GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Hot off a road sweep in their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series of the year, the Colorado Mesa University softball team will play their first home games of 2024 this weekend when they host the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in a 4-game set.
The Mavericks, who are currently 6-4 overall and 4-0 in RMAC play, will host the Orediggers (5-5, 2-2 RMAC) in Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders. Saturday's twin-bill will begin at Noon while Sunday's is slated for 11 a.m.
Tickets are on sale at
www.cmumavericks.com/tickets and a live stream of all four games can be found on the RMAC Network at
www.cmumavericks.com/tv.
Live statistics for all four games can also be accessed here.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks started RMAC play last weekend, sweeping a 4-game series against Fort Lewis College. The series was played at Bloomfield (N.M.) High School and saw the Mavericks out-score the Skyhawks, coached by former CMU pitching great Paige Adair, 30-8.
Five different Mavericks hit a combined eight home runs while the Maverick pitching staff allowed just six earned runs and an impressive 1.68 ERA throughout the series, which featured tight 5-2 and 3-2 wins in the first games of the respective doubleheaders.
The Mavs won the second games of both doubleheaders via the mercy-rule winning Game 2 of the series, 13-3 in five innings, before taking the series finale, 9-1 in six innings on Sunday.
Fifteen of the Mavericks' 28 total hits went for extra bases while the Skyhawks had just five extra-base hits while registering 20 singles.
The Mavs also drew 14 walks and four hit by pitches and stole 12 bases while being caught just once. They also committed just three errors and turned five double plays, playing well in all phases of the game.
Complete Recaps of both days of action can be seen at the links below:
Preslee Pitching Power
Maverick newcomer
Preslee Christensen picked up RMAC Pitcher of the Week honors after going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA during the Fort Lewis series. The Utah State-Eastern transfer out of South Summit, Utah, also registered 12 strikeouts and allowed just four hits in eight innings of work over her two appearances, both of which resulted in wins.
She threw five innings and gave up just three hits and a single unearned run while striking out seven in the series-opener, which CMU won 5-2 after she departed with a 3-1 lead turning it over to
Hannah Sattler, who picked up the 2-inning save.
Christensen then came on in relief of Sattler in Game 3 of the series, recording five strikeouts of 1-hit relief over the final three innings of CMU's come-from-behind 3-2 victory.
Christensen is the first RMAC Pitcher of the Week during this young season and the first Maverick to earn the honor since now Skyhawk Coach Paige Adair won three honors as a Maverick player during the 2022 season.
Homers from everywhere
The Mavericks hit eight home runs during the Fort Lewis series, which came off the bats of five different Maverick players.
Ally Distler,
Miranda Pruitt and
Makayla Westmoreland all hit two while
Myah Arrieta and
Iliana Mendoza both hit one.
Pruitt now leads the Mavericks with three home runs this season and hit one in each game of Saturday's doubleheader. She was third on the Maverick squad with 14 home runs last season.
Distler, who missed the entire 2023 season due to injury, led the RMAC with 18 home runs as a sophomore in 2022 and rounded the bases for the first time since May 5, 2022 when she hit a key game-clinching homer in Saturday's series opener to pad the Mavs' slight 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh. She then hit the go-ahead homer in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the series on Sunday.
Westmoreland, a sophomore, doubled her 2022 freshman season total in one weekend, going 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits and a 2.200 slugging percentage in three games played last weekend. She started just one of them but was a key pinch-hitter.
Arrieta also hit a home run for the first time since Apr. 1, 2023, after missing much of the second half of last season due to injury. She now has 13 career home runs in her three seasons as a Maverick.
Mendoza also doubled her career total in one swing of the bat. She had one homer in 2023.
Turning Two
The Mavericks have turned ten defensive double plays in the same number of games this season, a mark that leads the early-season NCAA Division II statistics.
The Mavericks turned 25 double plays last year, one shy of the program record of 26, set in 1998.
Four at 4-0
The Mavericks are one of four RMAC teams that posted a perfect 4-0 record on the opening week of RMAC play, which featured several series that wrapped up on Monday.
Colorado Christian, MSU Denver and Regis, which along with the Mavs, were all picked amongst the top four of the RMAC Preseason Poll, also began RMAC play with series sweeps, proving the pollsters right in the early going.
UCCS is in fifth place of the very early RMAC standings at 3-1 after taking three of four games against New Mexico Highlands in a series played in Pueblo. Mines and Chadron State are tied for sixth at 2-2.
Colorado Christian's wins came on the road at Adams State, while MSU Denver swept a Sunday/Monday home series with Black Hills State. Regis swept CSU Pueblo at home on Sunday and Monday, posting two 7-6 wins.
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.
Heading into this weekend's series, the Mavs have won 172 of their 204 home games over the last nearly nine seasons, good for a winning percentage of .843.
They were a perfect 24-0 at home back in 2017 and have now recorded 20 or more home wins in six of their last seven full seasons, a streak that was snapped last year, when CMU went 15-9 at home.
Here's a look at the Mavericks' home-field records over the last nine 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- 15-9
In the Polls
The Mavericks were recently picked third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Preseason Poll, which was released last month (Jan. 24). The Mavs received two first place votes and 107 points in the polling of the league's head coaches, who ranked their opposition 1-11 without voting for their own squad.
Colorado Christian was picked first with 117 points and eight first place votes after winning the RMAC regular season and tournament titles last year. MSU Denver edged the Mavs by one point for the second pot in the poll with 108 points and received two first place votes.
Regis (92), the Colorado School of Mines (80) and UCCS (61) rounded out the top half of the poll, which can be seen here -
https://cmumavericks.com/news/2024/1/24/mavs-picked-third-in-rmac-softball-poll.aspx
Colorado Christian is also the RMAC's lone representative in the newest
NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches poll, which was released on Tuesday. The Cougars were ranked 11
th after sitting 14
th a week ago and 21
st in the preseason poll.
14
th after sitting 21
st in the preseason poll. The Mavs have already faced two other opponents who are ranked in the top ten of this week's poll.
Rogers State is now ranked seventh while UT Tyler is ranked eighth. The Mavs have also faced now 22
nd-ranked Angelo State this season and will play at Colorado Christian next weekend.
Powerhouse Numbers
After leading the country in both home runs (100) and slugging percentage (.646) in 2022, the Mavericks continued to post some impressive power numbers last year, when they hit 90 home runs to rank third in the country. They were also second in the Division II statistics for home runs per game (1.64) and ranked fourth in the country for slugging percentage (.592), partially fueled by a .331 team batting average, which was 19
th best in the country. CMU also had the 19
th best on-base percentage (.407) last year.
This year's Maverick squad has hit 11 home runs in the first ten games.
The Boss nears 100
Head Coach Mercedes Bohte, a member of the Maverick coaching staff since 2013, is now in her fourth season in charge of the program and currently has a 122-41 (.748) career record and winning percentage as the leader of the program. The Mavericks have also won 83.2 percent (99-20) of their 119 RMAC games under her tutelage.
She is now just one win away from 100 RMAC wins.
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 of the regular season.
They then went 32-23 overall and 26-15 in RMAC play last year while advancing to the RMAC Tournament final for the second time in Bohte's three years.
Maverick players have combined to win 22 All-RMAC honors in Bohte's three previous years, including 12 first team picks. Seven of those honors came in 2023.
She has also guided players to a combined five all-America honors from the NFCA and D2CCA. The Mavs have combined to garner 19 all-region honors from those two organizations in her three previous years.
Bohte's 2022 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 seven straight seasons from 2016-22, 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) in 2023. Adair, now the head coach at Fort Lewis, also became the first Maverick to earn D2CCA South Central Region Pitcher of the Year plaudits.
In her time as the Mavs' pitching coach, Bohte has guided pitchers to 15 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.
About the Orediggers
The Orediggers are 5-5 overall and 2-2 in RMAC play. They split a 4-game series with Chadron State played on Sunday and Monday at All-Star Park in Lakewood to begin RMAC play. All four of those games were decided by one or two runs. Mines won both on Sunday before the Eagles won both on Monday. The series finale went ten innings before the Eagles won it, 3-2.
The Orediggers had gone 3-3 in their first six games played against Palm Beach Atlantic, Nova Southeastern and Barry on the Atlantic Coast of Florida.
Kendall Aragon has led the Oredigger attack with her .455 batting average. She has 15 hits, all singles, in 33 at bats this season.
Only 12 of the Orediggers' 74 total hits have been for extra-bases as they have relied on small ball to score 33 runs and hit .263 as a team this season. Lexie Semeyn has four of those extra-base hits (two doubles, two triples) and leads the team with seven RBIs while hitting .286 overall. Kailey Morales and Sara Larson have hit the Orediggers' only two home runs this season.
The Oredigger pitching staff has been solid as five arms have combined for a 3.94 team ERA, the fifth best in the RMAC.
Sadriena Rodriguez has a 3-2 record and 2.47 ERA in five appearances and four starts, three of which she has completed. She also has 21 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings of work and has held opposing hitters to a .214 batting average. Kat Miller also has a 1-0 record and 2.63 ERA in six appearances, three of which have been starts. Both she and Rodiguez have shutouts to their credit.
Series History
The Mavs have dominated the rivalry with the Orediggers, winning 96 games while dropping 15 since 1994. They had a 48-game winning streak in the midst of that run from 1995-2008.
The Mavs have also won 11 of the last 12 games between the teams, splitting a weather-shortened 2-game series in Golden last April before claiming a 4-2 win over the Orediggers in the opening game of the RMAC Tournament just one week later on May 4.
The Mavs are 55-5 at home against the Orediggers since 1994 and have won seven straight since and including, Mar. 8, 2020 in what were CMU's final pre-COVID games of that season. The Orediggers had swept a doubleheader on Mar. 7 of that year.
Maverick Head Coach
Mercedes Bohte (Lovato) is 8-1 in her time as the Mavs' head coach against the Orediggers and has a 4-1 mark against third-year Oredigger head coach Mike Coutts, who will be making his first coaching trip to Grand Junction in his Oredigger tenure this weekend.
Up Next
The Mavs will begin March by playing their first eight games of the month on the road. They will face 11
th-ranked Colorado Christian next weekend (Mar. 2-3) in Lakewood before playing UCCS a week later in Colorado Springs.
CMU's next home games will be on Mar. 16 and 17, when they host Adams State in a 4-game series.
