Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Hallie Smith's career-high nine strikeouts in the opener led Colorado School of Mines to a series-opening split on Saturday against UCCS.

The Orediggers won 3-2 in the morning's first game, but UCCS rallied back to shut out Mines 3-0 to win the second game.

GAME ONE – Mines 3, UCCS 2
Smith struck out nine and the Orediggers held off a late UCCS rally to win 3-2 in the series opener.

The Orediggers scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning to crack open a scoreless game. Kara Jones' lead-off single turned into a run on Katie Leiker's double later in the inning, and Leiker scored when Pua Fujinaga's single dropped into right field. Fujinaga used some heads-up base-running to score the eventual winning run on the play as her single was misplayed by right fielder Leigh Lancaster and ran to the fence, allowing her to wheel around and score from first on the error.

UCCS answered with a run in the sixth when Dani Fonseca drilled a lead-off home run to left, and they tried to mount a comeback in the seventh that produced a single run on Nikki Hoffman's two-out single. Smith, however, rung up two Mountain Lions and induced the game-ending ground out to pick up the win.

Smith's nine strikeouts included six looking as she improved to 11-9 allowing two earned with only one walk. UCCS starter Haley Smith was also excellent, striking out five and allowing two earned with a walk.

Jones and Brielle Asato each went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Mines.

GAME TWO – UCCS 3, Mines 0
Dani Fonseca quieted Mines' bats to throw her first shutout of the season as UCCS won the day's second game 3-0.

The Mountain Lions struck for all three of their runs in the fourth, and the Orediggers stranded seven on base in the game. With a scoreless game in the fourth, UCCS manufactured their runs on Hoffman's single and Fonseca's two-run double to the fence.

Mines' best chance came in the third when they stranded Loren Dempsey and Asato in scoring position, and they had runners left at second in the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

Maddie Rogers battled all game, working out of situations with runners in scoring position in five different innings. She struck out five in the complete game. Fonseca allowed seven hits in the shutout, whiffing two and allowing only one walk. Paige Noehring provided the defensive highlight of the day by gunning down Fonseca at home from centerfield to end the fourth inning.

Asato had another two-hit game and Noehring, Boston Ludlow, Leiker, Fujinaga, and Loren Dempsey also reached.

NEXT UP
Mines and UCCS finish the series Sunday at 11 a.m.