GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The #21 Colorado Mesa University Softball Team makes their long-awaited return to the diamond this week as they finally find themselves in action when they head South to Texas to compete in this year's DII First Pitch Invitational, hosted by UT Tyler.
The Mavericks begin the 2025 campaign, by playing six games this weekend with all of them coming against regional foes over a three day (Jan. 31-Feb. 2), 16 team tournament. All games are set to take place at the Scrapyard Sports Complex in Conroe, Texas and will have a major impact on each team's chances at earning spots into the regional tournament at the end of the season.
Over the three days, CMU will play twice each day on various fields around the complex.
This is also the second year in a row that the Mavs will take part in this Invitational after fairing a 2-4 record in last year's event. They will play five of the same teams as they did last year in this year's invitational.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Information about the tournament can be found on the tournament schedule link above which show the complete tournament schedule and all the teams attending.
Three of the Mavs' games will have live statistics, accessable throughout the tournament webpage.
Daily recaps will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com as well.
HOW LAST YEAR ENDED
In 2024, the Mavericks ended the season with a 46-11 record while going 41-3 in the RMAC. On the year they would reach as far as the sub-regional championship, before falling to eventual National Champion UT Tyler to end their season.
Thanks to their efforts the Mavs were crowned Regular Season RMAC Champions and hosted the host the RMAC Tournament, where they went 1-2 before earning an automatic bid into the Regional as the #6 seed.
The team would also finish 2024 with a combined 123 homeruns, which set new NCAA Division II, RMAC and school records. Their .680 slugging percentage also served as the best in the nation while the team was top-10 in both batting average and on base percentage.
ABOUT THIS YEAR'S TEAM
Entering this season the team returns some familiar faces while replacing a few key others that were integral to the team's success in 2024.
Returning to lead the team this spring are a trio of seniors in Myah Arrieta, Ally Distler and Preslee Christensen who were all major award winners in 2024.
Arrieta was a force to be reckoned with last season as she ended the year hitting .470 while totaling 87 hits, 15 doubles, two triples and 28 home runs. Her 28 home runs were good for new RMAC and CMU records.
In addition, Arrieta was named as an all-American to compliment being selected as both the RMAC Player of the Year and the Region Player of the Year in 2024.
Distler, who was another 2024 All-American for the squad, returns this spring as the Mavericks' "swiss-army knife" being a play-all utility option for the team over the last few seasons. In 2024, Distler had her best season yet where she hit .345 with 59 hits, nine doubles and 19 home runs. She would also play four different positions for the team last season, with the majority of her time coming from behind the plate.
The final major award winner to return for her senior season is Christensen who ended the 2024 campaign as the RMAC Pitcher of the Year in just her first season with the Mavericks. Christensen would earn that honor after leading the league in both wins and ERA last season going 19-5 with a 2.32 ERA. In total she made 33 appearances and served as the team's ace, hurling 138.2 innings and amassing 120 strikeouts. She was selected as a first team all-region selection.
Chloe Valdez is another returner to the team who earned honors in 2024 after being an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection. Valdez hit .316 with 25 extra base hits and 13 home runs in 2024 after transferring into the program from College of Charleston.
In addition to the four returning award winners, the Mavericks also return four upperclassmen who saw time a year ago. That group includes Makayla Westmoreland, Bella Aragon, Marisa Nehm and Dakota DiPaola. The four would start 81 combined games last season, with both Westmoreland and Aragon becoming frequent everyday starters. Westmoreland finished the season batting .340 with nine home runs, with Aragon hitting .293 and going nine-for-nine on stolen bases. Nehm was also a key arm in the Mavs' bullpen, making 21 appearances last season en route to a 6-0 record.
Seven other underclassmen will also return to the team with many of them looking to have larger roles this spring after seeing limited time last season. Those seven include Jenna Salcido, Olivia Litzen, Jackie Oster, Cailynn Parsons, Allison Lindsay, Macy Magdaleno and Jessalyn Gallegos.
Beyond the returners there are a handful of new faces this year with the team having six newcomers and four of them being freshmen. Those freshmen include Brynn Escobar, Tegan Medina, Ava Stephens and Kamdyn Hagerty.
The other two new faces to join the team are transfers from fellow NCAA schools as Sophia Tassinari comes from Chico State and Khloe Kubitschek comes from South Dakota State. Tassinari pitched 31.1 innings this last spring as a relief pitcher for the Wildcats, while Kubitschek would redshirt in her freshman season.
In total there are 21 players on this year's roster spanning over six states, including 10 from Colorado.
THE COACHES
Returning to coach the girls this season is Mercedes Bohte who enters her fifth season at the helm of Maverick Softball after taking over as the Interim Head Coach in the 2021 season and then officially being hired as the Head Coach in June of 2021.
In Bohte's career at CMU, she holds a 162-48 record while leading the team to four consecutive 30-plus wins season. In addition, she is responsible for claiming three of the last four RMAC regular season champions with one RMAC Tournament Championship. She was named as the RMAC Coach of the Year in 2021 and 2024.
Since taking over the reins of the program in 2021, Bohte has totaled seven all-Americans, 19 all-region selections and 29 all-conference picks.
Additionally, she has amassed three RMAC Players of the Year, three RMAC Pitcher of the Year, one D2CCA Region Player of the Year and one D2CCA Region Pitcher of the Year.
Joining her once again this season to aide her coaching efforts are the pair of Willie Hinojosa and Eddie Mort as her top assistants.
IN THE POLLS
The Mavs received high recognition in the polls heading into 2025 as they were represented well in both the RMAC Preseason Poll and the NFCA/GoRoute Preseason Poll.
In the RMAC Preseason Poll the Mavs were selected first out of the conference's 12 teams to win the conference and repeat as RMAC regular season champions. In the poll they received eight of the 12 first place votes and garnished 117 total points. They would jump to first place in this year's poll after being voted to finish in third place in the 2023 poll.
In the NFCA/GoRoute Preseason Poll, the Mavs were the only RMAC school to be represented and in doing so were selected as the #21 team in the country. In the region there would be four other teams represented, all from the Lone Star Conference. Two of those school's will be opponent's this weekend in #11 Angelo State and #1 UT Tyler.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
As mentioned above, the Mavericks will play six games against regional opponents this weekend, with all six hailing from the state of Texas and the Lone Star Conference. A summary of each team along with the time and field of this weekend's game can be found below.
Texas Woman's (Friday, Jan. 31- 12:30 P.M. MST)- Field #4
Returning as the Mavs' first opponent of the season for the second year in a row are the Pioneers of Texas Woman's University. In last year's season opener, they would defeat CMU 9-0.
In 2024, the Pioneers went 25-29 while reaching as far as the Lone Star Conference Championship before falling in the first round. In this year's LSC Softball Preseason Poll they were selected seventh out of 16 total teams.
Marissa Espinoza and Randi Crawford were selected as players to watch in 2025 by the conference, with each of them entering their first season with the team this year.
Midwestern State (Friday, Jan. 31- 3:00 P.M. MST)- Field #4
The Mustangs enter this season coming off a 15-36 year in 2024 that saw them missing out on reaching the Lone Star Conference Championship. In this year's preseason poll, they were voted to finish 13th in the conference.
The Mavs narrowly defeated Midwestern State last year in their match-up by a score of 4-3 in an eight-inning affair for CMU's first win of 2024.
Two players were selected as players to watch by the conference with both Madison Stewart and Addison Lindemann getting the nod. Stewart enters the team as a junior college transfer while Lindemann will return as a main pitcher for the Mustangs logging 27 appearances in 2024 with a 7-11 record and a 3.88 ERA.
#11 Angelo State (Saturday, Feb. 1- 10:00 A.M. MST)- Stadium Field
Picked to finish third in the conference, the Rambelles finished 2024 with a record of 37-18 and were a fellow qualifier for the NCAA regionals, where they went 0-2 after earning an at-large bid.
In this year's national preseason poll they are one of four team's from the LSC to be ranked, with the Rambelles selected as #11 to begin the season.
Tatiana Trotter and Cheyenne Floyd were tabbed as preseason players to watch from the squad with both being top players for the team last season. In 2024, Trotter hit a team leading .353, while also leading the team in both hits, extra base hits and RBI's. Floyd also returns as she was selected as the LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year, after earning the conference's Pitcher of the year award in 2024. Floyd went 20-10 with a 1.89 record last season, while earning all-America honors.
#1 UT Tyler (Saturday Feb. 1- 12:30 P.M. MST)- Stadium Field
Picked #1 in the national polls and the reigning national champions, the Patriots ended 2024 with a final record of 58-8 and are a powerhouse in softball across the country. The team was again picked to win the Lone Star Conference this season and going into this weekend will serve as the host of the Invitational.
They return two of their top players in JT Smith and Primrose Aholelei as each were tabbed as players to watch. Smith, who was voted as the conference's preseason player of the year, hit .373 in 2024 while amassing 34 extra base hits and stealing 21 bags. Aholelei enters the team as a transfer from Division I Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.
This will be the first time that either team has met since the Patriots ended the Mavs season a year ago in the NCAA Sub-Regional Tournament.
St. Mary's (Sunday, Feb. 2- 9:00 A.M. MST)- Stadium Field
The Rattlers were tied for fifth place in this year's LSC Preseason Poll as they are another top team to come out of the conference. In 2024 they went 32-26 and were qualifiers for the NCAA Regionals, where they went 0-2 with their final game of the season coming as a loss to the Mavs.
Returning to lead the team are the pair of Lauren Gonzales and Jadyn Abrego who were the team's players to watch. Gonzalez hit .317 last season while totaling 37 stolen bases to rank in the top-20 of the country. Abrego was a key arm for the Rattlers as well as she made 24 appearances on the year while going 6-8 with a 2.79 ERA.
Texas A&M Internatinoal (Sunday, Feb. 2- 11:30 A.M. MST)- Field #3
Concluding the weekend are the Dustdevils who were selected to finish 12th in the conference. In 2024 they ended the year with a 15-37 record and would not reach the conference tournament.
The team's top returners include Victoria Gonzalez and Kylie Goad, both players to watch by the conference. In 2024 Gonzalez would hit .312 with 10 home runs to lead the team in both bombs and RBI's. Goad served as the team's ace making 19 appearances with 17 starts and pitching to a 7-8 record with a 3.57 ERA.
