HAYS, Kan. – Taking a short break from Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Wednesday on what has become a very busy week, the Colorado School of Mine softball team was on the road one state to the east for a doubleheader against Fort Hays State. In the opener the Orediggers (12-14) scored first and jumped out to a four-run lead through five innings before they withstood a seventh-inning rally to hold on for a 4-3 win while in game two the Tigers (14-12) used big innings to bounce back and earn a split with a 7-1 result in game two
 
Things started off on the right foot for the Orediggers in the first as Kellan Ton reached with an infield single and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Kendall Aragon before advancing to third on a single to left by Sidney Wilson. Lexie Semeyn followed with a single of her own to left to plate Ton before Kayleigh Krueger walked to load the bases, but FHSU was able to escape a monster inning with a double play to get out of trouble.
 
Following a 1-2-3 home first by Sadriena Rodriguez (6-5), Emily Rogers worked a leadoff walk before being moved up 60 feet on another sacrifice by Lauren Romero. Following a strikeout, the lineup rolled over back to Ton who reached on a 2-2 single to left to put runners at the corners. After stealing her sixth base of the season to put two in scoring position, Aragon stepped in and delivered a 1-1 double to the left center gap to score both freshmen and make it 3-0 Mines.
 
After neither side was able to crack the scoreboard the next two innings, the Mines offense got going again in the fifth when Ton laced a leadoff single to left for her third of the game before promptly stealing second advancing to third on a single by Aragon to put runners on the corners for Wilson. The senior shortstop hit into a fielder's choice as Aragon was forced out at second 4-6 on the play but another run scored as Ton came home to make it 4-0.
 
The Orediggers had chances to add on in both the sixth and seventh innings but were unable to do so in both frames, leaving a pair following a groundout in the first instance and then lining into an inning-ending double play following a one-out walk in the second instance.
 
Heading to the home seventh, Rodriguez looked to cap off to that point what had been a shutdown performance, throwing six scoreless innings to start her day. Unfortunately, a complete game wasn't meant to be as Fort Hays State got back-to-back one-out singles by Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson and Madison Pierce to put two runners in scoring position. Mines got Riley Curry to hit one on the ground and ended up getting an out on the play as pinch runner Emily Mayer was tagged out between third and home. Next up was Audrey Gillespie, who had been a pain in the side of Rodriguez all day long already with two singles to her credit before adding a double to straightaway center that scored two runs to make things interesting in the late going and force a Mines pitching change.
 
Allison Westbrook came on looking for the final out of the game but instead gave up a single to the first batter she faced in Peyton Shepherd that saw pinch runner Adysen Burghart score to make it a 4-3 game. A walk and a single to the next two batters resulted in bases loaded for the Tigers, but Westbrook managed to escape with a first-pitch pop-up to shortstop by the cleanup hitter Loren Beggs for the final out of the opener to close out the win.
 
Game two saw FHSU get on the board first with two outs following a wild pitch with a runner at third, but starter Cassidy Chvatal (0-4) was able to strand a second runner by winning an eight-pitch at-bat against Alondra Dominguez, striking her out to end the inning.
 
Mines looked to answer back in the second as Kayleigh Krueger doubled the other way to right center before being joined on base by Chvatal after she singled into center, but nothing came of it as Savanah Egger retired the next two batters to avoid danger. The Tigers threatened again in the second inning, loading the bases with a pair of two-out singles following a one-out walk but much like her opposite number, Chvatal danced out of danger with a flyout to left to send it to the third.
 
After the Orediggers went down in order, Kat Miller took over in the circle in the home half and found herself down 2-0 after facing only three batters, as a pair of singles sandwiched around a double to right field doubled the lead for FHSU. After a force out at third, consecutive singles through the right side resulted in three more runs coming across to make it a 5-0 game before the inning finally came to a close.
 
A Sara Larson double in the top of the fourth looked promising for Mines as they looked to rally, but nothing came it before two more runs scored in the home half for the Tigers on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly to extend their lead to 7-0.
 
After going down in order in the fifth, the Orediggers were in danger of being run ruled down by seven and turned to Allison Westbrook in the circle to try and extend the game. After the first two batters reached, she induced a 5-3 double play and a pop up to second to end strand what would have been the game-ending run in scoring position and send things to the sixth.
 
Lexie Semeyn led things off for Mines with a walk before Larson singled for her second hit of the day to put runners on the corners before the pair each moved up on a wild pitch with Semeyn breaking up the shutout and Larson moving into scoring position, ending up at third on the play. Krueger kept things going with a walk before stealing second with two outs to put two in scoring position, but the Orediggers ended up settling for a lone run in the inning. Heading back out for her second inning of relief, Westbrook needed just six pitches to retire FHSU in order and send the game to the seventh with the score at 7-1.
 
Looking for some seventh inning magic of their own like the Tigers managed in game one, Mines looked to the bottom of the order to start the rally down by six, but it was tough going against Egger in the circle as the Tigers' ace closed out her complete game effort to force a doubleheader split with a game two win.
 
NOTABLES
-Aragon extended her hitting streak to 11 games, going 2-3 with a double and driving in a pair in game one to set a new career-high of 12 RBI this season before seeing that streak ended in game two
-Ton posted a three-hit performance in the opener and recorded her second consecutive three-hit game, scoring three of the four Mines runs while also stealing two bases, extending her hitting streak to three games and hitting safely in five of her last seven games to raise her average to .350 and improving to 7-7 on stolen bases attempts
-Wilson went 1-3 with a walk and an RBI in game one and is now batting .301 on the season with 14 RBI and a team-leading nine walks, giving her 48 in her career and putting her four behind Kara Jones (2016-19) for 10th all-time at Mines
-Semeyn went 1-4 and also drove in a run in the opener to regain the clubhouse lead in RBI with 15 while working a walk and scoring in game two
-Larson's double in game two was her sixth of the season, surpassing her mark of five last season and is now the second-most doubles in a season in her career as she finished 2-3 in game two
-Krueger's game two double was her first of the season and 35th of her Mines career, one back of Deborah Ausmus for 10th all-time in program history
-Chvatal went 1-1 at the dish with a walk in game two and worked two innings in the circle, allowing a run on two hits with a strikeout and has now hit safely in each of the last three games she's played
-Rodriguez returned to form following an odd start Monday, working six scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the seventh as she finished the day with 6.2 innings worked and three runs on six hits with three strikeouts against one walk
-Rodriguez now stands at 290 career strikeouts and 29 career wins over 325 innings pitched heading into this weekend against Fort Lewis and now ranks fifth all-time in Mines history in strikeouts, having passed Katie Kocman (2006-09) and Sydney Marchando (2018-21) while her 30 wins now have her tied for sixth all-time with Carrie Wittkopf (1999-02) as she has passed former Oredigger and current pitching coach Libby Balogh (2010-11) and Taylor Cayou (2006-09) and is now one shy of tying Marchando for fifth in program history
-Westbrook recorded the first save of the season by Mines pitching and the first of her career in her 13th relief appearance of the year
-Rogers made her fourth start of the season and second at designated player in game one before taking over duties in right field in game two
-Romero made her fifth start of the year and first of the year at third base in game one before making her first career start at shortstop in game two
-Whisenand made her third start of the season in right field and her first appearance in the batting order in game one, reaching base for the first time in her career with a walk in the sixth inning
-Matamoros made her first career start at designated player and second appearance of the season in game two
-The win in game one was the first for the Orediggers in Hays since April 16, 2005, a period spanning 6,913 days, and was their first win overall I the series since March 16, 2016, a period spanning 2,926 days
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will return to Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field this weekend for a four-game Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series with Fort Lewis. Due to forecasted inclement weather, the series will now be played Friday and Saturday with doubleheaders starting at 12 p.m. and 11 a.m. respectively.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines softball on X at @MinesSoftball and on Instagram at @mines_sb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.