GAME 1 - Mines 4, CSU-Pueblo 3
A go-ahead run in the sixth inning was the edge Colorado School of Mines needed to take the series opener 4-3 over CSU-Pueblo.

Clara Larson had a home run and a double to drive in two of Mines' four runs, and Kara Jones had two hits with an RBI as well. Hallie Smith (8-7) battled to the complete-game win.

The Thunderwolves got on the board quickly with a two-run first as Gabby Moreno reached on a single and later scored on an error, and K'Lee Kent drove in Sabrina Felix to make it 2-0.

Larson answered in her first at-bat with a smash to left field, her 11th of the year, and Mines then took the lead in the third with two more runs. Dani Valerio started the rally with a lead-off single, and Larson later doubled her in to tie it before Jones singled to give Mines the lead.

CSU-Pueblo tied it again in the top of the sixth as Felix drove in Karlee Salas with a base hit, but Mines wasted no time going back ahead in the bottom half. Megan Dickson roped a triple into the corner to lead off, and pinch runner Kelsey Buechler came home one pitch later on a wild pitch to lead 4-3.

Smith then worked a tense seventh that saw CSU-Pueblo leave the go-ahead run on second, but Smith got a key strikeout and a pop-up to Pua Fujinaga to end the game.

Smith threw 132 pitches but was resilient in giving up only three runs. Kent (7-12) struck out seven but allowed all four runs earned in the loss.

GAME 2 - Mines 9, CSU-Pueblo 4
Clara Larson's five-RBI game led an offensive outburst by Mines to take the second game of the day 9-4.

Larson was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and Pua Fujinaga had a pair of hits with an RBI to lead Mines at the plate. The Orediggers trailed 2-1 entering the fourth before putting back-to-back four-run innings on the board to put the game out of reach.

As they did in the opener, CSU-Pueblo got off to a 2-0 start with four hits in the first inning, but Mines chipped away as Larson hit her first double of the game to score Brielle Asato in the third. Mines' fourth inning then gave them the lead courtesy of Fujunaga's single, a pinch-hit bases-loaded single by Kylie Redding, and Larson's two-run single up the middle to make it 5-2.

It was more of the same in the fifth as Sonoma Toot doubled in two runs with the bases loaded, and Larson brough home two more with another double to make it 9-2.

CSU-Pueblo tried to mount a rally with two runs in the seventh, but Claire Stringfellow closed it out for the complete-game win. Stringfellow (8-5) struck out six in the victory allowing two earned; Hannah Anderson lasted 3.1 innings in the loss for CSU-Pueblo, allowing five runs, with Mines tagging K'Lee Kent for four more as Andria Skeels did not allow a run in the final 1.1 innings.

NEXT UP
Mines and CSU-Pueblo wrap up their series Monday at 11 a.m.