GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Coming into the most important series of the season, the Colorado Mesa University Softball Team enters the final weekend of regular season play in a tight three team battle for potential rights at hosting next week's RMAC Championships as they travel to South Dakota this weekend to take on Black Hills State University in a 4-game conference series.
Sitting at a record of 34-12 (32-8 RMAC) the Mavericks are currently tied for second place in the conference standings with Colorado Christian (32-8 RMAC) and are a half game back of MSU Denver (32-7 RMAC). The winner of the regular season conference title will serve as the conference tournament host with the one and two seeds at the tournament earning first round byes. Colorado Mesa is already guaranteed at least a top three seed in the conference tournament with seeds 1-3 all interchangeable.
The Mavs play a Friday/Saturday series again this weekend with two doubleheaders. Games on Friday are set for a noon start with Saturday's action beginning at 11 A.M.
Seedings and location of the tournament will be finalized next week.
LAST TIME OUT
Winning their seventh conference series of the year, the Mavs defeated the Chadron State Eagles three out of four times this past weekend with that being their final home conference series of the regular season.
In the series the Mavs won by scores of 5-2, 6-1 and 8-0 with the game three win coming in just six innings and being done in shutout fashion.
Leading the pitching staff was Jessalyn Gallegos who went 2-0 in the circle with a 1.80 weekend ERA, recording 17 strikeouts while giving up just two earned runs and seven hits in 13 innings. She also recorded her first shutout of the season in Game 3 on Saturday, an 8-0 Maverick win. She now has 17 wins on the season.
Preslee Christensen also earned the Mavs' other win in Game 2 of the series on Friday, pitching a complete game in a 6-1 win
Makayla Westmoreland led all Maverick batters, hitting .357 (5-14) throughout the series while Myah Arrieta had four hits and seven RBIs, including a run-rule walk-off grand slam in Game 3 on Saturday.
Ally Distler and Chloe Valdez also hit home runs during the series.
In addition Arrieta, Distler, Christensen and Valdez were recognized during Senior Day festivities, held between games of Saturday's doubleheader.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
Holding steady with one week left of season, the Mavs are still ranked in the top five in both hitting and pitching of the conference. Their .308 batting average ranks them as fifth best amongst the RMAC while their team ERA of 2.62 sits them in second place. CCU is the first-place pitching team just edging the Mavs out with a 2.61 ERA.
The area that team has excelled in offensively is their ability to hit the long ball with them currently at 53 home runs on the year and tied for first place in the RMAC. They rank 12th in the nation in total home runs.
Playing a big factor into the home run production has been the duo of Myah Arrieta and Ally Distler, each owning 15 home runs this year.
Arrieta overall is batting .420 this season with her slugging .815 and owning an on base percentage of .525. She has totaled 63 hits with 27 of those being extra base hits.
Distler comes in batting .333 with 47 hits and 28 extra base hits. Arrieta owns 54 RBIs while Distler follows closely behind at 52.
Proving to be some of the team's other top bats have been the group of Makayla Westmoreland (.349), Chloe Valdez (.317), Bella Aragon (.333) and Cailynn Parsons (.375). Each player has totaled 20 or more hits with Valdez adding seven homeruns herself to rank third on the squad.
Defensively the Mavs are ranked third in the conference as well for another top five mark with them fielding .964 on the year and only committing 43 errors in over 1200 chances.
Adding to the team's remarkable 2.62 ERA as a pitching staff the Mavs have also struck 240 batters on the season while holding opponents to batting just .249 against them.
Jessalyn Gallegos has stayed consistent as the team's top pitcher, going 17-2 on the year with an ERA of 1.88. She has totaled 138 innings of work with 16 complete games and 143 strikeouts.
Aiding Gallegos as the team's other top arm has been Preslee Christensen who is 8-4 with a 2.39 ERA. Both her and Gallegos have started at least 15 games apiece with the pair combining for three shutout performances.
Rounding out the rest of the innings have been Sophia Tassinari, Marisa Nehm and Kamdyn Hagerty with the trio totaling 92 innings combined and a 9-6 record. Tassinari has recorded 10 starts this season with her owning a 3.81 ERA.
ABOUT BLACK HILLS STATE
Coming in as the current fifth place team in the conference, the Yellow Jackets are 26-22 (24-16 RMAC) this season with them already earning a bid into the RMAC Tournament for the first time in school history. Since joining the RMAC in 2012 the Yellow Jackets have missed out on the postseason every year with this being the first time the team will finish the season with a record over .500.
In their last 10 games they are 6-4 with their latest action being a series win over Fort Lewis College, winning three out of four games this past weekend.
In the series history, Colorado Mesa has a 37-4 record against the Yellow Jackets with the first time the two teams met being 2012. The Mavs have won the last five matchups dating back to 2023.
This weekend will be just the third time the Yellow Jackets are home this season with them being on the road for 40 of their 48 games.
Similar to the Mavs, the Yellow Jackets are a top five team in both batting and pitching in the conference with them hitting .327 as a team and owning a 4.50 ERA.
Offensively the team's leading bat is Ashlynn Pauwels who is hitting .441 with 18 doubles and 14 home runs. Her and six others are also hitting over .300 this season with Desi Hernandez hitting .371 and Tyler Whitlock hitting .361 to round out the top three. Whitlock has hit 17 doubles this season with 21 stolen bags to be a top force on the squad in addition to Pauwels.
On the pitching side the Yellow Jackets have one of the conference's top pitchers this season in Laci Peskey. Peskey is 22-6 in 33 appearances while totaling 182.1 innings pitched with 227 strikeouts. She owns 22 complete games while being one of the contenders for the conference's pitcher of the year award.
Aiding Peskey in the circle has been Paige Goodell, Caitlyn Hoff and Malaya Coleman who all have 30 innings or more with the other 24 starts.
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.
