GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - A big fifth inning keyed by
Boston Ludlow's three-run shot helped Colorado School of Mines to a 9-3 win over Adams State in their RMAC Softball Tournament opener at Colorado Mesa University.
The second-seeded Orediggers (30-13) advance in the winners' bracket and will face sixth-seeded Colorado Christian, a 6-4 upset winner over MSU Denver earlier in the day, on Friday at 8:30 a.m. Adams State will play MSU Denver in an elimination game later on Thursday. The win was Mines' eight in a row and gave the Orediggers their fourth 30+ win season in program history.
Mines bounced back from a 2-0 deficit in the first and broke open a 3-3 tie with their five-run fifth.
Boston Ludlow sparked Mines at the plate with a 4-RBI, 3-for-4 game that included the home run in the fifth, and
Katie Leiker,
Clara Larson, and
Pua Fujinaga each drove in runs. Fujinaga recorded her 100th career hit with a single in the second.
Claire Stringfellow (12-3) earned the win in relief of starter
Hallie Smith, who departed a tie game in the fourth. Stringfellow allowed only two hits over four full innings of scoreless ball, striking out four. Lauren Murphy went 4.1 innings and allowed seven earned off 10 hits for ASU, with Madison Vrabel tossing 1.2 innings of one-run relief.
It was a rough start for Mines as Adams State scored two in the top of the first, but Smith worked out of a jam to leave a runner in scoring position before settling in for two efficient innings. Mines' offensive breakthrough came in the third as
Paige Noehring scored on an error and
Katie Leiker drove in
Kara Walling to it it up.
Clara Larson scored on a double steal with
Sonoma Toot later in the inning to take a 3-2 lead.
The lead lasted one batter as ASU's Mackenzie Villarreal led off the fourth with a home run to make it 3-3, and Stringfellow replaced Smith later in the frame and got out of a two-on jam to hold the tie.
Mines' big fifth began with a
Kara Walling single, and after she was sacrificed over by Leiker, Larson dropped a single to center to take the lead 4-3. Toot singled on the next at-bat and that set up Ludlow, who blasted a shot off the scoreboard in left center to lead 7-3. Fujinaga's single later in the inning scored pinch runner
Brielle Asato. Mines tacked on an insurance run in the sixth when Ludlow's bloop single scored Toot, and Stringfellow shut down the Grizzlies from there including a 1-2-3 seventh.
Photo courtesy Kaleb Center
