Mines (2-12, 2-2) vs. Fort Lewis (1-7, 0-3) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (DH) – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (2-12, 2-2) vs. Fort Lewis (1-7, 0-3) – Sunday, 11 a.m. (DH) – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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GOOD TO BE HOME     
After spending the first three weeks of the season on the road, the Colorado School of Mines softball team will make their 2025 home debut this weekend at Joe Coors, Jr. Field as they play the first games on the new surface laid down in the fall as they welcome Fort Lewis to town for the second season in a row.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
This week's games will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network. Free live stats will also be available. Links for video and stats can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
TICKETS PLEASE!
Mines Athletics launched a new online ticketing platform at tickets.minesathletics.com. With the new portal through Vivenu comes change as well. The biggest change is for Mines faculty, staff, students. Tapping your BlasterCard at the gate will no longer work and tickets must be reserved in advance. To do so, visit tickets.minesathletics.com and click Sign In, then log in with your Mines SSO. Shop for your tickets, and on check out you'll have the option to select either a Mines Student or Mines Fac/Staff ticket. Then scan your ticket at the gate and cheer on the Orediggers! General fans can still purchase tickets in similar fashion as before, just at a new link.
 
UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
On December 2, 2024, Tobin Echo-Hawk was named the 13th head coach of Mines softball. A Colorado native from nearby Louisville and most recently the head softball coach of Erie High School, Echo-Hawk brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Golden.
 
An All-American infielder at Nebraska during the Huskers' ascendance to a national powerhouse, Echo-Hawk holds numerous single-season and career records from a highly decorated career. After her time in Lincoln, Echo-Hawk got her coaching start at Portland State University as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator before being elevated to the head position after two seasons. She led the Vikings for five years before moving onto the University of Texas El Paso for six seasons as head coach. Her most recent stop at the collegiate level was at New Mexico State where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach.
 
Read more on the new leader of the Orediggers here.
 
WEEK 3 RECAP
Mines played home run derby with UCCS down in Colorado Springs last weekend and got into the win column for the first time in 2025 as they split their four game series, taking games two and four by scores of 14-8 in eight innings and 15-4 in five innings while dropping games one and three 15-5 in five innings and 14-13.
 
The opener saw mines down 6-5 after three innings before UCCS blew things open with a nine-run fourth as they hit four home runs and five doubles to take the opener. Mines came back in game two and backed up a gritty performance in the circle by Taylor Wayne with six runs in extra innings after losing a 14-11 lead in the seventh. Cassidy Chvatal homered twice while Lexie Semeyn hit the go-ahead shot in extras as Emily Rogers also homered in the win.
 
Monday's opener saw more prolific offense and a mines win slip away late as UCCS scored three runs with two outs in the seventh to walk it off despite another two-homer game by Chvatal, another home run by Semeyn and a grand slam by Hannah Roberts. In the finale Mines went to work backing up another strong start by Wayne as she started the game with four shutout innings as Semeyn left the yard three times to lead an offense that scored 15 straight runs including a 10-spot in the fourth to split the series on a frigid afternoon.
 
IN THE POLLS
The Orediggers were picked to finish seventh in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll as announced back on January 16. Colorado Mesa was voted as the favorite to win the league in 2025 followed by Colorado Christian, MSU Denver, Regis and CSU Pueblo. UCCS was one spot ahead of Mines in sixth while behind the Orediggers, Fort Lewis, Black Hills State, Chadron State, New Mexico Highlands and Adams State round out the 12 teams.
 
This week's national poll saw UT Tyler remain at #1 while Angelo State moved up to #5. East Stroudsburg rose to #16 this week while Nova Southeastern remained #22.
 
HELLO, MY NAME IS…
Five newcomers join the Orediggers for the 2025 campaign. Lindy French, Brooke Gonzales, Mia Lopez and Grace Weiler were part of the 2024 signing class while Kiyana Tsuei was a mid-year addition to the program. That group will join a roster loaded with experience at the collegiate level. Check out each player's roster bio to learn more about them heading into the season.
 
MEET THE CAPTAINS
A new group of captains will lead the Orediggers into the 2025 season as seniors Cassidy Chvatal, Kailey Morales and Hannah Roberts will be joined by redshirt junior Taylor Wayne and junior Kendall Aragon.
 
Chvatal transitioned into a new role as the everyday right fielder for Mines in 2024 and had an outstanding season, starting all 50 games she played and batting .285 and leading the team with eight home runs and 10 doubles while driving in 27 runs and scoring 30.
 
Morales, a veteran catcher with 47 games behind the dish, belted her first career home run last season and added a pair of doubles while scoring seven times and driving in seven while helping guide the pitching staff to a 3.73 ERA in 2024.
 
Roberts emerged as the full-time starter at second base last spring after platooning there her first two seasons. She started 45 times in 47 games and batted .283 with six doubles, 10 RBI and 19 runs scored and hit .411 over the final three weeks of the season, as well as posting a career-best .956 fielding percentage.
 
Wayne missed the entirety of 2024 recovering from a hand injury and will look to contribute in multiple positions in 2025. In 2023, she won three games in the circle and struck out 30 in 62 innings of work with her best performance coming at Chadron State on March 20, when she spun a one-hit shutout.
 
Aragon, a two-time All-RMAC performer in her first two seasons, has been a fixture in the outfield since the day she stepped on campus. A starter in all 101 games she has played, Aragon is a career .390 hitter and has scored 59 runs while driving in 46 and turning in back-to-back 60-hit seasons.
 
OFFSEASON UPGRADES
Fans coming to Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field in 2025 will notice the venue got a facelift over the offseason. The latest in a long series of facility improvements saw the complete resurfacing of the field with artificial turf thanks in large part to the vision and generosity of numerous individuals, headed up by a trio of softball alumni in Kerry Siggins '01, Kari Gonzales '02 and Kim Alanis '04. Take a look at the completed project here.
 
NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK
The Orediggers have completed a full update of their uniforms ahead of the 2025 season with the addition of a new navy uniform. Last spring, two new uniforms took to the field with the addition of new white and gray kits reflective of the recent branding updates across the athletic department. Take a look at the new threads Mines will be rocking this spring here.
 
HOMERUN HISTORY
Lexie Semeyn penned her name into the record books Monday, as she became the sixth player in program history to hit three home runs in a single game and tied the program record in doing so. She's the first Orediggers in 13 seasons to accomplish that feat, joining Taylor Cayou (2008), Sarah Van Lingen (2008). Molly Thiebault (2010), Kamee Vessey (2012) and Sarah Lustgraaf (2012). Cayou and Van Lingen both did it on the same day, April 23, 2008, against UCCS while Vessey also did so against the Mountain Lions. With Semeyn's performance Monday, now four of the top six home run hitting games in program history have been about the Mountain Lions.
 
POWER SURGE
On the strength of 12 home runs against UCCS, Mines scored 47 runs in their four-game series in Colorado Springs. That run total is a pretty rare one as scoring 30 runs in a series is tough to do, let alone 40. Three times last season, Mines scored 24 or more runs in a series (24 vs. ASU, 30 vs. UCCS, 28 vs. FLC) and 11 times since 2018 they had scored 29 or more in a full four-game weekend. However, the last time the Orediggers hung 40 up was all the way back in 2017 at home against Fort Lewis when they also scored 47 runs. With last weekend now in their pocket, Mines will look to keep the offense rolling as they return home this weekend against the Skyhawks.
 
PRESSURE TESTING
If there's one way for a new head coach to figure out what kind of team they've got, then there's no better way to go about that task than playing as tough as schedule as anyone around. Of the eight teams Mines has played to start 2025, four of them were ranked Preseason Top 25 with a fifth just missing out. Six of their eight opponents were in the NCAA Tournament last season and their fourth opponent of the year, UT Tyler, won it all last season behind a 58-8 season and returned their ENTIRE roster in 2025.
 
So while some folks may look up and see a zero in the win column and start reaching for the panic button, a deep breath is in order. The Orediggers have shown flashes of brilliance and competitiveness across their first 10 games, they just need to find the consistency in a lineup filled with youth this season following the departures of some big names off the 2024 club. This weekend in Colorado Springs will be a good litmus test for what lessons were learned by this group the first two weeks of the season.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Lindy French came back to earth a bit last weekend in her first series of league play but still leads Mines with a .452 average behind 14 hits, five runs and two RBI. Kellan Ton continues to do her thing and is batting .370 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI while scoring 11 times and going a perfect 5-5 on stolen bases.
 
Lexie Semeyn's average soared to .313 following a monster weekend against UCCS and is now batting .313 with an .813 slugging percentage behind a double and five home runs while scoring 11 times and driving in 11. E Self is also on the north side of .300 at .310 in her debut season, scoring four times and driving in four. Cassidy Chvatal was also seeing a beach ball in Colorado Springs last weekend as she is now batting .302 and slugging .651 with a double, triple, four home runs, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored.
 
Kendall Aragon is batting .300 with a team-leading four doubles while driving in five and scoring 11 herself. Emily Rogers hit her first home run of the season and is batting .280 with seven RBI and seven runs while freshman Mia Lopez is batting .227. Hannah Roberts hit a pair of home runs last weekend including a grand slam and is the third of three Orediggers with 10+ RBI with 12 while scoring seven times.
 
In the circle, Ellen Shull paces the staff with a 6.36 ERA in five starts across seven outings for 25.1 innings. Kat Miller has started four times in seven games and carries an ERA of 7.00 and five strikeouts in 24 innings. Taylor Wayne carded the first two wins of the season Sunday and Monday and has a 7.14 ERA across four starts in six appearances as she leads the team in innings with 32.1 and strikeouts with 13. Allison Westbrook meanwhile is 0-2 in four games with one start for five innings.
 
For the season, the Orediggers are batting .286 and have been outscored 124-83. They have a team ERA of 7.67 and has issued 58 free passes to 23 strikeouts as a staff. Defensively they are fielding .927 with 29 errors.
 
SCOUTING FORT LEWIS
The Skyhawks went to California opening weekend and went 1-4 in five games there before taking a week off and opening RMAC play at MSU Denver last week. Like many other series last weekend, the Roadrunners and Skyhawks played Sunday and Monday but managed just three games with the finale Monday afternoon being called on account of the league's cold weather policy. FLC dropped all three games to MSUD by scores of 5-1, 6-0 and 8-0 and have dropped five in a row overall going back to opening weekend.
 
Second year head coach Paige Adair's group is led at the plate by Alex Tenorio and her .333 average with two extra-base hits. Briana Jorgensen is batting .304 with a double and a team-best three RBI so far. Freshman Alyssa Fockler has the lone home run of the season for FLC so far and is batting .250 while Natalie Rodman is batting .222 with two RBI.
 
Cali Niccum, Makenna Milliman and Skylar Dietz are all hitting .200 or lower with a combined four extra-base hits and two RBI each while Rhiannon Lister, another freshman, has three RBI off the bench as three of her four hits this season have been doubles.
 
FLC has added more depth in the circle this season with the addition of freshmen Chloe Padilla and Addison Gavigan. Padilla is 0-1 in one game and has thrown since February 1 but sports a 1.68 ERA and five strikeouts with four walks in 8.1 innings. Gavigan has the team's lone win so far and is 1-0 in two starts with a 3.82 ERA over 11 innings with five strikeouts to three walks. Hailie Mann is back and is currently 0-3 with a 3.75 ERA in three starts for 18.2 innings with six strikeouts and six walks while Amiee Shanks returns as well and is 0-2 in six games with two starts for 19 innings with nine strikeouts against two walks to back a 4.79 ERA.
 
As a team, Fort Lewis is batting .205 and has been outscored 44-15 so far this season. They have a team ERA of 3.81 and have 25 strikeouts against 19 free passes as a staff. Defensively, they are fielding .937 with 18 errors.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines improved to 80-63 all-time against the Skyhawks with a four-game sweep at home last season and are winners of five straight and six of eight over the last two seasons. The Orediggers are 43-39 when playing at home against Fort Lewis, winning seven of the last eight games in the series in Golden going back to the 2022 season.

ON DECK
The Orediggers open an eight-game road trip next weekend at they head to Colorado Mesa March 1-2.
 
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.