GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference softball tournament will return to the Colorado Mesa University Softball Stadium as the conference's regular season champion Mavericks will play host to the 6-team, double-elimination tournament Thursday through Saturday.
The Mavericks, 43-7 overall, will enter the tournament as the top seed and riding a 33-game winning streak after clinching the RMAC title on Saturday, eventually winning the crown by two games over the Colorado Christian University Cougars, who split their final regular season series against MSU Denver.
CMU, now ranked 24
th nationally, went 41-3 in RMAC play. The Cougars (47-6, 39-5 RMAC) will be the tournament's No. 2 seed and like the Mavs, will have a first round bye. They are tenth in the national poll.
CMU will be hosting the tournament for the seventh time in the last nine years and the eighth time in the last ten and will play in Game 3 on Thursday at 3 p.m. against the winner of the opening game of the tournament between No. 4 seed Colorado School of Mines and No. 5 seed Regis, who will play at 10 a.m.
MSU Denver will then take on CSU Pueblo, making its first RMAC Tournament appearance since 2019, in Game 2 at 12:30 p.m. Colorado Christian will await the winner of that match-up in Game 4 at 5:30 p.m. to conclude Thursday's slate of games.
Games will be played at the same times (10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. on Friday). Saturday's action will begin at 11 a.m. with the championship game slated to follow at 1:30 p.m. The if-necessary game would be at 4 p.m.
The complete bracket can be seen here.
The winner of the RMAC Tournament will receive the conference's automatic qualification spot in to the South Central Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament, which begins next Thursday. The other teams will hope for one of the six at-large spots, which will be determined by the regional rankings.
Fan Information
Tickets for the tournament can be purchased through the
RMAC Championship webpage.
Single-day tickets, good for all games on the given day are $15 for adults or $10 for students, seniors and children. Complete championship passes are available for $33 (adults) or $23 (students/seniors/children).
All of the games will also be streamed on the
RMAC Network on a subscription basis. Each day's pass, which can be purchased for $9.95, will grant viewers access to all games on a given day. A championship-long subscription is also available for $20.
Live statistics for all games can be accessed at
https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=come
Last Time Out
The Mavericks capped the regular season by sweeping CSU Pueblo in a 4-game series on Friday and Saturday. The Mavs out-scored the ThunderWolves, 36-5 throughout the series, winning each of the final three games via the mercy-rule after taking the opening game of the series, 7-1.
Led by
Preslee Christensen, who was named as the RMAC Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday, the Maverick pitching staff conceded just 19 hits, including only four for extra bases, and posted a 0.61 team ERA. Christensen went 2-0 and allowed a single unearned run in her two starts, pitching a 5-hit shutout in Game 3 of the series on Saturday, which the Mavs won 8-0 in six innings to clinch an outright RMAC title.
Offensively, the Mavs banged out 11 doubles and six home runs while hitting .390 as a team. They also drew 17 walks and had a .479 team on-base percentage.
Iliana Mendoza led the way, recording four doubles and a .667 batting average, going 6-for-9. She also drew four walks and had nine RBIs.
Miranda Pruitt also hit .600 (6-10) with a double, a home run and five RBIs.
Myah Arrieta also added three doubles and two record-tying and record-setting home runs. More about that later.
Complete recaps of both doubleheaders can be found below.
Record-Setting Home Run
Maverick junior shortstop hit an historic home run to cap the regular season, hitting a solo home run to begin the bottom of the fifth inning to implement the mercy-rule in walk-off fashion on Saturday. That home run, hit deep and well over the center field fence allowed her and the Mavs to break a pair of RMAC records.
The home run was Arrieta's 26
th of the her season as she broke the former RMAC's single-season record of 25, which had been co-held by MSU Denver's Tara Mickelson (2010) and UCCS' Crystal Krebs (2005).
Additionally, Arrieta's was the Mavericks' 113
th as a team this season, allowing CMU to break the RMAC's team record of 112 home runs, set by MSU Denver in 2010.
National-Record Chase
The Mavericks now have their sights set on the NCAA Division II single-season home run record but will have to battle another current team to set that record. The record entering the year was 114, set by Cal Poly Humboldt in 2013.
However, Valdosta State hit 15 home runs in a 3-game series at West Georgia as the Blazers raised their season-long total to 114 while tying the national record and eclipsing the Mavs' total by one.
Valdosta State (29-21) will begin the
8-team, double-elimination Gulf South Conference Tournament on Wednesday as the fifth seed.
Title Town & History Lesson
This year's RMAC title is the Mavs' 15
th in the program history, eight more than any other RMAC program and 11 more than any current member. The Mavs had won a RMAC-record six straight titles from 2016-22, excluding the 2020 season when no championship was awarded due to COVID-19 ramifications.
Prior to the recent streak, the Mavs had won the RMAC titles in 1982, 1983, 1989, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2014.
The 1982, 1983 and 2000 crowns were determined by virtue of the post-season tournament, which was the league's policy from 1980-87 and in 2000 and 2001. CMU did also have the best regular season record in 2001 and had the joint best records in 1987 and the abbreviated 2020 COVID campaign.
Former RMAC member Nebraska-Kearney won seven titles between 1990-2003 while MSU Denver, the Colorado School of Mines and Adams State have won four each, the most of any other current members.
The Mavs will also be looking for their eighth RMAC Tournament Championship this year, having won the 1992, 1983, 1992, 2000, 2017, 2018 and 2021 titles.
They have swept the regular season and tournament titles six times previously, doing so in 1982, 1983, 1992, 2017, 2018 and 2021.
It is also worth noting that the RMAC did not officially sponsor softball from 1990-93 when teams instead played in a Mile High Intercollegiate Softball League.
Streak History
Although the Mavericks' current 33-game winning streak is impressive, it is still shy of the school and RMAC record for consecutive wins. The Mavs won 37 straight games to begin the 2018 season, a run that was ended by Regis. That streak is tied for the sixth longest in Division II history. The current winning streak is equal to the 15
th longest in D-II history.
Colorado Christian won 34 consecutive games last year, a run that does not show in the NCAA record book. They had won 25 straight games this season before that streak was stopped last Friday in the series split with MSU Denver.
Moving on up
The Mavericks moved up one spot to 24
th in
this week's NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll after making their first appearance in the top 25 since 2021 last week.
Colorado Christian is also in the poll, sitting in the No. 10 spot. The Cougars had been ranked sixth last week but dropped after splitting their series against MSU Denver. Three other South Central Regional teams are also in the poll as West Texas A&M and UT Tyler are now ranked second and third, respectively.
Angelo State is ranked 21
st.
Regional Rankings
Although the national ranking is certainly a feather in their cap, the regional rankings are more important for post-season purposes. Those rankings were just released again on Wednesday morning and see the Mavericks once again slotted sixth in the South Central Region, made up of the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Lone Star Conferences.
CMU had also been included in the top 10 of the alphabetized rankings from two weeks ago. Today's rankings are the last of the regular season heading into the NCAA Tournament Selection show on Monday, which will factor in results from this week's RMAC and LSC Tournaments.
Eight teams from the region will be selected with the RMAC and LSC Tournament winners receiving automatic bids. The other six teams will be selected at-large.
UT Tyler has taken over the No. 1 spot in the regional rankings and is now just ahead of LSC Regular Season Champion West Texas A&M. The rest of the top six is unchanged with Colorado Christian, Angelo State and Oklahoma Christian sitting ahead of the Mavs.
MSU Denver moved up three spots to seventh after splitting last week's series at Colorado Christian while St. Mary's is now ranked eighth. Lubbock Christian, which was swept by UT Tyler, dropped to ninth while Texas A&M-Kingsville also slipped a spot to tenth.
Turning Two
The Mavericks have turned 26 double plays this year, equal to the program record, set back in 1998. CMU also turned 25 double plays last year.
On an individual basis, first baseman
Ava Fugate has been part of 23 of those double plays, as she has already smashed the school record of 17, set by shortstop Makayla Kovac in 2016.
Hitting for two
Maverick senior
Ava Fugate recorded her 26
th double of the season last weekend against CSU Pueblo. She is now just one away from the CMU record of 27, set by Brooke Hodgson in 2018. Fugate stands second in the country with that total but is also just second in the RMAC as CSU Pueblo's Caitlyn Cole leads the country and the conference with 30.
Cole, who hit one double against the Mavs last weekend, set the ThunderWolves' record in the process and has tied the RMAC record, set by MSU Denver's Kelsey Tillery a decade ago in 2014. The NCAA Division II record is 32, held by Augustana's Sarah Kennedy since 2017.
Slugging & Total Bases
Although the RMAC home run records for
Myah Arrieta and the Mavericks as a whole have already been set, more CMU and conference records could go down during the post season.
Arrieta currently has 177 total bases to her credit, which is just three shy of the RMAC and CMU record of 180, set by Brooke Hodgson in 2008. The national record of 200 is also a possible target. Arrieta is also on pace to break the CMU record for slugging percentage (1.000), a mark currently held by Kovac (2014). Arrieta is currently at 1.079.
For those unfamiliar with total bases and slugging percentage calculations, total bases are the number of bases a player racks up with hits, with singles counting for one, doubles for two, triples for three and home runs for four. Slugging percentage is then calculated by dividing total bases by the number of at bats.
Arrieta leads the national statistics in both total bases and slugging percentage. She has a 15 point lead over West Texas A&M's Diana Murtha in the later and has 15 more total bases than McKendree's Lauren Harris.
As a team, the Mavs will almost certainly break the RMAC and school records for slugging percentage and currently lead the country with their .718 mark, well above the 2001 team's total of .654. The .718 mark would currently rank the Mavericks fourth in Division II history and first for teams that played 40 or more games. Miles set the record of .813 in 2002, when they played just 27 games. Shaw had a 1991 mark of .7141 and played 37 games that season. North Carolina Central had a mark of .727 in 1994, when they played 27 games, and followed that up with a total of .710 in 1994, playing 33 games.
West Texas A&M slugged at a .667 clip in 54 games during the 2017 season.
Running for the Record
Myah Arrieta will also enter the post-season on the verge of setting the RMAC and CMU records for runs scored. She has scored a NCAA all-divisions leading 81 this season, which is just two shy of the RMAC and Maverick record of 83, set by Maggie Manwarren in 2018. Manwarren's total is equal to the fourth best in Division II history. The national record is a bit further off in the distance at 98, set by North Dakota State's Nikki Flynn-Gregg, who played in an eye-popping 78 games that season. Arrieta and the Mavs played 50 thus far.
Arrieta's run scoring total of this season, is current 14 more than Colorado Christian's Kenzie Middleton and Valdosta State's Abby Suite. Arreita also leads all NCAA divisions by 12 over Florida's Skylar Wallace, who has scored 69 runs in 51 games for the Gators as of Tuesday night.
The Mavs have also scored 447 runs as a team this year and lead Division II in scoring average at 8.94 runs per game. The 2018 edition of the Mavs set the RMAC record of 508 runs. The current edition of the Mavericks is 61 runs away from that mark, meaning then would need to play in just seven post season-games to reach that mark at their current run-scoring pace.
Miami (Ohio) leads the entire NCAA with 464 runs scored thus far. Colorado Christian is second in Division II with 444, just three shy of the Mavs' total and also well within range of setting the RMAC record.
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 early this season.
The Mavs went a perfect 20-0 at home during the regular season and have now won 192 of their 224 home games over the last nearly ten seasons, good for a winning percentage of .857.
They were a perfect 24-0 at home back in 2017 and have recorded 20 or more home wins in seven of their last eighty full seasons, a streak that was snapped last year, when CMU went a still solid 15-9 at home.
CMU has one home series remaining during this regular season and would earn hosting rights for the RMAC Tournament if they are able to win the conference's regular season title.
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)- 16-0
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 159-44 (.783) career record and winning percentage as the leader of the program. She coached her 200th game last Friday.
The Mavericks have also won 85.6 percent (136-23) of their 159 RMAC games under her tutelage and have now won three RMAC titles in her four years in charge. She picked up her 100
th RMAC win in the first game of the series sweep against the Colorado School of 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.
Against the Field
The Mavericks are 17-3 against the other five teams in the RMAC Tournament field this season. They swept series from MSU Denver, Colorado School of Mines, Regis and CSU Pueblo and won one of four games against Colorado Christian.
The Mavs' 17-3 record against the field is the best of any of the RMAC teams as Colorado Christian went 15-5 against the rest of the RMAC Tournament qualifying teams, splitting 4-game sets with No. 3 seed MSU Denver and the Colorado School of Mines while sweeping Regis and CSU Pueblo.
No. 3 seed MSU Denver went 33-11 in RMAC play and is 11-9 against their fellow RMAC Tournament qualifiers. Mines, seeded fourth, was 25-17 in RMAC play, but was just 6-12 against the other five qualifiers.
No. 5 seed Regis went 24-18 in RMAC play and is 5-13 against the top half of the conference. CSU Pueblo finished 20-24 in RMAC play to earn the No. 6 seed and is 4-16 against the rest of the tournament field, having split 4-game series with MSU Denver and Mines.
Recent Tournament History
The Mavs have advanced to Day 3 of the RMAC Tournament in each of the previous three seasons under Head Coach
Mercedes Bohte, posting a combined 10-5 RMAC Tournament record in those three runs. They have also advanced to the final day in every tournament since 2017, excluding 2020 when no tournament was played, and have won multiple games in every tournament since and including 2016.
The Mavs have won at least one RMAC Tournament game every year since 2015, after going 0-2 in 2014.
They went 4-2 in last year's tournament, advancing to the championship game against host Colorado Christian. They finished third in the 2022 tournament, the last played in Grand Junction, going 2-2 after winning the tournament with a 4-1 record in 2021.
They also went 3-2 in 2019 falling in both the championship and if-necessary games of that year and won the 2017 and 2018 tournaments with unblemished 4-0 record.
Up Next
The Mavericks will hope to see their name called on Monday morning's NCAA Tournament selection show, which will air on NCAA.com at 8 a.m. Mountain Time. The NCAA Tournament will then begin on Thursday (May 9-11) at 16 regional sites, including two in the South Central Region. Eight teams from the region, made up of the RMAC and Lone Star Conferences, will receive bids and will play in two 4-team regionals. The winners of each of those regionals will then play in a Super Regional best-of-3 series the following week (May 14-15) with the winner advancing to the May 19-25 NCAA Tournament finals in Orlando, Florida.
