Mines (8-10, 5-7) at #9 Colorado Christian (19-2, 11-1) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (DH) – Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (8-10, 5-7) at #9 Colorado Christian (19-2, 11-1) – Sunday, 11 a.m. (DH) – Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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ROAD TRIPPING
Following a four-game respite that saw them finally debut on their home field last weekend for the first time this season, the Colorado School of Mines softball team will open an 11-game stretch as the visiting team starting this weekend when they once again make the short trip down Highway 6 over to Lakewood and All Star Park to take on ninth-ranked Colorado Christian in the fourth Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series of the season for both clubs.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live coverage of this weekend's games will include live stats and streaming on the RMAC Network. All links can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
AT THE HELM
Mike Coutts enters his third season at the helm of the Orediggers and owns an overall record of 49-66 with a mark of 45-43 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play and is coming off his first 20-win season in Golden in 2023. He oversaw a nine-win improvement overall and an eight-win improvement from year one to year two and guided the Orediggers to an appearance in last season's RMAC Tournament. 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
Mines was tabbed to finish fifth the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll this season, up two places from their projected result last season of seventh. Defending RMAC champions Colorado Christian were picked to repeat this season with eight first-place votes followed by MSU Denver and Colorado Mesa, who each earned a pair of first-place ballots and were separated by just one point in the poll. Regis checked in just ahead of Mines in fourth with UCCS in sixth with CSU Pueblo and Chadron State in seventh and eighth. Fort Lewis and New Mexico Highlands each earned 37 points to finish tied for ninth in the standings while Adams State and Black Hills State each earned 18 points to finish tied for 11th.
 
WEEK 4 RECAP
Finally playing on their home field as the home team for the first time in 2024, Mines picked up their third different weekend result in their third RMAC series of the season, going 3-1 against New Mexico Highlands and flexing their offensive muscle along the way. Sadriena Rodriguez spun a five-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in the opener as Trystin-Oshiro Sano drove in two in a 6-0 win. Game two got off to a rocky start with NMHU taking an early lead, but the offense came through to back up 4.2 innings of five-hit relief from Allison Westbrook, scoring three of more runs in three of five innings led by a three-RBI game by Lexie Semeyn while Kendall Aragon, Sara Larson and Kayleigh Krueger all drove in a pair with Semeyn and Cassidy Chvatal each doubling twice. Sunday's opener saw Mines overcome an early 1-0 deficit take a 3-1 lead into the sixth before NMHU hit a two-run home run that ended up resulting in extra innings. Sidney Wilson ended up walking it off in the 10th on an RBI single back up the middle as six off 11 hits for Mines in the game went for extra bases. Unfortunately, a sweep was not meant to be as the Orediggers were held to just four hits in a 3-0 loss in the finale.
 
ONE FINAL RUN
As the era of COVID-extended eligibility begins to wind down, one player from the 2019 signing class is back for a fifth season of college softball. Sadriena Rodriguez earned Second Team All-RMAC honors following a breakout 14-win season in 2023 and was twice named RMAC Pitcher of the Week during the season. She spun five shutouts and struck out 147 in 144.1 innings over work across 24 starts in 25 appearances and held opponents to a mere .200 average. Her 2.18 ERA was the fourth-best in a season all-time while her five shutouts tied for fourth-most in a season, and she enters 2024 with eight career shutouts, good for fifth in program history. She also cleared the 200-strikeout mark in her career, becoming the first Mines pitcher since Sydney Marchando to reach that milestone and will undoubtedly clear 300 before season's end.
 
WEREN'T WE JUST HERE?
For the second time in a month, Mines will be on the turf at Lakewood's All Star Park this weekend. The Orediggers' home opening series against Chadron State ended up getting moved there as a result of field conditions in Golden and saw a pair of wins on the first day of the series Sunday by scores of 2-0 and 8-7 before dropping a pair on Monday to the Eagles 6-4 and 3-2 in 10 innings. In their last six trips to the venue including last year's RMAC Tournament, Mines is 2-4 and will be looking to build off their momentum from a series win over New Mexico Highlands.
 
EXTRA, EXTRA
In game three of last weekend's series with the Cowgirls, Mines played their third extra innings game of the season and second that went at least 10 innings (see above). As the old saying goes, the third time was the charm for the Orediggers who finally picked up a win in extras courtesy of Sidney Wilson's one-out single to center that scored Hannah Roberts for a 4-3 win.
 
EXTRA, EXTRA PT. 2
Heading into last weekend's series against New Mexico Highlands, Mines had tallied a total of 16 extra-base hits on the season comprised of nine doubles, two triples and five home runs. During the series against the Cowgirls, the Orediggers pounded out 16 extra-base hits in the first three games of the weekend, including 12 doubles and four triples. Saturday's run rule-shortened 12-4 win included five doubles, two shy of the single-game program record while Sunday's series clinching 3-2 win included two triples, also two short of the single-game program record. Mines also doubled at least three times and tripled at least once in each of their three wins. They'll need to continue that trend this weekend to keep it close with CCU.
 
NOW WALK IT OFF
Like we just mentioned, Sidney Wilson was the hero in that 4-3 extra-innings win over NMHU and this season has been no stranger to late-inning heroics. Back on February 18 and the last time Mines was over in Lakewood, Wilson walked it off for the first time this season with a bloop single down the right field line that scored Kellan Ton from second to secure an 8-7 win. Taking it back even further, Wilson has been involved in the last three walk-off wins for Mines, as she was responsible for scoring the winning run in a 11-inning marathon in the series finale against Regis last season at home by a final score of 7-6.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
18 games into the season and Kendall Aragon remains the clubhouse leader in batting at .403 with seven RBI and nine runs scored. Sara Larson's average has slowly been working its way up the last few weeks and is up to .327 with four doubles, a home run and six RBI while scoring four times. Lexie Semeyn has seemingly put last season's woes behind her and is hitting .268 with four doubles and two triples while leading the team with 11 RBI and also scoring nine times, tied with Larson for the most on the club. Sidney Wilson is up to seven RBI and has a home run this season and is batting .263.
 
Cassidy Chvatal has been solid in her addition to the everyday lineup this season, as she's been on the rise and enters the weekend hitting .255 and leads Mines with seven extra-base hits including five doubles along with a triple and a home run while driving in eight. Trystin Oshiro-Sano is hitting .250 with three doubles and nine RBI while Hannah Roberts (.237 AVG, 4 XBH) and Kayleigh Krueger (.222 AVG, 2 XBH) have nine RBI between them. Freshman Kellan Ton has also thrived in her debut season, platooning time in left field with Semeyn and is hitting .333 with eight runs scored, two extra-base hits and is 5-5 on stolen base attempts.
 
The Mines pitching staff rebounded from a tough weekend in Grand Junction two weeks ago to bring some of their numbers back down to earth. Kat Miller, a hard-luck loser allowing just one run in six innings in her last start, is now 1-1 on the season with a 3.09 ERA in five starts over 10 games with 13 strikeouts against eight walks in 31.2 innings and has posted a .289 BAA. Sadriena Rodriguez got back to .500 in the circle with a game one win Saturday and is 4-4 with a 3.33 ERA across 48.1 innings this season and is second in the RMAC with 39 strikeouts against just 11 walks and is holding opponents to just a .236 mark at the dish. Allison Westbrook picked up two wins in relief over the weekend to improve to 3-2 on the season and lowered her ERA to 5.58 along the way. In nine games she's worked 21.1 innings including 9.2 at home last weekend and has struck out five. Chvatal has split time between right field and the circle this year, working 17.1 innings in five games with four starts and striking out five while freshman Ellen Shull has appeared in three games for an inning and picked up her first collegiate strikeout against NMHU.

SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
CCU took three out of four over the weekend in a battle of RMAC unbeatens against Colorado Mesa, winning the first three games but not being able to complete the sweep and suffering their first loss since February 9 and seeing their 13-game winning streak come to an end that included sweeps of Adams State and Fort Lewis (five of those eight games ended in five innings).
Home to the top offense in the RMAC in 2024 with eight of nine starters batting over .320, the Cougars are led at the plate by Kenzie Middleton who is hitting .500 21 games into the season with a team-high 38 hits and 33 runs scored while piling up three doubles, three triples and seven home runs while driving in 34 and also stealing five bases. Division I graduate transfer Kaila Eastburn is second with a .420 average and leads the team with eight doubles and also has three home runs and a pair of triples while driving in 24 while fifth-year outfielder Sami Edwards is the final of three regulars batting over .400 at .403 with a four doubles, three triples, a home run, 19 runs scored and 12 RBI.
 
The other Middleton, Kayla, is just under .400 at .397 and just trails her sister's offensive output with four doubles, two triples, five home runs, 25 RBI and 21 runs scored. Logan Menzies is hitting .350 with nine extra-base hits including four home runs and has driven in 19 and Leah Garcia is hitting .339 with eight extra-base hits including three home runs with 17 driven in. Camryn Quilling and Samaria Roope round out that group of eight with the former batting .333 with 16 RBI and five stolen bases and the latter hitting .326 with two doubles and eight RBI.
 
In the circle, CCU also boasts the top pitching staff in the RMAC, led by Eastburn who is 6-0 in six starts across 11 appearances with a 2.65 ERA and 35 strikeouts against 23 walks in 54.1 innings of work and a BAA of .188. Transfer Emma Duncan has started all 11 games she has worked and is 10-0 on the year with a 2.84 ERA and leads the staff with 57 innings pitched and also has 35 strikeouts against 28 walks and a .191 BAA. Hannah Espinoza has started twice in eight games for 13.1 innings and is 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA and seven strikeouts, while Elyse McMullin has been tagged for both of CCU's losses this season and is 0-2 with a 5.63 ERA in eight innings. Carson Griggs (0-0, 2.70 ERA, 3.0 IP), Roope (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 1.0 IP) and Rawnie Westrate (0-0, 99.00 ERA, 0.0 IP) have also seen limited action behind the front four of the staff.
 

SERIES HISTORY
Looking at the all-time series with CCU, recent history hasn't been kind to the Orediggers who have lost their last nine games to Cougars. Mines is 14-22 when playing their crosstown foes and 6-6 when playing true road games. While their last win in the series came at home in 2021, their last win in Lakewood over Colorado Christian came in April of 2019.

ON DECK
The second leg of their 11-game road trip awaits next week as the Orediggers will remain close to home as they'll head down I-70 for a four-game series with Regis March 16-17.
 
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.