GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Back on the road for the fourth time in five weeks to start the season, the Colorado School of Mines softball team squared off Saturday against defending Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions Colorado Mesa in the first two games of their four-game weekend series. The Orediggers (5-15, 4-5) and Mavericks (8-8, 6-4) played each other close all afternoon long but in both games, it was the sixth inning that did in Mines as CMU swept the day by scores of 7-1 and 5-4.
Kellan Ton singled to open the ballgame through the left side of the infield and looked to have a steal of second with two outs, but was called out for leaving first base early to end the inning and dash a potential scoring chance. Colorado Mesa had a strong chance to get on the board first as well with Myah Arrieta and Brynn Escobar reaching ahead of the dangerous Ally Distler, but
Kat Miller (1-6) induced a 5-3 double play and a groundout to first to escape trouble.
After a scoreless second inning, the Mavericks struck first in the third inning on back-to-back one-out doubles by Escobar and Distler before Miller stranded a runner a third on a pair of groundouts to second and third.
Mines responded in the top of the fourth with two outs as
Cassidy Chvatal singled to left and came all the way around to score on a double off the wall in left center by
Lexie Semeyn to tie the game at 1-1. CMU came back the next half inning with two outs as Arrieta hit a long single the other way off the right field fence with runners at the corners to score Khloe Kubitschek to retake the lead 2-1.
Neither side managed much in the fifth inning, the Orediggers had a chance to tie things in the sixth. Ton led off the inning before moving to third following a pair of bunts. Chvatal then worked a 3-1 walk to put runners on the corners, but a flyout to center by Semeyn saw CMU escape danger. Colorado Mesa took advantage of their opportunities in the home half. After a one-out walk, Jackie Oster hit a two-run home run to left to make it a 4-1 game. A single by Arrieta brought about a pitching change as
Allison Westbrook took over. Another run scored on a wild pitch, one of six in the inning to make it 5-1 before a sacrifice fly by Chloe Valdez scored Escobar. Distler scored moments later on another wild pitch to make it 7-1 before a flyout finally ended the inning.
Heading to the seventh, Mines sent up a pair of pinch hitters in
Taylor Wayne,
Lindy French and
Grace Weiler looking to spark a comeback bid, but it wasn't to be as the Mavericks took the series opener.
In game two, a scoreless first inning saw a combined three runs in the second.
Kailey Morales singled to right field with one out and moved up to third thanks to a pair of wild pitches including one on ball four to
Emily Rogers to put runners on the corners. A double steal of second and home saw Morales score the first run as CMU didn't even manage a return throw home as Rogers slid in safely at second. The Mavericks came back with two runs of their own in the home second, as Makayla Westmoreland led off with a triple to right field before scoring on an RBI single to first by Jessalyn Gallegos. Kubitschek, who followed the triple with a walk and stole second before advancing to third on the infield single, came across to score as Gallegos was thrown out at second by Morales to take a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the third, Mines responded with two runs of their own to retake the lead.
Grace Weiler, who took over in right field in the bottom of the first for
Mia Lopez, singled with one out and after flyout to left,
Cassidy Chvatal singled the other way to right center to put runners on the corners.
Lexie Semeyn stepped in next and delivered a ringing double to left center on a 1-2 offering to score both runners and make it a 3-2 game.
After
Taylor Wayne (3-4) worked around a leadoff walk in the home third to spin a scoreless inning, the Orediggers tacked on another run in the fourth.
Emily Rogers reached on a dropped third strike to lead off an advanced to second on a single up the middle by
Lindy French, but took too wide of a turn around second and found herself out in a rundown between second and third. French took second on the play and scored moments later when
Emiaj Self lined a single the other way to right field to get something out of the inning and extend the lead to 4-2.
Mines looked to add onto their lead in the fifth and looked in prime condition to do so following a one-out double by
Cassidy Chvatal to center field.
Sam Whisenand came on to run at second and moved up to third on a wild pitch before being cut down at home on a fielder's choice by the shortstop at CMU kept it a two-run game.
After cruising for three innings, Wayne ran into her first real trouble of the afternoon in the sixth inning. After Chloe Valdez and Westmoreland both reached on singles to open the inning, a bunt to third by Kubitschek resulted in an error and a run scoring for Colorado Mesa with the remaining runners both in scoring position with no outs in the inning. After a strikeout for the first out, a fielder's choice to shortstop loaded the bases for pinch hitter Kamdyn Hagerty who struck out looking after Wayne battled back from a 3-0 count for the second out of the inning. Seeking one final out to escape danger, Wayne was one strike away from doing so before Arrieta skied a big league popup on the infield that dropped in with some help from the sun, allowing two runs to score and Colorado Mesa to retake the lead 5-4.
Now finding themselves behind, Mines needed to spark a rally in the seventh, but reliever Marissa Nehm was able to close the door as she retired the Orediggers in order to complete the sweep for the Mavericks.
NOTABLES
-Ton led the way with a 2-3 performance in game one before seeing her nine-game hitting streak come to an end in game two
-Semeyn doubled in both games and drove in three over the doubleheader
-Chvatal went 2-4 with a double and a run scored in game two after going 1-2 with a run in game one
-French snapped a six-game hitless streak by going 2-3 with a run scored in game two for her fifth multi-hit game of the season
-Wayne shined in the circle in game two, striking out a career-high seven while allowing just four earned runs on seven hits
-Miller turned in a strong outing in her start despite what the numbers indicate as she allowed just two runs before the sixth innings and struck out a pair
UP NEXT
Mines wraps up their four-game set with the Mavericks with doubleheader action Sunday starting at 11 a.m.
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.