed by Emma Roach's triple, which she drove past a diving Emalynn Redmann in left field. Mendoza doubled into the gap in right-center to make it 10-3 and Arrieta was hit by a pitch.
With the lead growing, CMU coach Mercedes Bohte sent Makayla Westmoreland in to pinch hit, and she delivered a three-run home run to left to put the Mavs up 10 runs.
Marisa Nehm allowed only one hit over the final two innings to end the game after five. Zagala (2-1) got the win, allowing three runs on four hits over the first three innings. She didn't walk a batter and struck out one.
Arrieta, hitting leadoff, went 3 for 6 on the day, scored three runs and drove in three and is now hitting .423 with a .808 slugging percentage. Six of her 11 hits this season have gone for extra bases. Pruitt drove in five runs on her two hits, both of which left the park, and Parsons, the Mavs' freshman, third baseman, had three RBI in the second game.
The Mavericks struck out only once in the second game and four times in the doubleheader, and took advantage of eight walks and two hit batters by Fort Lewis (2-9, 0-2).
