DENVER, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa University Softball Team saw themselves drop a pair of road games this afternoon as they end the weekend with a split in their four-game conference series with MSU Denver at Assembly Athletic Complex.
Dropping both games today the Mavericks lost game one on a walk off single 6-5 after a late rally from the Roadrunners before falling in game two 7-5 and having their hopes of a comeback ended.
Colorado Mesa is now 6-8 overall while staying even in the RMAC at 4-4. MSU Denver improves to 10-6 with the wins and moves to 5-3 in the RMAC.
Below is a short recap of each game:
GAME 1 (CMU 5, MSUD 6):
Suffering a walk off loss to start the day, the Mavs held the lead for six innings to look for an opening win but ultimately fell short as a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Roadrunners the eventual win.
Colorado Mesa entered the seventh inning leading 5-2, and was able to collect two quick outs, but started to falter in pitching shortly after as they struggled allowing five straight hitters to reach base with Adriana Bueno capping it off with the walk off single to end the game.
Prior in the game the Mavs featured their usual offensive prowess as they put up runs in four of the innings.
Myah Arrieta started the scoring in the game when she doubled home a run to make it 1-0 in the third, with the lead then being extended on in the fourth inning thanks to a solo home run from Chloe Valdez.
In the fifth, the Mavs used a bit of trickery to bring in yet another run as they used a first and third steal tactic to score their third run, courtesy of Khloe Kubitscheck.
Trailing 3-0 the Roadrunners got back a pair of runs in the fifth thanks to a homerun and single but had their first rally end on a successful pickoff at second base.
The Mavs tacked on another two runs to answer the Roadrunners in the sixth inning thanks to an error and a walk but couldn't add anymore as they ended the inning with the bases loaded.
Going into the seventh inning, Kamdyn Hagerty, who came in on relief of Jessalyn Gallegos, was the pitcher who delivered the first two outs for the Mavs but after allowing four base runners to reach consecutively, the Mavs reentered Gallegos to pitch from first base, with the final result of her last batter she faced being the walk off RBI single to left field. With the runner that scored coming from her reaching while Hagerty pitched, Hagerty was charged with the loss while Gallegos earned the no decision in her second start this weekend.
Gallegos finished going 4.2 innings pitched in the game with eight hits, two earned runs, and six strikeouts while Hagerty went a complete two innings with four runs earned and having two strikeouts.
Arrieta was the only Maverick to record more than one hit for the team with her, Escobar and Valdez each owning one RBI apiece.
GAME 2 (CMU 5, MSUD 7):
Dropping the second game of the day as well, the Mavs gave up 10 hits in the loss as they gave up one or more runs in every inning except one.
The Roadrunners led the entire game and were able to put runs up on each of the three Maverick pitchers as they came away with the home split.
The three different pitchers that saw the circle for the Mavs were Preslee Christensen, Marisa Nehm and Sophia Tassinari, with Christensen earning the loss. Of the team's seven runs given up only five of them were earned with the staff striking out five batters combined.
The Roadrunners attacked early and often in the game as they began the contest by going up 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI double by Jaiden Geist.
Jessalyn Gallegos was able to respond to that run with one of her own as she recorded an RBI single in the second inning but saw her efforts come up short as following her single Makayla Westmoreland was thrown out at home following the scored run.
Tied 1-1 the Roadrunners then attacked again in the bottom of the second inning with a double driving in two more runs to give the team the lead.
Brynn Escobar hit her first home run of the season in the third inning to get one of the runs back but her efforts were unfortunately matched shortly after as MSU Denver hit a home run of their own in the third inning as well.
The Mavs conceded three more runs over the next three innings with them finally entering the seventh inning trailing 7-2.
Needing five runs to push the game further, the Mavs were able to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a two RBI double from Escobar and a sacrifice fly from Distler, but ultimately saw their hopes end as they were thrown out on the base paths following Distler's fly out to end the game.
Escobar led the team going 3-4 in the game with her three RBIs leading the squad. Only three other Mavericks would record hits with Gallegos having two and both Arrieta and Westmoreland having one each.
UP NEXT
Following this weekend's action the Mavs will now return to Grand Junction for their next conference series when they host Colorado School of Mines March 1 and 2 at CMU Softball Field. Tickets can be purchased in person or online at cmumavericks.com/tickets.
