Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 GAME 1 - MINES 4, UCCS 2
Mines pounced on UCCS defensive mistakes to support a career-best 10-strikeout effort by Sydney Marchando and win the series opener 4-2.

Marchando (3-2) became the first Oredigger pitcher since Kelly Unkrich in 2013 to throw double-digit strikeouts in a game, scattering five hits and three walks as just one of her two runs allowed was earned. Braelyn Crenshaw threw an efficient 89 pitches and allowed only four hits and one earned run, but was hooked with the loss as UCCS committed three errors, with three of Mines' four runs coming off miscues.

Mines got on the board first when Claire Smith reached on a fielder's choice that let Renata Boyd score on a throwing error home. The shutout remained until the fifth, when Taylor Harrison's lead-off pinch-hit double converted into a run on Saleen Quinonez's RBI single.

The Orediggers broke the game open with three runs off a hit and two errors in the sixth. Hana Mawlawi doubled and stole third, then scored on a Megan Dickson fielder's choice to retake the lead 2-1. A Kailey Robb walk loaded the bases, and after UCCS got a forceout at the plate, Ellaena Rodriguez reached on an error to allow Robb and Dickson to score for a 4-2 lead.

UCCS made it interesting in the seventh as they loaded the bases and scored a run on Quinonez's sacrifice fly, but Marchando had two strikeouts in the inning to preserve the win.
 

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GAME 2 - MINES 10, UCCS 9
Both teams brought their bats out for the afternoon game as Mines outlasted UCCS 10-9 in a slugfest.

The two teams combined for 28 hits (17 for UCCS, 11 for Mines), but the Orediggers built a big enough lead that they were able to hang on for the win. Kailey Robb hit two home runs to drive in four RBI, while Clara Larson went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI and Megan Dickson drove in two. 

Larson got things going in the first with a solo home run, her first of the season, to make it 1-0, but UCCS responded in the top of the second when Romines smacked a two-run shot to left to give the Mountain Lions a 2-1 lead.

The advantage didn't last long as Larson and Robb combined to drive in five runs in the second. With Stefanie Brunello on third and Sydney Marchando on second, Larson threaded a single up the middle to make it 3-2, and after Sam Wade walked, Robb drilled her first collegiate homer to right for a 6-2 lead. A UCCS sac fly in the third drew a run back, but Robb went yard in her second straight at-bat two make it 7-3 in the bottom of the fourth.

UCCS chipped away with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, but Mines put another crooked number on the board in the sixth. Sam Wade doubled in Hana Mawlawi to start the rally, and Dickson later hit a bases-loaded single to score two more runs and make it 10-6. UCCS threatened to extend the game with a two-out, three-run rally off three straight hits in the seventh, but Stringfellow induced a bases-loaded popup to end the game.

Claire Stringfellow (1-3) picked up the win with 6.1 tough innings, striking out a season-high six. Lauren Decker threw the seventh and picked up the first two outs and allowed UCCS' three runs before Stringfellow re-entered to close out the game. Mines chased UCCS starter Cami Duffey in the second after she allowed six runs; Lexi Rayburn went the rest of the way and allowed four. 
 

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NEXT UP
Mines and UCCS meet again for two starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday.