Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Hallie Smith's two-hit gem in the opener and Sonoma Toot's walk-off sacrifice fly in game two helped Colorado School of Mines sweep CSU-Pueblo on Friday.
Playing at Salas Field in Pueblo due to Wednesday's blizzard in the Denver metro, the Orediggers took the opener 5-2 before Dani Valerio slid under the tag on Toot's sac fly to take the nightcap 6-5. The wins improved Mines to 14-15 overall and 12-10 in RMAC play, keeping them in the top half of the standings. Mines has won eight of its last nine games.
GAME 1 – Mines 5, CSU-Pueblo 2
A big first inning and Smith's two-hitter carried the Orediggers to a 5-2 win in the morning's first game.
Smith carried a no-hitter in the fifth inning, striking out five and allowing two earned to pick up the complete-game win. Brielle Asato led Mines at the plate going 3-for-3, and Toot notched a pair of hits.
Mines put four runs on the board in the first thanks to a pair of Thunderwolf errors. Valerio and Toot singled to start the rally before Kara Jones reached on an error that allowed Valerio to score. Boston Ludlow doubled in Toot, and another error on Katie Leiker's at-bat allowed two more runs to score.
Pueblo cut the lead in half in the fourth. With one out, Smith hit three consecutive batters, and Kennedy Smith drew a bases-loaded walk before Michaela Burpee drove in another run to make it 4-2. Toot drove in the insurance run in the sixth, scoring Pua Fujinaga on a groundout, and Smith shut down Pueblo the rest of the way, allowing only one other runner to reach scoring position and ending with two strikeouts in the seventh.
Hope Davalos took the loss, allowing three earned and striking out four on nine hits.
GAME 2 – Mines 6, CSU-Pueblo 5
Mines walked off with the sweep thanks to Toot's sacrifice fly and Valerio's perfect slide after a wild game went into the seventh tied.
The Orediggers committed seven errors to allow all five Pueblo runs to score unearned, but made up for it with 10 hits and solid pitching as Maddie Rogers and Smith combined to allow four hits.
Valerio finished a home run short of the cycle as she went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Ludlow and Loren Dempsey each drove in two runs. Rogers was unlucky not to earn a decision as she struck out a career-high seven and left with the lead in the sixth; Smith threw 2.0 innings in relief to take the win. Madison Wolfe took the loss, striking out six and allowing six.
Mines went ahead with a run in the first when Valerio doubled and scored on Jones' single, but Pueblo tied it up in the second when Lexie Martindale walked, advanced on an error, and scored on a passed ball. The Thunderwolves then took the lead in the third when Nicole Montoya's lead-off walk ended with her scoring on an error later in the frame.
Four runs in the third for Mines, however, put them firmly in control. Ludlow's two-run single and Dempsey's two-run triple keyed the outburst as Paige Noehring and Leiker also notched singles in the frame.
Things unraveled in the sixth as Mines committed three errors to allow Pueblo to tie the game. A lead-off error allowed Burpee on base, and after Smith relieved Rogers, back-to-back miscues on sacrifice bunts later in the inning combined with Kennedy Smith's RBI single tied the game at 5-5.
Smith worked out of trouble in the top of the seventh, leaving the go-ahead run on second, and that set up the walk-off chance in the bottom. Valerio led off with a triple over the head of the leftfielder, and Toot drove the first pitch she saw to centerfield. Montoya made a terrific throw to the plate to catch Valerio, but the freshman barely slide under the tag of Burpee for the win.
NEXT UP
Mines will visit league leader Colorado Mesa April 2-3 for a four-game series.
