Mines (22-21, 21-13) at New Mexico Highlands (17-26, 13-22) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (DH) – Las Vegas, N.M. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (22-21, 21-13) at New Mexico Highlands (17-26, 13-22) – Sunday, 11 a.m. (DH) – Las Vegas, N.M. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

---

 
WESTBOUND AND DOWN
Following a weekend sweep on the first leg of the final eight-game road trip of the season, the Colorado School of Mines softball team will conclude action away from home this season as they'll head west to the Land of Enchantment and Las Vegas, New Mexico to take on New Mexico Highlands in the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
All games this weekend will be available free of charge on the RMAC Network and have live stats available on Sidearm.
 
AT THE HELM
Mike Coutts begins his second season at the helm of the Orediggers softball program and looks to improve off a 16-30 mark from 2022. Before arriving at Mines, Coutts was the head coach of the softball program at Maine for six seasons, where he posted a 94-129 record with two 20-win seasons in 2016 and 2018.
 
IN THE POLLS
The Orediggers were picked to finish in the exact middle of the RMAC this year in the preseason poll, checking in at #7. Defending tournament champions Colorado Christian were tabbed to win the league followed by the reigning regular season champs Colorado Mesa. On the national stage, Colorado Christian remained at #9 this week while week one opponent Nova Southeastern continues to receive votes.
 
HOW SWEEP IT IS
For the second time this season, Mines was able to complete the weekend sweep and did so on the road for the first time in 2023 against Adams State last Saturday and Sunday, winning by scores of 11-2, 6-5, 8-4 and 8-2. Sadriena Rodriguez and Allison Westbrook both turned in a pair of quality starts while the bullpen trio of Lauren Decker, Taylor Wayne and Cassidy Chvatal were strong in relief to close out the wins in the final three games of the weekend.
 
Several players had monster weekends at the plate, led by Hannah Roberts who went 8-16 with eight runs batted in while Kayleigh Krueger went 8-14 and drove in four. Kendall Aragon extended her hitting streak to six games with a 7-13 weekend and scored five times while driving in three, while Renata Boyd has now hit safely in the last eight games and turned in a 5-9 weekend in Alamosa. Trystin Oshiro-Sano had three hits, all of which went for extra bases and drove in six RBI from the designated player spot while Sophie Furniss added three of her own with two runs scored in that role in game one on Sunday.;
 
RACE TO THE POSTSEASON
With just two weekends left in the regular season, the race to get in the field for the 2023 RMAC Softball Tournament is heating up. Six teams will make the field for this year's edition of the event, and if the season were to end today, Mines would be in the show. Colorado Christian has seemingly all but clinched the regular season title at 35-1 in RMAC play, leading Regis (25-11) by 10 games with eight to play in the regular season. Colorado Mesa is right behind at 24-11 while MSU Denver has dropped seven of their last eight and is now fourth at 22-12. Mines is 21-13 following the sweep over ASU, while the battle for sixth will be one to watch the last few weeks between Fort Lewis, who is 18-16, and Chadron State, who is 18-18 and just 29 percentage points behind. New Mexico Highlands is in eighth and would need to work some magic over the final two weeks and get some help along the way to sneak into the field, while CSU Pueblo, UCCS, Adams State and Black Hills State will all likely see their seasons end in two weeks' time.
 
Currently, the standings see Colorado Christian leading the league with a 31-1 mark following a four-game sweep of Black Hills State, while Colorado Mesa traded places with MSU Denver as those two teams are 23-8 and 22-8 respectively. Regis currently sits fourth at 22-10 in league play, while Mines and Fort Lewis are currently tied for fifth at 17-13 in RMAC play and occupy the final two spots in the postseason field. Chadron State remains in the mix and is just two games back at 15-17 following a sweep of Adams State, while New Mexico Highlands may very well be out of contention at 10-21 with games against FLC, Mines and MSUD still to go.
 
MILESTONE MOMENTS
Last time Mines was at home on April 9, Sadriena Rodriguez hit a trio of milestones in the circle by reaching 10 wins and 100 strikeouts in a season and 200 strikeouts in a career, becoming the first Oredigger since Sydney Marchando to achieve all three in 2019. Lauren Decker recorded her 100th career hit on March 11 against Colorado Christian while Kayleigh Krueger did so on March 5 against Regis while on February 27, Sidney Wilson also hit the century mark for hits against Fort Lewis.
 
Cassidy Chvatal eclipsed 100 career strikeouts at Mines with three in the finale against Adams State Sunday and the next out she records will mark 150 innings of work as an Oredigger. Rodriguez is also fast approaching an innings milestone, as she could very well hit 250 in her career before the season is out as she currently has worked 228.
 
Krueger is 18 doubles away from 50 in her career while standing on the cusp of breaking into the top 10 all-time, and needs 14 more RBI to get to 100, while Wilson is five doubles shy of 30, two runs shy of 70 and 35 RBI away from 100. Sara Larson is approaching 100 careers hits and currently has 76, and is three RBI shy of 50 and after last weekend has now scored 43 runs in her career.
 
MAKING A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION
Freshman right fielder Kendall Aragon has been a staple in the leadoff spot for Mines in 2023 in her first season at the collegiate level. Riding a six-game hitting streak and coming off a 7-13 weekend against ASU, she's now hit safely in 31 of 42 games, reached base in 34 and is now the clubhouse leader when it comes to hits (53) runs (28) and batting average (.379). Defensively, she's fielded .972 in 72 chances in the outfield with 68 putouts and two assists. All across the board, Aragon is definitely one to watch as her career continues.
 
SO WE JUST STARTED RUNNING
43 games are in the books this season and Mines is back atop the RMAC leaderboard when it comes to steals with 79 and are now just two steals away from tying the single-season program record of 81, set back in 2011. That breaks down to an average of 1.84 swipes per game as now 10 different players have at least one steal to their ledger this season with four in double-digits, as Lauren Decker leads the team with 20 while Renata Boyd has 17, Sara Larson has 16 and Kendall Aragon has 10.
 
SPEED QUEENS
Speaking of Renata Boyd, last month against Colorado Christian, she became the program's all-time leader in stolen bases, passing Brielle Asato (2015-18) for most all-time with the 51st of her career on the first day of the series. Now the race is on to see how many Boyd will accumulate over the final two weekends of the season, as she's now three shy of 20 on the year and two shy of 60 in her career. Also working her way up the all-time rankings for steals is Lauren Decker, who entered the season with 25 in her first three seasons and has nearly matched that this season with 20, as she's the first Oredigger since 2015 to steal at least 20 and could very well become the third player ever for Mines with 50 swipes in a career.
 
MAKING STRIDES
Year two of the Orediggers under Mike Coutts has already seen some improvements across the stat sheet from 2022 to this point in 2023. As a team, Mines has an earned run average more than a full run and a half lower than last season, entering the weekend with a mark of 3.76 compared to a 5.41 last season. Already Mines pitchers have recorded six saves this season, surpassing last year's mark of three and currently lead the RMAC as a staff. Expanding on pitching, the Orediggers have held opponents to a .262 batting average, the second-lowest mark in the conference to date and 63 points lower than the .325 opponents hit last season and have now tied their mark of four shutouts from last season. On defense, Mines is second in the conference in fielding at .961, trailing only Colorado Christian following a 2022 that saw them field .954, and has currently committed the second fewest errors this season in the RMAC with 47.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
There's a new clubhouse leader in batting average for the Orediggers as following a 7-13 weekend against Adams State, Kendall Aragon is now up to .379 on the season and also leads the team in runs (28) and hits (53) and has cracked double-digit stolen bases with 10 while driving in 12. Sidney Wilson follows with a .375 average and is second to Aragon in hits with 51 and runs with 26 and is tied for the team lead with 11 doubles while driving in 24. Kayleigh Krueger continued her solid play of late and went 8-16 over the weekend to raise her average to .322 with 11 doubles and 31 RBI out of the cleanup spot.
 
Lauren Decker enters the week batting .306 with a team-best 20 stolen bases which also ranks among the top of the RMAC and has scored 15 times, while Renata Boyd raised her average to .300 last weekend and enters play this week riding an eight-game hitting streak with 17 stolen bases which is also among the league leaders. Sophie Furniss and Trystin Oshiro-Sano have proven to be a deadly duo platooning in the designated player role, with the former batting .378 with 10 RBI and 10 runs scored with four doubles, and the latter batting .344 with 19 RBI, six doubles and six runs scored.
 
Hannah Roberts has also been swinging it well of late and settled into the lineup behind Aragon in the #2 spot, and is now batting .272 with 13 RBI on the season, eight of which came at Adams State, while Sara Larson (.244 AVG) continues to produce in the bottom half of the order with 15 RBI along with 16 RBI and 16 stolen bases as is Aubree Karraker (.252 AVG) and her 12 RBI and 20 runs scored.
 
No Mines pitcher has spun it quite like Sadriena Rodriguez this season, as she moved to 12-2 over the weekend and now boasts a 2.25 ERA over 115.1 innings of work with 118 strikeouts against just 34 walks while holding opponents to a .212 average. Allison Westbrook has emerged as the #2 starter the last few weeks and continues remain consistent in the circle, improving her record to 5-1 on the season with a 2.43 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 40.1 innings while limiting opponents to a .241 average.
 
Cassidy Chvatal is coming off a second consecutive scoreless outing over the weekend as she is remains 1-9 with three saves on the season with a 5.69 ERA and 31 strikeouts over 51.2 innings in 19 appearances. Taylor Wayne turned in a scoreless appearance Sunday against ASU and is 2-6 in 16 games with a 6.29 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 49 innings. Lauren Decker picked up her third save of the season in Alamosa despite allowing two runs and sits at 1-2 with a 4.14 ERA in 25.1 innings with six strikeouts.
 
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
New Mexico Highlands is riding high after taking three out of four last weekend from Fort Lewis at home to improve to 11-12 in Las Vegas this season. Samantha Gamboa has been one of the best hitters in the RMAC this season, batting .392 with seven doubles and leads the team with 21 stolen bases while her 23 runs scored and 21 RBI are both second. Megan Gutierrez is also batting over .300 at .320 and has also scored 23 times while driving in 18 and collecting 11 doubles, tied for most on the team. Dioni Lincoln isn't too far off from being the third regular batting .300 or more, as she enters the week at .292 with 11 doubles, 15 RBI and leads the way with 27 runs scored.
 
Arianna Ramirez leads the team in home runs with four and RBI with 28 as she's batting .276 on the season, while Heaven Medina is batting .214 with 16 runs scored and 11 RBI. Gabrielle Varela has driven in 17 and scored 16 despite batting just. 195 this season but still warrants attention this weekend, as do Annika Ruiz (.323 AVG, 10 RBI, 10 R) and Carlee Gonzalez (.277 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI).
 
In the circle, Maya Milano leads the staff with a 4.76 ERA and has a 6-13 record in 23 games and has thrown 125 innings in 2023, but has struggle with command, issuing 58 combined walks and hit by pitch against 48 strikeouts while opponents are batting .336 against her. Ramirez leads NMHU in wins and is 9-12 on the season with a 5.32 ERA in 20 starts over 21 games and has worked a team-high 133 innings while striking out 82 over that span. Those two figure to be the main arms Mines will face this weekend, but Karla Banegas (2-1, 3.23 ERA, 21.2 IP) may figure into the action as well.
 
SERIES HISTORY
In 129 previous meetings, NMHU leads the series 73-56 but since 2015, it has been all Orediggers in the series as they enter the weekend on a 13-game winning streak (note, the teams did not play in 2017 & 2018). Last season saw Mines sweep the Cowgirls in Las Vegas in four games, winning twice by run rule and registering similar results in 2021. 2014 was the last time the teams met in Golden as the previous eight meetings have all been played in the Land of Enchantment, where the Orediggers will look to better a record of 18-30 all-time.
 
ON DECK
Following this weekend's series with the Grizzlies, Mines will close out their road portion of the 2023 schedule with a trip to Las Vegas, New Mexico to face New Mexico Highlands April 22-23.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines softball on Twitter at @MinesSoftball and Instagram at @mines_sb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.