DENVER, Colo. – Looking to shake off a pair of high-scoring losses Saturday, the Colorado School of Mines softball team once more made the short trip down I-70 Sunday for the final two games of their four-game RMAC series with Regis. Taylor Wayne's stellar relief outing in game one was backed up by the second-highest output of the season as the Orediggers (8-26, 7-16) took the opener 14-7 before the Rangers (12-21, 11-13) used a pair of big innings in the final to split the doubleheader 11-3 in six innings.
 
Despite a two-out double in the top of the first by Kendall Aragon, it was Regis who went on the board first in game one, as Mya Chacon scored on an error off the bat of Abby Larsen to take the early lead. Mines responded by hanging up four runs in the second as Sunday seemingly picked up right where Saturday ended at the plate. Lexie Semeyn led off the inning with a hit by pitch and after consecutive fielder's choice force outs at second, it looked as if the inning may not amount to anything. That was until Lauren Romero sparked a two-out rally as she was plunked to move Kailey Morales to second before Mia Lopez singled off the glove of starter Ava Edwards to load the bases. That turned the lineup over to Kellan Ton who hit one on the ground to the shortstop, who missed applying the tag on Romero going second to third as everyone was safe and a run scored. Emiaj Self kept the line moving as an E6 kept the bases loaded and scored another run before Aragon laced a two-run single to right center to make it 4-1 Orediggers.
 
The Rangers' rebuttal came in the form of six runs on seven hits with two errors in their half of the second, as they two did their damage with two outs. Starter Ellen Shull looked to worked around an E5 after she struck out Mia Moore for the second out, but the second time through the lineup proved unkind as a pair of run-scoring singles sandwiched around a two-run triple made it 6-4 in favor of the home team. Two more singles plated another run before Taylor Wayne (4-8) came on in relief and induced a flyout to left after walking her first batter to end the inning.
 
With Regis leading 7-4, both sides went down in order in the third in the quickest inning of the series before the Orediggers went back to work in the fourth, scoring the first two of what ended up being 10 unanswered runs to end the game. Lopez kicked things off by reaching on an E5 and ending up at second when the dust settled. She advanced to third on a groundout by Ton before scoring on a double to left center by Self. After Self moved up 60 feet on a groundout, Chvatal smashed a single off the leg of Edwards to plate another run and make it 7-6. Wayne made it interesting in the home half as she needed just four pitches to record the first two outs before walking the bases loaded and getting a flyout to Ton in left to end the inning.
 
Semeyn led off the fifth with some fireworks as an 0-1 offering was belted high and deep to the left center gap, leveling the score at 7-7. French followed with a single and was replaced on base by Roberts after she was forced out at second on a fielder's choice. Emily Rogers followed in a pinch hit role and loaded the bases after she was plunked on a 2-2 offering to bring Lopez back up. The freshman hit one on the ground to the shortstop Ybarra who tried a glove flip at second for the force out, but instead an error allowed Hannah Roberts to race around from second to score and take the lead 8-7. Aragon, who ended up at third on the play, scored moments later on a sac fly by Ton to make it a two-run game. Wayne made it interesting again in the home fifth, walking a pair with one out before issuing a third with two outs to load the bases once more and once more evading disaster with a flyout to Aragon to preserve the lead.
 
Aragon turned right around and led off the sixth with a single up the middle before Chvatal coaxed a walk to put two runners on to open the frame. Sam Whisenand pinch ran at first for Chvatal before Semeyn worked a full count walk to load the bases for French, who lined a two-run single to center and extend the lead to four. Roberts made it 12-7 with a sac fly that scored Semeyn before Regis got out of the inning.
 
After the Rangers went down in order in the sixth on just six pitches, Mines added some insurance in the seventh as Chvatal belted a two-out two-run home run to left field to extend the lead to 14-7. After a leadoff single in the home half by Regis, Wayne ceded the circle to Kat Miller who had no issues closing out the win as she went groundout-popout-strikeout to wrap up the opener.
 
Game two started in nearly identical fashion to how game one ended offensively for Mines, as Cassidy Chvatal belted another two-out two-run home run but this time the other way to right field as the Orediggers went up 2-0. Kat Miller (3-10) looked sharp as she resumed duties in the circle, leaving three runners over the first two innings to maintain the lead.
 
Chvatal made it a 3-0 game in the top of the third with another two-out blast the other way, this time of the solo variety for her third home run of the day and fourth of the weekend. Things unraveled for Mines in the home third though as the Rangers scored the first four of 11 unanswered runs. Back-to-back singles followed by an Olivia Wick triple made it 3-2 and after a walk and steal of second by Abby Larsen, a groundout to second resulted in two runs scoring despite a dazzling defensive play deep in the 3-4 hole by Roberts.
 
Now leading 4-3, RU retired Mines in order in the fourth before Moore scored on a triple coupled with a throwing error to make it a 5-3 game. Things looked as if they may remain close in the fifth as Miller put herself in a position to work around an error and get out of a two-out bases-loaded jam, but another error followed by a three-run home run resulted in another five runs to make it a 10-3 game. The 11th and ultimately final run came in the sixth as reliever Allison Westbrook looked to extend the game and avert a run-rule decision. After issuing free passes to the first three batters, Westbrook got a strikeout and some help with a runner's interference call to get to two outs, but a final walk forced home the game-ending run as Regis took the final and the series with an 11-3 result.
 
NOTABLES
-Chvatal's fine weekend at the plate culminated with a 4-5 day that saw her homer three times with two coming in the finale while driving in six and scoring three to go along with a pair of walks; the senior extended her RMAC home run lead and now has 14 on the season and 24 in her career, putting her one shy of the all-time single season Mines record and in sole possession of fifth on the all-time ledger while her 37 RBI on the season are now the most since 2021
-For the series, Chvatal posted a line of .500/.588/1.500 with four of her six hit being home runs to go with four walks, 11 RBI and six runs scored
-Wayne dazzled in relief to pick up the win in game one, working 4.1 innings of one-hit shutout relief despite issuing seven walks along the way
-Aragon went 3-5 with another double in game one and now has 10 on the season to add to her single-season career high and drove in two while scoring once and ran her hitting streak to a season-best 12 games before seeing it end in the finale
-Self doubled for the second time this weekend in game one as part of a 2-5 performance, scoring twice and driving in a run
-French kept it going in the opener with her third multi-hit game of the series, going 2-4 with two RBI
-Semeyn homered in game one as well for her eighth of the season as she went 1-3 with an RBI, a walk and two runs scored
-Lopez hit safely in each game and scored twice in the win as she batted .583 on the weekend and now carries a four-game hitting streak
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers will head north for the final four game of their current eight-game trip next weekend against Black Hills State March 29-30.
 
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.