GAME 1 - COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES 4, BLACK HILLS STATE 3
Colorado School of Mines outlasted Black Hills State 4-3 to open their RMAC series on Friday.
The Yellow Jackets had 13 hits in the game but hard-nosed pitching and defense kept the Orediggers in front despite having only five hits in the game.
Cassidy Chvatal (5-9) earned the win in five hard-fought innings, and helped herself with a two-run triple in the fourth that ended up being the winning wins in the game.
Taylor Wayne picked up a six-out save, her second of the season, throwing a scoreless sixth and seventh.
Mines went ahead quickly as
Renata Boyd led off the first with a single then stole two bags before scoring on a passed ball; another passed ball in the second allowed
Sara Larson to score after her leadoff triple for a 2-0 lead. Chvatal hit what would prove to be an important triple in the fourth, driving home
Hannah Roberts and Larson to make it 4-0 as Crystal Amaral's three-run home run in the top of the fifth would draw the game within a run.
Chvatal battled out of a bases-loaded jam in the second and forced BHSU to strand seven runners overall in her five innings. Wayne tossed a 1-2-3 sixth and then escaped the seventh with runners on second and third to pick up the save.
Crystal Amaral (5-15) allowed two earned and struck out four in the loss for the Yellow Jackets.
GAME 2 - BLACK HILLS STATE 3, COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES 2 (8 inn.)
Both teams had late rallies, but Black Hills State scored last to win an eight-inning game two, 3-2.
Mines led through five innings before the Yellow Jackets scored runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to come back and snap their losing streak at 13 games.
Grace Gonzales tripled and scored on a wild pitch to get Mines on the board in the second, and that would be the game's only run until Shayla Tuschen's RBI double in the top of the sixth tied it 1-1. BHSU then took their first lead of the day in the seventh when Tyler Whitlock came across on Lizzy Johnson's single, but Mines answered back in their final at-bat to force extras.
Lexie Semeyn led off with a triple, and Gonzales executed the squeeze bunt to score the run at 2-2.
In the eighth, BHSU led off with a Gianna Haley double and put another runner on with an error, and Haley scored on Tuschen's single before Mines escaped the inning. The Orediggers couldn't mount another comeback, however, as Tuschen worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth for the win.
Lauren Decker battled through seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits in taking no decision;
Taylor Wayne (3-6) took the loss pitching the eighth. Tuschen (6-10) struck out five in the win.
Sidney Wilson extended her on-base streak to 21 consecutive games and hitting streak to nine with a single in the sixth.
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE
Mines will head into the final day of the regular season on Saturday with no margin for error, but still alive in hopes of qualifying for the RMAC Tournament. The Orediggers (16-18) need to win twice and have Fort Lewis (20-18) lose twice against Regis to forge a tie for sixth place at .500 with the Skyhawks; the Orediggers would win that tiebreaker head-to-head thanks to beating FLC three times this season. One Fort Lewis win, or one Mines loss, would end the Orediggers' postseason hopes.
NEXT UP
Mines and Black Hills State wrap up their series Saturday starting at 11 a.m., with Senior Day ceremonies preceding the doubleheader.
