2018 RMAC Tournament hosted by Colorado Mesa, Grand Junction, Colo.
First Round – Mines vs. MSU Denver, Thursday, 1 p.m. [Bracket] [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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THE TOURNAMENT
After an appearance in the 2017 final, Colorado School of Mines returns to the RMAC Tournament looking to take the next step in seeking their first title since 2013. Mines will be the fifth seed facing off against MSU Denver to start on Thursday at 1 p.m.; the winner plays the winner of Colorado Mesa/Chadron State at 10:45 a.m. Friday, while the loser plays that game's loser at 7:45 p.m. Thursday night. The RMAC Tournament champion receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

MINES IN THE RMAC TOURNAMENT
The Orediggers are making their third consecutive RMAC Tournament appearance. They reached the final a year ago before falling to Colorado Mesa. Mines has won the tournament only once, in 2013.

LAST WEEKEND
Mines ended the regular season with a series split against Colorado Christian, who will enter the RMAC Tournament as the #2 seed and has been receiving votes in the NFCA Top 25. CCU won a close 2-0 opener despite being three-hit by Sydney Marchando, but Mines bounced back to win 8-0 in five innings in game two; CCU's bats had their best showing in a 13-1 win in game three, but Mines won 8-2 in the regular-season finale keyed by Clara Larson's 3-for-3 game. Both of Mines' wins in the circle came from Claire Stringfellow, striking out eight on Saturday and whiffing four on Sunday.

ALL-RMAC HONORS
On Tuesday, four Orediggers were named to the All-RMAC teams for their play this season. Clara Larson and Kara Jones each took first-team spots while Claire Stringfellow and Sonoma Toot landed on the honorable mention team. It is the third all-RMAC honor of Toot's career and second for Larson, while Joens and Stringfellow each earned their first.

OREDIGGERS EARN ACADEMIC HONORS
Four Orediggers were named to the RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll last week for their performance in the classroom. Clara Larson (Electrical Engineering), Katie Leiker (Mechanical Engineering), Maddie Rogers (Computer Science), and Dani Valerio (Chemical Engineering) were all honored for holding cumulative GPAs over 3.3.

LARSON SETTING RECORDS
This season, Clara Larson has hit an RMAC-leading 15 home runs, which has tied the Mines single-season mark set by Kamee Vassey in 2012 and Gina Ross in 2008. Only a sophomore, she is already tied for second all-time at Mines with 25 career dingers. On Sunday, Larson drove in her 63rd RBI of the season to set that Mines season record, and if the season ended today, her .852 slugging percentage would best the record of .850 set by Deborah Ausmus back in 1994. As it stands, other than Ausmus, no other Oredigger in history has even slugged better than .800 in a season. Larson enters the postseason with a 20-game reached-base streak, and ranks in the NCAA Division II top 15 in home runs (13th), hits (10th), doubles (5th), RBI (6th), slugging (10th), and total bases (5th).

WHO'S ON FIRST?
After losing starter Boston Ludlow earlier in the season, Mines has turned to three freshmen – Megan Dickson, Sydney Marchando, and Kylie Redding – for starts at the bag this season, with Dickson taking over the role full-time. But with Dickson unavailable for the last two series, the Orediggers turned to junior catcher/designated player Kara Jones, who had only four collegiate games at first from the 2016 season. The result? Jones has been a rock for Mines, going error-free over the last eight games.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
Senior Sonoma Toot's durability and production over the past four seasons have her name all over the Mines Softball record book. With 192 starts under her belt, Toot ranks among the Mines top-10 in virtually every offensive category, including hits (181, 10th), at-bats (599, 8th), runs scored (119, 9th), doubles (47, 3rd), RBI (119, 6th), and walks (66, 6th).

STRINGFELLOW ON A ROLL
Sophomore Claire Stringfellow has been one of the RMAC's best pitchers down the stretch as she's led Mines into the postseason. This season, the southpaw has a 2.43 ERA and is 14-6 in 118.1 innings pitched, but over the last month, she's been even better: since March 30, Stringfellow is 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA. That span includes an eight-strikeout shutout of Colorado Christian, the RMAC's #2 run-producing team, last Saturday.