Mines at New Mexico Highlands, Saturday 12/2 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
Mines at New Mexico Highlands, Sunday 11 a.m./1 p.m. [RMAC Network] [Live Stats]
 

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OREDIGGERS CHANGE SITES TO FACE NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
Originally scheduled to be played in Golden, this weekend's RMAC series against New Mexico Highlands has shifted to Las Vegas, N.M. to escape what is expected to be a significant winter storm across Colorado's Front Range. The schedule remains the same with doubleheaders on Saturday (12 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.)

SPECTATORS POLICY FOR THIS WEEKEND
New Mexico Highlands does not allow spectators to attend its home games.

GROUND RULES
The biggest change to this season for NCAA Division II softball is a truncated schedule as teams can only play a maximum of 44 regular-season contests this season. The RMAC schedule and postseason will operate normally, with the RMAC Tournament determining the conference's qualifier to the NCAA Championships. Until further notice, no spectators will be admitted to Mines home games due to university policy; road contests may have different policies and those will be posted on the Mines Softball schedule at minesathletics.com and on social media as they're determined.

IN THE PRESEASON POLL
Mines was chosen fourth in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll in a crowded pack that included top choice MSU Denver, second-place Colorado Christian, and third-place Colorado Mesa. Mines also had three student-athletes named Preseason Players to Watch: Clara Larson, Stefanie Brunello, and Sydney Marchando.

THE SEASON SO FAR
Mines has had an up-and-down start to 2021, currently standing at 4-8 overall and 3-5 in RMAC play. The Orediggers started the conference season with three wins over CSU Pueblo on Feb. 28 and March 1, but suffered four losses at Colorado Mesa last weekend. Clara Larson continues to lead Mines at the dish hitting .375 and slugging .750 with eight RBI and seven extra-base hits; Kylie Redding is having a breakout season hitting .355 with a team-leading 13 RBI, while freshman Kayleigh Krueger is second on the team in average hitting .360. Larson and Stefanie Brunello are tied for the team lead with eight runs scored. In the circle, Sadriena Rodriguez has a team-low 3.62 ERA in 9.2 innings of relief work; Sydney Marchando (6.84, 1-3) and Redding (8.00, 1-2) have split the bulk of the starts.

MAKING HISTORY
Returning for a fifth year, Clara Larson already has her name all over the Mines record book, and she'll look to further cement her place in history in 2021. On opening weekend, she became Mines' all-time leader in runs batted in and now has 190. She is already the career record holder in home runs (41), and she now ranks fifth all-time at Mines in hits (232), tied for third in runs (155), second in doubles (57), and tied for third in triples (13). If her career ended today, Larson would be fourth all-time in career batting average (.381) and the record holder in slugging (.719).

KEEPING IT 100
Senior Megan Dickson became the latest Oredigger to reach 100 career hits when she did it on Sunday against Colorado Mesa – and she did it in style. Dickson smashed a solo home run with two outs in the fifth inning to reach the century mark, her 11th career dinger. Dickson is a career .302 hitter and .514 slugger.

MAKING THE GRADE
Mines picked up a bevy of academic honors after the 2020 season, recognizing their classroom work in a challenging spring semester. Clara Larson was named a First-Team Academic All-American, while Sydney Marchando was an Academic All-District pick. Those two were also named to the RMAC All-Academic First Team, and Kylie Redding was named to the RMAC Academic Honor Roll.

SCOUTING NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Cowgirls are 4-4, going 2-2 in each of its first two series against Black Hills State and Regis. They are led at the plate by Megan Gutierrez (.455, 7 RBI) and Carlee Gonzalez (.391, 9 RBI) while Paige Varni (4.97, 2-1) and Nathalie Blattmann (5.25, 2-3) have split all the starts in the circle.

MINES VS. NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
Through quirks of scheduling and weather, this will be the first full four-game series Mines and NMHU have played since 2015. The two teams played a neutral-site doubleheader in Pueblo in 2019 with Mines winning both games, and they also played two games in a pod at Fort Lewis in 2016, again with the Orediggers winning twice. NMHU leads the all-time series 73-48 dating back to 1985.

RMAC TOURNAMENT MOVED
In late February, the RMAC voted to move back the RMAC Tournament by one week, to May 13-15. This change happened because the NCAA Tournament is also starting a week later than normal this season; with the regular season ending the weekend of May 1-2, the move will give teams scheduling flexibility to use the weekend of May 8-9 for make-up games, if necessary.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines' next scheduled action is March 20-21 at UCCS.