DENVER – Led by junior transfers Melissa Marshall and Courtney Derus, the 2013 edition of the Colorado School of Mines softball team opened the season with a 9-6 victory over Regis Friday afternoon as part of the RMAC Preseason at the Regis Softball Field in Denver.
All nine Orediggers in the batting lineup collected at least one hit with five players recording multi-hit efforts.
Marshall, a transfer from Garden City CC in Kansas, went 3-for-4 with four RBI and one run scored in her Mines debut, while Derus, a transfer from Division I Pittsburgh, finished 3-for-4 with one RBI, one run scored and a walk.
Senior centerfielder Kamee Vessey, a Preseason All-RMAC pick, drove in a pair and scored one, going 2-for-5 from the three-spot; sophomore third baseman Paige Coufal was 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI and freshman catcher Elise Dugwyler went 2-for-4 and plated one in her collegiate debut.
Vessey drove in the game's opening run with a single to left center that scored fellow senior Macy Jones who led off with a double to right.
With the score even at 1-1, Mines (1-0) regained control with eight runs over the fifth and sixth innings. Sparked by back-to-back, one-out home runs to left from Derus and Vessey, the Orediggers sent 10 batters to the dish in the fifth, plating five runs on six hits and one Ranger miscue. Aided by a steady left-to-right wind across the outfield, Coufal and Marshall strung together consecutive two-out, RBI doubles to right field and Dugwyler followed with a RBI single back up the middle.
Regis (0-1) added two in the fifth to close within 6-3 before Marshall delivered a bases-loaded, two-out triple to the fence in right center in the top of the sixth to give the Orediggers a six-run cushion.
The Rangers did not go down quietly though, rallying with three runs on three hits in their final at-bat to get back within three, but senior starting pitcher Ashley Goletz struck out the final batter – one of her five strikeouts on the afternoon – to seal the win.
Goletz (1-0) yielded just three earned runs on seven hits, while walking five in the complete-game effort.
The women continue the RMAC Preview later this afternoon with a 3:30 p.m. matchup versus Metro State at Auraria Field in downtown Denver.
