(5) Mines (25-24, 24-16) vs. (4) Colorado Mesa (28-21, 26-15) – Thursday, 9 a.m. – Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
RMAC Tournament Winner's Bracket – Game 3 vs. (1) Colorado Christian (52-4, 42-2) – Thursday, 2 p.m. - Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
RMAC Tournament Loser's Bracket – Game 6 vs. (2) MSU Denver (33-20, 29-13) / (3) Regis (31-23, 28-16) / (6) Chadron State (27-24, 25-19) – Friday, 11:30 a.m. – Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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TOURNAMENT TIME
Following a one-year absence from the postseason, the Colorado School of Mines softball team will begin their 2023 postseason run as they'll open the festivities in this year's edition of the RMAC Softball Championship with their third matchup in less than a week against fourth-seeded Colorado Mesa at 9 a.m. Thursday morning at All-Star Park in Lakewood.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
All games this weekend will be available free of charge on the RMAC Network and have live stats available on Sidearm. Tickets are available for single-day sessions or an all-tournament pass and can be found on the tournament website.
 
AT THE HELM
Mike Coutts is in his second season at the helm of the Orediggers softball program and has already improved off a 16-30 mark from 2022, posting his first 20-win season at Mines and is already +9 in overall wins and +8 in RMAC wins from a season ago. 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 moved up one spot to #8 this week while week one opponent Nova Southeastern continues to receive votes.
 
AN ADVENTUROUS WEEKEND
The last weekend of the regular season certainly didn't follow what was written in the script, but nonetheless still provided some memorable moments and action along the way. Friday's doubleheader ended up being canceled due to unplayable field conditions following heavy rain Thursday night and despite a valiant effort to get the field ready in time. As a result, a busy weekend of events was all shifted to Saturday as Senior Day, Alumni Day and Fan Appreciation Day were all rolled into one action-packed afternoon. On the field, Sadriena Rodriguez picked up right where she left off last weekend, pitching an absolute masterpiece in her final home start of the season as she spun a complete game one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts against one of the top offenses in Division II this season, coming one batter shy of a no-hitter for the second consecutive start in a 3-0 win, the first at home against Colorado Mesa since March 22, 2013. The Orediggers looked poised for a Senior Day sweep in game two after a two-run inside-the-park home run by Emilee Sloan made it a 5-1 ballgame, but the Mavericks rallied for five runs over the final three innings, including a four-spot in the seventh to split the final day of regular season play 6-5.
 
AWARDS SEASON
Last Thursday, the RMAC released its Academic All-Conference First Team and Honor Roll list as the Mines contingent was headed up by Lauren Decker, who earned the third academic honor of her career from the league, earning First Team All-Academic honors after two seasons of being named to the Honor Roll. An additional 14 Orediggers earned that distinction, totaling 15 players from this year's squad to gain accolades for their academic achievements. Read more about the RMAC All-Academic teams here.
 
Wednesday the league announced its All-Conference and Gold Glove teams as well as major award winners. Senior pitcher Sadriena Rodriguez headlined the Mines selections as she was named Second Team All-RMAC, while defensively Renata Boyd and Aubree Karraker were both named to the RMAC Gold Glove Team. Three other Orediggers, Kendall Aragon, Lauren Decker and Kayleigh Krueger, earned Honorable Mention honors from the league. Read more about the postseason awards here.
 
MILESTONE MOMENTS
Back 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 two weeks ago and has now also logged 150 innings of work as an Oredigger, while the next full inning of work Rodriguez pitches will the 250th of her career. Taylor Wayne also hit a milestone recently as she recorded her 50th career strikeout as an Oredigger in the final road series of the season against NMHU as part of her five innings of shutout relief to earn the win in the series finale.
 
Krueger is 16 doubles away from 50 in her career while standing on the cusp of breaking into the top 10 all-time, and needs 10 more RBI to get to 100, while Wilson is four doubles shy of 30, one run shy of 70 and 33 RBI away from 100. Sara Larson is approaching 100 career hits and currently has 85, is now up to 51 RBI in her career and has also scored 46 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. The Thornton product is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak and has his safely in 12 of Mines' last 13 ballgames. She remains the clubhouse leader in hits (61), runs (31), walks (19) and average (.389) and has 14 runs batted in to go along with 10 stolen bases. Defensively, she's fielded .975 in 80 chances in the outfield with 76 putouts and two assists and as of Wednesday morning, was rewarded with an All-RMAC Honorable Mention accolade to cement just what a debut season this spring has been.
 
RECORD-BREAKING RUNNERS
The 2023 edition of Mines softball will be in the all-time record books following this season as the new single-season leaders when it comes to stolen bases. In their final road games of the season against New Mexico Highlands, the Orediggers broke single-season the record of 81 set back in 2011 and entering the postseason, currently have 86 steals in 2023. During that 2011 season, Mines went 36-24 and had a trio of players with double-digit stolen bases, led by Brinley Benson with 24, the program's all-time individual single-season leader. This year's team broke that record in 13 fewer games and has four players in double figure steals this season, led by Lauren Decker with 24 while Sara Larson has 18 , Renata Boyd has 17 and Kendall Aragon has 10. In all, 10 different Orediggers have contributed to the record-breaking total that ranks third in the RMAC this season.
 
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 before the season concludes, 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 24, 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. She's also now passed Paige Noehring and is now tied with Brinley Benson for the single-season all-time record of 24, which was set in 2011.
 
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 nearly two full runs lower than last season, entering the weekend with a mark of 3.55 compared to a 5.41 tally last season. 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 .257 batting average, the second-lowest mark in the conference to date and 68 points lower than the .325 opponents hit last season and have now thrown six shutouts this season, tied for the most since the 2019 season. On defense, Mines is second in the conference in fielding at .962, 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 53.
 
RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Following a 49-game regular season, the Orediggers head into the postseason at 25-24 and among the top five in the RMAC in several categories. Offensively, Mines ranks fifth in the league with a .297 team batting average led by freshman Kendall Aragon (.389 AVG, 31 R, 14 RBI, 10 SB), who ranks fourth in the league individually in that category. Additionally, the Orediggers also rank fifth in hits this season, with four players with 40 or more led by Aragon along with Sidney Wilson (.344 AVG, 27 R, 12 2B, 26 RBI), Kayleigh Krueger (.323 AVG, .445 SLG, 13 2B, 35 RBI) and Sara Larson (.273 AVG, 19 R, 19 RBI, 18 SB). Larson has also been one of the top base stealers in the RMAC this season, as Mines ranks third in the conference with 86 as a team as she ranks just outside the top 10, while Lauren Decker (.299 AVG, 16 R, 24 SB) is tied for fifth in the league while Renata Boyd (.322 AVG, 20 R, 17 SB) is just behind Larson in the league rankings.
 
Pitching wise, Mines owns the fourth-best ERA in the league at 3.55 and is the league leader in saves with six. The Orediggers have also allowed the second-fewest amount of runs this season at 209 and also have the second-lowest opponent batting average at .257, as they trail only Colorado Christian on the eve of the postseason. Sadriena Rodriguez (14-2, 1.90 ERA, 141 K, 136.1 IP) has been at the head of that effort and ranks among the top five individually in wins, ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched, shutouts, runs allowed and opponent batting average. Allison Westbrook (5-2, 2.88 ERA, 24 K, 51 IP) emerged about midway through the season and took over as the second starter on weekends and also ranks inside the top 10 in the RMAC in opponent's average and ERA. Cassidy Chvatal (1-10, 3 SV, 31 K, 53 IP) and Decker (1-3, 3 SV, 27.1 IP) are both tied for the top spot in the conference in saves this season, Taylor Wayne (3-6, 5.53 ERA, 57 IP) shined in her final three appearances of the regular season, allowing just one run over 9.2 innings of work in that span. Kat Miller (1-1, 3.32 ERA, 12.2 IP) rounds out the Mines staff but has only made seven appearances this season and not since the final non-conference games of the season on March 22 against Fort Hays State.
 
Defensively, Mines again trails only CCU in the league rankings with a .962 fielding percentage and committed just 53 errors in 1,012 chances, also the second fewest in the RMAC. Led by Gold Glovers Renata Boyd and Aubree Karraker who each fielded 1.000 in the regular season while Decker has just one error in 94 chances between the outfield and infield.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
Since the last time we wrote about Colorado Mesa a week ago, not too much has changed as far as the scouting report goes.
 
The Mavericks finished the regular season as one of the top offenses in nearly every major category this season, leading the league in average (.338), home runs (85), on-base percentage (.417) and slugging (.614) ranking second in runs (326) and third in doubles (89) and walks (166). Seven regulars continue to bat over .340 this season, three of which have 12 or more home runs led by RMAC leader Rylee Crouch (.376 AVG, 19 HR, 59 RBI). She's joined in the top 10 in the league in long balls by Brandi Haller (.341 AVG, 14 HR, 38 RBI) and Ashley Bradford (.375 AVG, 12 HR, 38 RBI), who also leads the team with 17 stolen bases. Five other Mavericks join that trio with 20 or more RBI this season, as Miranda Pruitt (.275 AVG, 12 HR, 28 RBI) heads that group followed by Ava Fugate (.342 AVG, 8 HR, 26 RBI), Aislyn Sharp (.350 AVG, 12 2B, 25 RBI), Sarah Jorissen (.343 AVG, 11 2B, 22 RBI) and Myah Arrieta (.392 AVG, 17 XBH, 21 RBI).
 
When it comes to pitching, CMU ranks sixth in ERA at 3.89 and is right behind Mines in runs allowed and hits while issuing the third-fewest walks in the conference in 2023. Hannah Sattler (14-11, 3.29 ERA, 85 K, 155.1 IP) has been the frontline starter all season long, holding opponents to a .277 average at the plate. Marisa Nehm (6-1, 3 SV, 3.79 ERA, 25 K, 92.1 IP) has done a little of everything in the circle this year, working as a starter and reliever and is also tied atop the leaderboard in saves. Kennedy Vis (6-5, 5.65 ERA, 18 K, 52.0 IP) has struggled with command this season, walking 35 batters this season while not having pitched more than two innings in an appearance since April 16. Jorissen (2-4, 4.67 ERA, 15 IP) rounds out the pitching staff but has seldom been used, making just eight appearances in the circle with the last coming April 23.
 
Defensively, Mesa ranks fifth in fielding percentage at .958 and errors committed with 60. Fugate leads the regulars with a .986 fielding percentage while Jorissen has posted a .972 percentage from first base.
 
SERIES HISTORY
After last Saturday's doubleheader, the Orediggers and Mavericks have met 150 times previously as CMU leads all-time 132-19. Last time Mines was in the postseason in 2021, they tangled with the host Mavericks in the second round of the tournament and fell by a score of 2-1.

ON DECK
Should the Orediggers win their opening round game with CMU, they will play host Colorado Christian at 2 p.m. Thursday. With a loss, Mines will return to All-Star Park in an elimination game Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. against the loser between MSU Denver and either Regis or Chadron State.
 
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.