2023 Softball All-RMAC Teams
 
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released its postseason All-Conference honors and individual award winners for softball on Wednesday as six members of the Colorado School of Mines softball program were recognized, headlined by Sadriena Rodriguez who was named to the league's Second Team while Renata Boyd and Aubree Karraker were named to the Gold Glove Team.
 
Rodriguez emerged as one of the elite arms in the RMAC this season, leading the Mines staff and posting the best numbers of her career in 2023. The left-hander went 14-2 in 23 appearances with 22 starts in the regular season and posted a 1.90 ERA with 141 strikeouts against 45 walks in 136.1 innings of work. She held opponents to a .195 average at the plate and worked 14 complete games with five shutouts and struck out 10 or more batters in a game on four occasions, including her final home start last Saturday against CMU. She's the first Mines pitchers to win 10 or more games and strikeout 100 or more batters in a season since 2019 and also surpassed 200 strikeouts in career in early April.
 
Boyd served as the everyday left fielder for the Orediggers and turned in the best defensive season of her career in 2023, fielding 1.000 in 58 chances with three outfield assists. Karraker, the starting catcher for Mines this season, anchored a pitching staff that recorded a 3.55 ERA this season as she too fielded a perfect 1.000 on the year in 203 chances, with 184 putouts and 19 assists while throwing out eight would-be base stealers. That duo headlined a defense that finished with the second-best fielding percentage in the RMAC this season at .962 while also committing the second-fewest errors in the league with 53, trailing only regular-season champions CCU in both categories.
 
Three other Orediggers, Kendall Aragon, Lauren Decker and Kayleigh Krueger, garnered Honorable Mention All-RMAC accolades to round out the postseason honors from the league for Mines.
 
Colorado Christian took home three of the four major awards, as Kali Crandall and Kenzie Middleton were named Pitcher and Player of the Year respectively, while CCU boss Larry Hays was selected as Coach of the Year. Preventing the CCU sweep of the major awards was MSU Denver's two-way standout Jenna Medhus who earned Freshman of the Year laurels.
 
The Orediggers will open their postseason campaign bright and early Thursday morning as they'll square off once again with Colorado Mesa in a 9 a.m. contest at All-Star Park in Lakewood, Colorado.
 
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.