GAME 1 - MINES 14, UCCS 8
A six-run sixth by Colorado School of Mines capped a wild comeback as they won the opener 14-8 over UCCS.
Both teams held the lead in the final three innings as they combined for 27 hits in an offensively-minded game.
Clara Larson went 3-for-5 with four RBI and a home run in the game while both
Boston Ludlow and
Kendall Murphy drove in a pair of runs, including Murphy's go-ahead two-run single in the sixth.
Mines broke the game open in the third with three unearned runs drive in by
Kara Jones,
Megan Dickson, and
Sam Wade. UCCS cut it to 3-2 with a three-hit fourth, but Larson jacked her third of the year to extend the Mines lead to 5-2 in the bottom half.
Things unraveled for the Orediggers as UCCS played five runs on five hits in their half of the fifth, giving the Mountain Lions a 7-5 lead; that advantage lasted all of four batters as
Claire Smith's pinch-hit single scored both Dickson and
Hana Mawlawi to tie it before Larson's single brought
Kelsey Buechler across for an 8-7 lead later in the fifth.
The sixth inning was no less wild as UCCS tied it up on Taylor Reidhead's RBI single in the top half before Mines erupted for six runs in their at-bat. With two outs in the inning, the Orediggers loaded the bases on a walk and two singles before Murphy drove in two runs;
Katie Leiker kept the rally alive with another single before Larson and Ludlow doubled to extend it to 14-8.
Claire Stringfellow entered the game in the fifth and picked up the win to improve to 7-5, allowing two runs in 2.2 innings.
Sydney Marchando started and went 4.1 innings with two strikeouts, allowing six runs. UCCS starter Cami Duffey departed in the fifth allowing eight runs, but it was reliever Braelyne Crenshaw (4-7) who took the loss allowing six runs in 1.2 innings of work.
GAME 2 - MINES 7, FORT LEWIS 0
Claire Stringfellow's shutout backed up another big offensive game for the Orediggers as they blanked Fort Lewis 7-0.
Katie Leiker and
Boston Ludlow each had multi-hit games while
Kendall Murphy and
Clara Larson drove in two runs apiece. Stringfellow improved to 8-5 as she shut down a potent FLC lineup with two strikeouts and five hits allowed.
Megan Dickson got Mines' scoring going in the second with a sacrifice fly to plate
Boston Ludlow, but Larson broke the game open in the third with her second home run of the series, a two-run shot to left, to extend the lead to 3-0. A Ludlow sac fly in the fifth made it 4-0, and Mines added three insurance runs in their half of the sixth as
Kendall Murphy extended her reached-base streak to 26 games with a two-run double and Leiker doubled in another run later in the frame.
Stringfellow's shutout was her team-high third of the season. Fort Lewis combined Kassidy Trumbo (2-8), who allowed all seven runs, and Kelly Decker, who was effective in 1.2 innings of perfect relief.
NEXT UP
Mines will play Fort Lewis at 11 a.m. and UCCS at 1 p.m. in the pod's conclusion on Sunday.
