GOLDEN, Colo. – After sweeping both ends of Saturday's twin bill, the Colorado School of Mines softball team was back in action eyeing a strong finish to the weekend Sunday in doubleheader action against Fort Lewis. Though the Orediggers (5-13, 5-3) were held in check offensively in a 4-1 loss in the opener, they staged a late rally in game two fueled by a six-run fourth inning to earn a split and post a series win over the Skyhawks (2-11, 1-6) with a 7-6 result in the finale.
Fort Lewis scored first in game one as Makenna Milliman opened the game with a four-pitch walk and came around to score on a long double down the right field line by Rhiannon Lister. Mines had a chance to respond in a big way in the home first as they loaded the bases with one out behind walks by
Kellan Ton and
Cassidy Chvatal with a
Kendall Aragon single in between, but freshman Chloe Padilla was able to get out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts to avert danger.
After the suboptimal start,
Taylor Wayne (3-3) settled into a groove in the circle and started making quick work of the Skyhawks, setting down the side in order in the second and negotiating around walks in both the third and fourth innings to keep it a one-run game. In the bottom of the fourth, the Orediggers broke through with two outs as
E Self laced an RBI triple to right center that kept tailing away from center fielder Sienna Mullin that allowed
Lauren Romero to score from second after she singled and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch.
With the game now tied at 1-1, Wayne and Padilla both worked 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth in a classic pitcher's duel backed by stellar defensive play on a day with winds gusting between 15 and 25 miles per hour. Mines had a shot at plating the go-ahead run in the home sixth as
Lexie Semeyn singled to left leading things off and eventually working her way to third with two outs, but an infield popup allowed Padilla to get out of the inning.
Disaster struck for the Orediggers in the seventh as Fort Lewis plated three two-out runs to break the game open. Mullin was hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count to open the inning and after a strikeout, was joined on base by Faith Sgro with a single. A lineout to right field left Wayne one out away from getting out of a jam, but instead Alyssa Fockler doubled home two runs with a ball to left center before scoring herself on a long single to center to make it 4-1. Though
Mia Lopez reached on a walk in the home seventh, a rally was not to be as the visitors avoided the sweep with a win in the opener.
Game two got off to a shaky start for Mines as well with FLC jumping out to a 4-0 lead after two innings. Milliman led off with a single before an E6 on a potential double play ball saw Fockler reach and Milliman safe at second. After a sac bunt and a strikeout,
Ellen Shull looked to get out of early trouble but back-to-back singles by Natalie Rodman and Padilla each resulted in a run to make it 2-0.
The Orediggers had a chance to respond in their half of the first as
Kellan Ton worked a four-pitch walk leading off the frame as did
Cassidy Chvatal with two outs. An odd sequence took a run off the board for Mines as a steal-and-stop play with Chvatal between first and second that allowed Ton to scamper home was waved off by an umpire interference call on the throw to second by the catcher. The result saw the runners put back on the corners before a strikeout ended the inning, allowing the Skyhawks to maintain their lead.
Two more Fort Lewis runs came on another bizarre series of events in the second. After Timmons led off with a single through the left side, Sgro dropped down a sacrifice bunt that was picked up by
Lauren Romero who wheeled and try to get the force out at second. The throw sailed into centerfield, allowing Timmons and Sgro to advance before Timmons scored on a second error on the play as the throw back in from
Kendall Aragon caromed off the helmet of Sgro standing on second. After a single and a walk loaded the bases,
Ellen Shull was lifted with no outs in the inning for
Kat Miller (1-5). The junior right-hander managed to get a force out at home against the first batter she faced and though a run scored on the third fielder's choice of the inning moments later, a groundout to third ended the inning and averted what could have been a crisis as the score stood at 4-0.
Waiting for her offense to pick her up, Miller came back out in the third and needed just seven pitches to spin a 1-2-3 inning before stranding two runners in scoring position in the fourth, getting a popup down the right field line and a grounder back to the circle for the final two outs of the inning to keep it a four-run game.
Miller's efforts in the circle were rewarded in the bottom of the fourth as the Orediggers scored a touchdown with six runs in the inning to take the lead.
Kailey Morales kicked off the rally with a ringing double on a 2-2 count to right center.
Sam Whisenand took over running duties at second before
Emily Rogers dropped down a bunt single to first base to put runners at the corners. Rogers and Whisenand ran the steal-and-stop play with no issues this time with the former taking second and ending up at third on the play with the latter scampering home and evading the tag to get on the board. After an infield popup for the first out,
E Self singled to left center to score Rogers and chase FLC starter Addison Gavigan. Hailee Mann took over and was welcomed to the game by Ton with a single to right center. A flyout to left followed as it seemed another golden scoring chance was to go by the wayside, but the heart of the Mines order had other plans.
Kendall Aragon stepped in and delivered a single to left field that plated Self and made it a 4-3 game. Chvatal dug in next and for the second day in a row, unloaded on a pitch to left field, leaving no doubt this time as her sixth home run of the week cleared the wall in left field by plenty and put the Orediggers out front 6-4.
Undeterred, Fort Lewis rallied and scored two runs in the fifth. A leadoff walk followed by a hit by pitch and sac bunt put two runners in scoring position for Timmons, who hit a ball on the ground in the infield as the Mines defense tried to make a play at the plate, but the throw was late and a run scored. After lineout to second, Milliman delivered a single up the middle to tie the game at 6-6 before being thrown out at second 8-2-6 on the play to end the inning.
After Mines went down in order in the fifth and Miller avoided trouble in the sixth following a two-out double, the go-ahead run went on the board in the bottom of the inning.
Mia Lopez led things off with an eight-pitch walk before
Kendall Aragon dropped down a perfect bunt to third base to put two runners on. After Lopez was forced out at third on a fielder's choice, the Orediggers appeared to have the bases loaded following a single by Semeyn through the left side, but a baserunning blunder saw Chvatal out at second on the play 7-2-4 as Aragon and Semeyn found themselves on the corners. With now two outs on the board, Morales made sure the chance didn't go to waste as the senior delivered a single on a 3-2 offering to left field, plating Aragon as the go-ahead run to make it 7-6.
Drama in the seventh inning brought fans of both teams to their feet as a pair of singles, one to lead off and one with two outs, put the tying and go-ahead runs on base for the Skyhawks, but Miller kept her composure and finished off a stellar six-inning relief appearance by inducing a grounder to second for the final out of the weekend to win the series.
NOTABLES
-Aragon ran her hitting streak to 10 games with a 4-8 afternoon that included a 3-4 performance in game two
-Ton pushed her hitting streak to eight games with a 3-6 day as she went 2-3 with a run in the finale
-Chvatal homered for the second time in the series as she finished the weekend with five RBI and was credited with the first stolen base of her career in game two; going back to the UCCS series, the senior has six home runs, nine runs scored and 17 runs batted in over the last eight days and now has 53 RBI in her Mines career
-Self recorded a hit and drove in a run in each game Sunday while recording her first career triple
-Wayne was a hard-luck loser in game one, striking out three and allowing four runs on five hits with five shutout innings of work
-Miller turned in a stellar outing in relief on her way to her first win of the season, allowing two runs on six hits with a strikeout over six frames
-Mines now finds themselves tied for fourth in the league standings following play Sunday with several series still to finish on Monday
-Going back to 2023, the Orediggers have won their last six complete four-game series at Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field
UP NEXT
The Orediggers hit the road for the next two weeks as first up is defending regular season champion Colorado Mesa next weekend March 1-2 in Grand Junction.
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.
