GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado School of Mines advanced to the RMAC Softball Tournament final and gave #12 Colorado Mesa all it could handle, but a walk-off by the Mavericks handed them their first tournament title.

The Orediggers finish the tournament with a 32-15 record, their best since 2013. That year was also the last time Mines made the championship game. The Orediggers came into the weekend ranked 10th in the NCAA regional rankings, and would need to move up to the top eight to make the NCAA Championship field when it's announced Monday morning.

Claire Stringfellow, Boston Ludlow, and Sonoma Toot were named to the All-Tournament team for their performances over the weekend. Stringfellow had two of Mines' three wins with a 1.62 ERA, Ludlow hit .571 and slugged .929 over five games, and Toot hit .467 and had a big Saturday to earn her spot.

RMAC TOURNAMENT GAME 13 - Mines 9, Chadron 1 (6 innings)
Mines advanced to the RMAC Tournament final with an elimination-game win over Chadron State, 9-1.

The Orediggers run-ruled the Eagles in six innings, busting open the game with three-run frames in the fourth and fifth before Boston Ludlow's sacrifice fly ended it in the bottom of the sixth.

Kara Walling went 4-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, and Paige Noehring also scored twice off two hits as the Orediggers mashed 14 hits. Meanwhile, Claire Stringfellow (11-3) three-hit the Eagles, carrying a one-hitter into the sixth to earn the win.

Sonoma Toot doubled in two runs in the first to take an early 2-0 lead, but Chadron cut it in half on Lindsey's Karlin's RBI double in the third, Chadron's only hit over the first five innings. Mines broke the game open in the fourth as Katie Leiker stepped up with the bases loaded and drilled a triple to the corner to lead 5-1.

Mines kept on the pressure in the fifth as Pua Fujinaga singled in Ludlow and Walling's single brought in Kelsey Buechler and Fujinaga to put Mines on the verge of a run-rule win. The victory came in the sixth as Clara Larson led off with a single, then moved all the way to third on Toot's sacrifice bunt before Ludlow's sac fly finished the game.

Jessica Jarecki (17-8) took the loss in 3.2 innings of work. Dallas Magnusson and Kinsely Mason split the remainder for Chadron.

RMAC TOURNAMENT GAME 14 - #12 Colorado Mesa 2, Mines 1
Kaila Jacobi's walk-off single handed Colorado Mesa its first RMAC Tournament title in a 2-1 battle against Mines.

Mines needed to win twice while Mesa, which had not lost a game in the tournament to that point, needed only one win to capture the cup. It turned into a pitchers' duel between CMU's MacKenzie Surface (25-4) and Mines' Hallie Smith (14-7) as both pitchers surrendered only one run over the opening six innings.

AnnMarie Torres put Mesa on top in the first with an RBI double, but Smith worked out of jams in that inning, the third, and the fourth to keep the score 1-0. Mines brought the game back to zero in the fourth as Katie Leiker and Clara Larson smacked back-to-back doubles to make it 1-1. 

Mines left the go-ahead run on third in the sixth as Surface got two straight outs with Toot on the bag, and Mines left Noehring on second in the seventh. In Mesa's last at-bat, Maggie Manwarren led off with a single and later scored on Jacobi's one-out single.

Smith battled all game, allowing two earned and striking out two. Surface struck out four allowing eight hits and one run for Mesa. Offensive, Noehring, Toot, and Ludlow each had two-hit games.