GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Winners of five straight games on the road, the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks will return home for just the second time this season to host Adams State University in a 4-game weekend series at the CMU Softball Stadium.
The Mavericks, 15-7 overall, are currently tied for second place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings at 13-3 alongside national poll No. 10 Colorado Chrisitan. The Grizzlies will enter the weekend in last place in the conference at 1-15 and are 3-22 overall.
The series will begin with a Saturday doubleheader at noon. The two teams will then square off in a Sunday doubleheader on Sunday.
All four games of the series can be
seen on the RMAC Network and
live statistics can be accessed here.
Tickets are also available at
www.cmumavericks.com/tickets.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks swept an away series at UCCS on Sunday and Monday. The series was delayed a day due to weather forecasts on Colorado's front range but did nothing from stopping the Mavericks from swinging a hot bat while getting impressive pitching efforts in the last three games of the series.
In the first game on Sunday, the Mavericks built a 14-4 lead before the Mountain Lions rallied to tie the game at 14 and send it to extra innings. However, the Mavericks were able to pull it out, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to win the slug-fest, 17-14.
The Mavs then dominated the rest of the series, out-scoring the Mountain Lions by a combined 35-1 margin while winning the final three games via the mercy rule, two of which were the result of shutouts by junior pitcher
Christa Zagala.
The Mavs registered 30 extra-base hits, including 15 home runs and 14 doubles throughout the series and hit .411 as a team. They also drew 19 walks and six hit by pitches and had a massive .510 on-base percentage.
Defensively, the Mavs gave up just 23 hits, including just seven in the final three games of the series combined.
Complete recaps of both doubleheaders can be found at the links below.
One from a milestone
The Mavericks will enter this weekend's series just one win away from reaching the 1,000 mark during their NCAA Division II era history. They are with 999-528-1 since 1992, good for a .654 winning percentage.
Since joining Division II, the Mavericks have made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and have won two regional titles while advancing to the NCAA Division II World Series in 2000.
They have had a winning season in 12 consecutive seasons since 2012 and have not finished below .500 since going 21-22 in 2006, a run of 18 consecutive campaigns.
Home Run Derby/Grand Salami
The Mavericks hit two grand slams in last weekend's series sweep of UCCS and hit 15 home runs as a team in the four victories over the Mountain Lions.
CMU has now hit 41 home runs this season to rank fifth in Division II for total home runs. They also sit second in the nation for home runs per game (1.86) as the second (West Florida, 47), third Columbus State (43) and fourth-ranked (Mount Olive, 42) have all played more games than the Mavs.
Only Valdosta State, which has hit an eye-popping 67 home runs in 28 games is ahead of the Mavs' average at 2.39 per game.
Miranda Pruitt and
Myah Arrieta both hit grand slams last weekend joining freshman
Cailynn Parsons in the grand slam club this season. Parsons had hers on Feb. 25 against Mines.
Sweep leads to sweep
The Mavericks swept the series with UCCS last weekend, which led to a sweep of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Player & Pitcher of the Week awards.
Miranda Pruitt hit five of her conference-leading 11 home runs last weekend against the Mountain Lions. The graduate student and catcher was 7-for-12 (.583) at the plate and drove in 12 runs while scoring seven of her own. She also hit a double and finished the weekend with a 1.917 slugging percentage. She also drew two walks and was hit by a pitch, finishing the series with a .667 on-base percentage and 2.584 OPS.
Meanwhile, Maverick junior
Christa Zagala was named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Week after recording two complete game shutouts. She allowed just five hits in 11 innings of work and did not concede any free passes. She also struck out four Mountain Lions and held them to a .128 batting average against her.
Pruitt and Zagala's awards are the first RMAC weekly honors of their respective CMU careers.
Slugging streak
The Mavs have hit at least one home run in all 16 of their RMAC contests and in 18 straight overall games since and including their two games on Feb. 4. They went without a home run in their first four games of the season.
They hit three or more in all four games of last weekend's series at UCCS, hitting 15 in total.
Slugging stats
The Mavericks also have the top three players in the RMAC in terms of slugging percentage after last weekend's hitting clinic, which saw the Mavs slug at a .903 clip as a team.
Miranda Pruitt, who leads the RMAC in home runs with 11, also leads the conference with a .891 slugging percentage. She is fourth in the country for home runs and 20
th for slugging percentage.
Ally Distler is now second in the RMAC for slugging percentage at .846. She hit four home runs and tallied a 1.500 slugging percentage in the UCCS series. She is also tied for second in the RMAC with eight home runs.
Meanwhile,
Myah Arrieta is third in the RMAC for slugging percentage at .841. She slugged an even 1.000 last weekend, hitting two of the Mavs' 15 home runs.
Chloe Valdez has had a 1.385 slugging percentage last weekend and has a .667 percentage. She hit three home runs last weekend after hitting two in the previous series against Colorado Christian and her first as a Maverick in the preceding game against the Colorado School of Mines on Feb. 25.
Reaching Safely
Myah Arreita and
Ally Distler have both reached safely in 20 consecutive games entering this weekend.
Meanwhile,
Ava Fugate will carry active 11-game hitting and 12-game reached safely streaks into the series with the Grizzlies.
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, which was again the case in the Mavs' lone home series of the year to date.
After the series sweep of Mines on Feb. 24-25, the Mavs have won 176 of their 208 home games over the last nearly ten seasons, good for a winning percentage of .846.
They were a perfect 24-0 at home back in 2017 and have 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 ten seasons.
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
2004 (current)- 4-0
The Boss
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 131-44 (.749) career record and winning percentage as the leader of the program. The Mavericks have also won 82.4 percent (108-23) of their 131 RMAC games under her tutelage.
She picked up her 100
th RMAC win in the first game of the series sweep against Mines on Feb. 23.
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 Grizzlies
Second-year head coach Dane Craig's squad has struggled to a 3-22 overall record and a 1-15 mark in RMAC play. They were swept on the road at Black Hills State last week after picking up their lone conference win in the second game of a Mar. 1 home doubleheader with Fort Lewis.
The Grizzlies rank last in the RMAC in the standings and are also in that position in batting, pitching and fielding. They are hitting a .253 as a team and have cranked out 13 home runs. However, they have given up 257 runs, an average of more than 10 per game, while scoring just 99 of their own.
They have also committed 63 errors, leading to a league-low .916 fielding percentage and an 8.63 ERA.
However, they do have some strong hitters.
Senior outfielder Belendia Vargas leads the bunch. She has a .400 batting average and paces the team with five home runs and 15 RBIs, while slugging at a .780 clip to rank sixth in the RMAC. She is also second on the team with four doubles.
Makayla Veglia also has some pop in her batting and is swinging it at a .328 clip while hitting four home runs and driving in ten. Grace Hendrickson is also hitting well above .300 at .318 and has five extra-base hits to her credit.
Aubree Davis is the Grizzlies' top and most-used pitcher. She is 2-9 with a 5.32 ERA in 17 appearances and 11 starts, ten of which she has completed. However, her control has been inconsistent and has given up 55 walks while striking out 31 in 76 1/3 innings of work. She has also surrendered 118 total hits, including 40 for extra-bases. Daneille Hood is the other primary starter. She has compiled a 1-10 record and 9.74 ERA in 14 appearances and ten starts.
Series History
The Mavericks have absolutely dominated the Grizzlies in recent history, winning 26 straight games against them to build a 78-33 lead in the series since 1994. The Mavs have put up ten or more runs in 12 of the last 16 games and shutout the Grizzlies in the other four. The Mavs have mercy-ruled the Grizzlies in 14 of the last 16 as well.
CMU is 38-10 at home against the Grizzlies but will be playing them at the CMU Softball Stadium for the first time since 2021 after playing the last two years in Alamosa.
ASU"s last win over CMU came on Mar. 22, 2015 by a 4-2 margin in Grand Junction. However, the Mavericks won three of four games in that series.
Bohte is 11-0 against the Grizzlies in her time as the Mavs' head coach and 3-0 against ASU Coach Dane Craig after CMU swept a 3-game series in Alamosa last year. The last game of that series was canceled due to high winds.
Up Next
The Mavericks will return to the road for what will be their longest driving trip of the season. They will head to Spearfish, South Dakota to face the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets next weekend (Mar. 23-24). The Yellow Jackets are enjoying a solid season and are currently 9-12 overall and in position for a RMAC Tournament qualification spot with an even 8-8 record. They will play at New Mexico Highlands this weekend after sweeping Adams State last week.
