GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The nation's home run leaders added four more to the tote board Sunday, but for the first time in three weeks, none sailed off the red-hot bat of Myah Arrieta.
The junior shortstop saw her streak of consecutive games with at least one home run end at 10 — it's the all-time, all-division NCAA record — but Ava Fugate and Ally Distler, who hit behind Arrieta in the lineup, picked her up.
Both went yard in each game as Colorado Mesa swept Chadron State 4-0 and 12-3 in five innings Sunday at the CMU Softball Stadium. The Mavericks ran their winning streak to 21 games, the longest in the RMAC, and are tied with Colorado Christian atop the conference standings. MSU Denver split a doubleheader with Fort Lewis on Sunday and play two more Monday, dropping to third at 27-3. The Mavs, 31-7, 29-3 in RMAC play, travel to Denver to face the Roadrunners this coming weekend.
Preslee Christensen threw a gem in the opener, a two-hit shutout, needing only 73 pitches for her second complete-game victory of the weekend. She allowed one single in the third inning and an infield single in the fifth, but only one base runner got as far as third base.
Only five Eagles reached base — Christensen walked one batter, hit another, and the final base runner reached on an error.
Fugate got the Mavs on the board with an opposite-field home run in the bottom of the first and Distler hit a line-shot home run to left in the fourth.
Back-to-back doubles by Miranda Pruitt and Iliana Mendoza produced another run for a 3-0 lead. Arrieta singled home another run in the sixth.
The Mavs' offense was more explosive in the second game, with 14 hits. Down 2-1 in the second inning, CMU scored six runs, sending 12 batters to the plate, and added three more in the fourth.
Distler, who finished with five RBI in the second game, hit a bases-loaded double in the big inning and alertly took third on the throw to the plate. She came home on a base hit by Pruitt. Mendoza doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch and Cailynn Parsons, who got the start at third base, got another run home when she beat out an infield single.
Chloe Valdez scorched a two-run double down the left-field line in the fourth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Allison Lindsay for a 10-3 lead.
After Arrieta led off the top of the fifth with a bunt single, Distler ended the game early with another no-doubt home run, this one to left-center, running CMU's home record to 16-0.
Marisa Nehm (6-0) allowed three runs on five hits for the victory. She struck out three and walked two, getting ahead of hitters and needing only 62 pitches in her five innings. The Mavericks did not use a relief pitcher the entire series.
The Mavericks finished the day with 12 extra-base hits, eight doubles and four home runs, and outscored Chadron 42-8 in the four-game sweep. Mesa is now hitting an RMAC-leading .367 as a team with 94 home runs, only six away from the program record of 100, set in 2022. Arrieta is hitting .504, which leads the RMAC, as do her 22 home runs, with Mendoza at .461, fifth in the conference. Distler is hitting .405 and Fugate .400.
The top three home run hitters in the conference all wear CMU jerseys and have combined for 54 home runs — Arrieta (22), Pruitt (17) and Distler (15). Colorado Christian is second behind CMU with 56 home runs as a team, with MSU Denver third with 41.
