PUEBLO, Colo. - Led by
Hallie Smith's two-hit shutout in the afternoon, Colorado School of Mines took two to win its series with CSU-Pueblo on Sunday.
Mines got some late offense from
Katie Leiker to go ahead and win the opener 4-2, then relied on Smith's superb pitching performance in game two to win 3-0.
The wins helped solifiy Mines' hold on third place in the RMAC at 22-12 overall and 19-9 in league play. Mines has already surpassed 2016's win total with 12 games left to play in the regular season, and their 22 wins are the most since 2013.
Smith's save, her sixth of the season, puts her one away from tying the RMAC single-season record of seven set by Western New Mexico's Emily Huhta in 2010. Smith's nine career saves are now tied for second-most in RMAC history, trailing former Mines hurler Kelly Unkrich's 11. Her Sunday performance stretched her scoreless streak to 12.2 innings; the junior, now 11-5, has won her last four starts with a 1.25 ERA in that span.
GAME ONE - Mines 4, CSU-Pueblo 2
Katie Leiker's go-ahead two-run single in the sixth gave Mines the winning edge as they beat CSU-Pueblo 4-2 to start the day.
Paige Noehring went 3-for-4 as Leiker,
Loren Dempsey, and
Pua Fujinaga drove in runs to support a solid start by
Maddie Rogers (4-4), who allowed only two runs over five innings with
Hallie Smith picking up her sixth save with two innings of no-hit ball.
Pueblo struck first with K'Lee Kent's RBI double in the first, but Fujinaga tied it when she singled in
Sonoma Toot in the second. Dempsey's fifth-inning single scored
Brielle Asato to take the lead, and Leiker plated Noehring and
Kelsey Buechler in the sixth to extend the lead to 4-1. That hit proved important and Pueblo added a run on a wild pitch in the sixth after Smith entered the game, but she settled things and got out of the jam with the tying run at the plate before working a 1-2-3 seventh.
Kent (3-8) took the loss with two earned over 5.2 innings, with Shannon Leiber throwing 1.1 innings of relief for the Thunderwolves.
GAME TWO - Mines 3, CSU-Pueblo 0
Hallie Smith's two-hit shutout stymied CSU-Pueblo as Mines took a 3-0 win in game two on Sunday.
Smith (11-5) allowed only three base runners and her defense backed her up with error-free play and a double play. Smith retired the final 12 batters faced as the Mines offense produced three runs including
Kara Jones' home run.
Jones' dinger got Mines on the board in the second, and
Clara Larson added to the lead when her double in the third put
Paige Noehring across.
Pua Fujinaga's double in the fourth scored
Brielle Asato.
Fujinaga and
Katie Leiker recorded two-hit games to pace Mines' offense. The Orediggers generated eight hits off Lexie Martindale (9-9), who struck out five in the loss.
The shutout was Mines' fifth of the season, four of them being thrown by Smith.
NEXT UP
Mines returns home to host Chadron State Friday and Saturday, with Saturday being StrikeOut Cancer Day.