Mines (5-17, 4-7) at MSU Denver (14-6, 9-2) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (DH) – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (5-17, 4-7) at MSU Denver (14-6, 9-2) – Sunday, 11 a.m. (DH) – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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DOWNTOWN BOUND  
After spending the first three weeks of the 2025 season away from home, the Colorado School of Mines softball team will take to the road once more, opening a two-week road trip this weekend as they head west to Grand Junction for a four-game series with defending regular season champion Colorado Mesa Saturday and Sunday.
 
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.
 
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 5 RECAP
It was a tough way to open an eight-game stretch away from home last weekend for Mines as they were swept by Colorado Mesa 7-1, 5-4, 5-1 and 10-2 in five innings. Saturday Taylor Wayne provided some highlights as she pitched well in game two of the doubleheader and looked to be in line for the win until CMU rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to win. Nonetheless, the fourth-year junior recorded a career-high seven strikeouts against the Mavericks in the loss. Lexie Semeyn and Cassidy Chvatal each homered Sunday but unfortunately they were of the solo variety as runs proved to be at a premium against Mesa's pitching staff on the final day of the series. Emiaj Self registered five hits over the weekend along with Chvatal while Sunday mid-year addition to the program Kiyana Tsuei made her first two career starts at second base.
 
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 and Angelo State remain at #4. East Stroudsburg rose to #14 this week while Nova Southeastern dropped to #25.
 
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.
 
BOMBS AWAY
The Orediggers haven't been known in recent seasons as a "power hitting" ball club, but this season they may be looking to change that misnomer. Cassidy Chvatal and Lexie Semeyn are first and tied for second in the league this season so far with seven and six home runs, accounting for 13 of the team's 16 home runs. That mark currently ranks tied for third in the RMAC from a team perspective and is just three back of last year's season total of 19, which ranked ninth among the 12 teams that participate in softball. That total is also more than double the seven Mines hit in the 2023 season and two shy of the 18 in the 2022 campaign (the Orediggers ranked 12th and 11th in those season in home runs respectively). Perhaps something to watch under the new regime of Tobin Echo-Hawk is the rise of the long ball over the course of the season.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Lindy French broke out of her five-game slump with a strong weekend Grand Junction and remains the Orediggers' top hitter with a .386 batting average. Kellan Ton follows with a .342 average and has 13 runs scored and four RBI to her name along with eight stolen bases while Emiaj Self seems to have emerged as the everyday starter at shortstop for Mines and is hitting .333 with seven RBI.
 
Cassidy Chvatal remains one of the RMAC leaders in home runs this season as she now has seven this season and 20 RBI to along with them as she's slugging .687. Kendall Aragon checks in this week at .313 with a career-high six doubles and counting and has seven RBI this season while getting on base at a .400 clip. Lexie Semeyn is right behind Chvatal in home runs with six along with three doubles and has driven in 15 while slugging .685.
 
Kailey Morales is having a career year at the dish, batting .278 with three doubles and eight RBI while Hannah Roberts has two home runs and 13 RBI.
 
Kat Miller leads the pitching staff when it comes to ERA at 5.80 and is 1-6 with a save this season in 41 innings of work having made five starts in 12 appearances. Ellen Shull is still seeking her first win as she is 0-4 this season with a 6.07 ERA in 30 innings of work. Taylor Wayne recorded a career-high in strikeouts Saturday in Grand Junction over the weekend and has a staff-leading 29 this season while going 3-5 with a 6.16 ERA over 55.2 innings of work. Allison Westbrook rounds things out with a 1-2 record in seven appearances for 10 innings.
 
Offensively, the Orediggers are batting .284 with a .371 on-base percentage and a .406 slugging percentage and are -55 in run differential. The pitching staff carries a 6.50 ERA in 136.2 innings of work in front of a defense that is slowly improving week to week and is now fielding .940 on the season.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
Three weeks into league action, the Roadrunners find themselves third in the standings behind Colorado Christian and upstart Black Hills State and sport an 8-2 record in 10 home contests so far this season.
 
Jaden Geist leads MSU Denver at the dish, batting an eye-popping .500 with eight doubles, a home run and 15 RBI with 13 runs scored while slugging .825. Alexia Boring sports a .431/.492/.863 line and leads MSUD with five home runs along with five doubles and a triple while scoring 19 and driving in 14 with four stolen bases. Katie Maney enters the week batting .420 with three doubles, seven RBI and 18 runs scored and is a perfect 5-5 on the base paths.
 
Hannah DiFabio has six extra-base hits including three doubles as she's batting .365 and is 4-4 on stolen base attempts while Adrian Bueno sports a .317 average with three doubles of her own and 11 runs batted in.
 
Two-way standout Jenna Medhus is batting .533 in 30 plate appearances with seven doubles, a team-leading three triples and a home run while driving in 13 with second-year CCU transfer Miki Beg is batting .417 with 15 RBI and has nine extra-base hits including four doubles and three home runs. Aaliyah Arellano is also one to watch in a pinch-hitting capacity as she's batting .588 with three doubles and a home run.
 
In the circle, Natalie Romero leads the pitching staff with a 5-2 record and a 1.86 ERA with 37 strikeouts against 17 walks in 52.2 innings of work across eight starts in 10 games and has held opponents to a .198 average at the plate. Cheyenna Prieto is 4-2 with a save and a 3.54 ERA in 31.2 innings of work with a .254 BAA while recording 15 strikeouts and 15 walks. Samantha Mader is 3-1 in eight games with three starts but carries a 7.64 ERA in 22 innings with 16 strikeouts to 15 walks while teams have hit .327 against her. Medhus rounds out the staff with a 1-1 record in six games with four starts and sports a 6.86 ERA in 16.1 innings of work.
 
As a team, MSU Denver is batting .377 with eight individuals batting with at least at bats over the .400 mark and are +68 in run differential. They have a .426 on-base percentage and are slugging .587 with 76 extra-base hits including 50 doubles. The pitching staff owns a 3.99 ERA across 122.2 innings of work and has held teams to a .266 batting average while defensively, the Roadrunners handle fielding at a .972 clip with just 15 errors on the season.
  
SERIES HISTORY
MSU Denver leads the all-time series 54-35 over Mines and the Orediggers are 15-18 when playing away from Golden. Last season the Roadrunners took three of four from Mines with the Orediggers taking the opener 3-0 before dropping the final three games 6-0, 2-0 and 5-1.

ON DECK
The Orediggers return to Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field next weekend March 15-16 to take on Colorado Christian in a four-game series.
 
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.