GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Following a weekend stay in the Mile High City, the Colorado Mesa University Softball Team returns home this upcoming Saturday and Sunday when they host the visiting Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in a four-game weekend series at CMU Softball Field.
The Mavericks enter the series boasting a 6-8 record on the season while playing to 4-4 in the RMAC with them splitting each of their first two conference series against Regis and MSU Denver.
Game time is set for 12 P.M. on Saturday for the first double header with Sunday's action starting at 11 A.M. for the second double header.
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks played to another 2-2 record this past weekend as they split their series at MSU Denver in both school's second week of conference play. In the four-game series, the Mavs won the first two games on Saturday, before dropping the final two on Sunday.
Colorado Mesa outscored the Roadrunners 27-19 in the series but saw both their losses come by two runs or less with the game three loss coming via a walk off.
Despite the split the Mavs saw a much better offensive performance from their team as they hit .372 on the weekend while totaling 16 extra base hits. Seven of those extra base hits came as home runs with Myah Arrieta leading the team with two herself. In addition, Ally Distler hit her 50th career home run on the weekend which ranks her third all time in school history.
Jessalyn Gallegos and Sophia Tassinari both secured wins as well in the circle helping the team pitch to a 3.41 ERA over the four games.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
Over the course of 14 games this season the Mavs are hitting .277 as a team with their on base percentage coming to .347. They are slugging .478 which ranks them in the top five of the conference however and in homeruns are tied for third in the RMAC with 14.
Doing the bulk of the damage for the offense has been the pair of Ally Distler and Myah Arrieta as both lead the team with 17 hits apiece. Distler is hitting .378 to lead the squad with Arrieta hitting .370 for second best. The pair combines for 13 extra base hits with Distler owning six long balls this season to be tied for first in the conference.
Makayla Westmoreland, Brynn Escobar and Chloe Valdez are all hitting above .300 in addition to the leading pair with Westmoreland hitting .333 and the other two hitting .303 and .300 respectively.
Driving in the team's runs has been Distler and Valdez with Distler totaling 15 RBIs and Valdez adding 10 herself.
In total 16 different players have gotten at bats this season with five of them being freshman.
Leading the pitching staff this year has been Jessalyn Gallegos as the redshirt freshman has pitched a total of 35.2 innings so far with her owning a 2-1 record and a 1.96 ERA. She ranks sixth in the conference for ERA and has been the team's most reliable arm so far through nine appearances.
Serving as the team's other leading pitchers are Sophia Tassinari and Preslee Christensen as each of them have started four or more games this season. Tassinari is 2-2 with a 3.55 ERA in 23.2 innings pitched while Christensen is 1-3 with a 7.16 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched.
Marisa Nehm and Kamdyn Hagerty have accounted for a combined seven appearances as well with each of them having sub four ERAs in 18.2 total innings pitched.
As a complete staff the team owns a 3.63 ERA this season while striking out 72 batters.
ABOUT COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
Coming into this weekend the Orediggers are sporting a 5-13 record while sitting at 5-3 in the RMAC at fifth place. All five of their wins this season come in conference play as they began the year 0-11 before recording their first victory against UCCS on Feb. 16.
In the team's most recent series they took three out of four games from Fort Lewis College last Saturday and Sunday winning both games the first day and then splitting the second.
The Orediggers are in their first season with new Head Coach, Tobin Echo-Hawk, who was hired back in December to take over the program.
All time the Mavs own a 100-15 record over the Orediggers as they have had tremendous success in years past. The Mavs are currently on a six-game winning streak against Mines with their last loss coming in 2023 on April 29.
Statistically the team is hitting .293 on the year while having five players who are hitting .300 or better. Lindy French serves as the team leader hitting .400 this season with Kellan Ton (.367), Kendall Aragon (.358), Emiaj Self (.324) and Lexie Semeyn (.310) all helping round out the team's top offensive threats.
Providing the power for the team has been Cassidy Chvatal who has hit six home runs to lead the squad while also totaling 19 RBIs which is tied for first in the conference.
Mines is also a team that likes to run a lot as they are 17-20 on stolen bases this season with Ton leading the group going 7-7.
On the pitching side, the Orediggers have struggled a bit this year as they currently own a 6.47 team ERA and have given up 188 hits. Kat Miller leads the team with a 5.57 ERA going 1-5 through nine appearances while Taylor Wayne owns a 5.89 ERA for second best on the team while going 3-3 in the circle to compliment her six complete games.
Ellen Shue and Allison Westbrook round out the staff combining for 35.2 innings pitches on 13 appearances with a 1-5 record together.
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
All four games this weekend will be streamed on the RMAC Network free of charge and have live stats available to follow along with as well. Tickets can be purchased in person at the field or online at cmumavericks.com/tickets.
