GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa University Softball Team stays at home for their second straight weekend this upcoming Saturday and Sunday as they look to build upon their four-game winning streak when they take on New Mexico Highlands in a four-game series.
The Mavericks will play their usual two-day doubleheader format this weekend with action on Saturday starting at 12 PM and Sunday starting an hour earlier at 11 AM.
Colorado Mesa is 10-8 overall entering this week with them sitting in fourth place in the conference thanks to an 8-4 RMAC record. They are currently tied for the third longest win streak among conference schools.
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks captured their first series sweep of the season last week as they won all four games against Colorado School of Mines. Over the course of the four games the Mavs scored a collective 27 runs while only allowing the Orediggers' eight in return to be bolstered by their best pitching performance of the year.
On Saturday's games the Mavs won both 7-1 and 5-4 as they were led by strong pitching by Jessalyn Gallegos in game one before using a late inning rally in game two to come out on top.
The Mavs were able to carry over the first day success into day two as they then won both games as well on Sunday by scores of 5-1 and 10-2, with the game four victory coming in just five innings of play. The 10-2, eight-run run rule was the first time this season the Mavs had mercy ruled an opponent.
Gallegos led the pitching staff going 2-0 on the weekend with a 1.00 ERA while pitching to two complete games. Sophia Tassinari and Marisa Nehm picked up the other two wins as the pitching staff maintained a 2.15 ERA over the four games with them limiting opponents to hitting just .243 against them.
Makayla Westmoreland led all hitters going 6-9 in the series as she slugged 1.000. Myah Arrieta and Ally Distler each added four RBIs as well with the pair combining for 10 of the team's 32 total hits.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
Entering this week the Mavs are batting .290 as a squad with that mark being 13 points better than before their latest series. In addition, they have also improved their on base percentage and slugging with the team having an OBP of .373 now and slugging .485.
Leading the team's offensive action lately have been the trio of upperclassmen in Arrieta, Westmoreland and Distler with each of them batting over .350. Arrieta leads the team with a .397 batting average and is followed closely behind by Westmoreland who's batting .389 and Distler who's batting .375. The trio all have collected over 20 hits this season with the group collecting 29 extra base hits so far. Additionally, Distler leads the team with six home runs and seven doubles.
Beyond the trio, Brynn Escobar is the fourth player on the team to hit above .300 this season with her batting .311 and totaling 14 hits.
Driving in the majority of the team's runs have been Distler and Arrieta who each have 19 and 10 RBIs with Chloe Valdez also tacking on 12 RBIs to bolster the team's 74 total runs driven in this season.
On the basepaths the Mavs are 18-23 so far on stolen bases with nine different players recording at least one bag apiece. Westmoreland leads the team stealing four bases this season on all four of her attempts.
On the pitching side, the Mavs own a staggering 3.30 ERA through 18 games this season with them ranking as the second-best pitching team in the conference.
Leading the team's pitching has been Gallegos as she is 4-1 this season with a 1.69 ERA through 49.2 innings of work. The redshirt freshman is 4-1 through 11 appearances while also owning the team's only two saves. She has four complete games and is the only Maverick pitcher to complete a game this year so far.
Tassinari has started the second most games for the team at six and has pitched to a 3-2 record while owning a 3.78 ERA through 29.2 innings.
Preslee Christensen, Kamdyn Hagerty and Nehm round out the rest of the team's innings this season with each of them having one win apiece and combining for 15 appearances. Nehm leads that group with a 3.13 ERA as she has been a main reliever for the squad.
ABOUT NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Cowgirls come into this weekend sporting an 8-14 record while going 2-10 in conference play so far. Over their last 10 games they have gone 2-8 with their most recent victory being them taking game four of their series against Black Hills State 9-5, last Sunday.
Coming into 2025, the Cowgirls were picked to finish 11th in the conference with their lone representative on the players to watch list being Karla Banegas who hit .364 last season with two wins in the circle. New Mexico Highlands is currently coached by Scott Peterson who is serving as the team's interim head coach after taking over on Feb. 12 following the departure of the program's previous head coach.
Heaven Medina is the team's current batting leader as she is hitting .407 this year with 17 RBIs. She has accumulated 22 hits so far with three home runs. Shaylene Saladin is the only other player on the team to be hitting over .300 who has played a majority of innings this season. Saladin is hitting .333 with 18 hits and owning extra bases in five of those hits.
The offense is hitting just .267 as a whole but have fared well when on base as they are 16-21 on stolen bases.
In the circle, Jazmyn Griego is the team's leader in wins, appearances and strikeouts with the sophomore going 3-5 this season through 37.2 innings of play and striking out 12 in 11 appearances. Banegas and Kennedy Williams have been the team's other two main arms with Banegas going 1-6 to compliment an 8.77 ERA and Williams sitting at 2-1 through 42 innings while having an ERA of 10.29.
The staff has pitched to a 9.00 ERA this season with opponent's hitting .364 against them.
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.
