GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to end the 2025 campaign on the right note, the Colorado School of Mines softball team lined up for their final doubleheader of the season Saturday under sunshine and blue skies at Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field against New Mexico Highlands. While a series sweep wasn't in the cards, the Orediggers (22-32, 21-22) bounced back from dropped an almost three-hour marathon 11-9 decision in the opener to send their seniors off with a winner, rallying from an early 2-0 deficit against the Cowgirls (15-39, 9-35) for an 8-2 victory.
 
Game one saw Allison Westbrook (4-7) start off the same way she did Friday with a 1-2-3 first followed by the offense scoring twice in the opening inning. Kellan Ton walked before stealing second and scoring on a triple to right center by Emiaj Self. Self scored moments on a single through the left side by Kendall Aragon as the Orediggers came out strong.
 
Westbrook tight roped her way out of danger in the second as a walk and two singles loaded the bases before she struck out the next three batters in order to preserve the lead. After Mines left two in the home second, New Mexico Highlands tied the game in the third with a pair of runs as Karla Banegas scored Jazmyn Griego on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly before Alessandra DeLaTrinidad scored Dioni Lincoln on a single back through the box before being caught stealing to end the inning.
 
The Orediggers responded with four runs in in the bottom of the frame as Self led off with her second triple of the game, this time into the left field corner before again scoring on a single by Aragon to retake the lead. Cassidy Chvatal followed with a walk before Lexie Semeyn plated a pair on a two-run double down the line in left to make it 6-2. Pinch hitter Kat Bauer looked to keep things moving with a single up the middle followed by a knock through the left side by Taylor Wayne, but a lineout off the bat of Kat Miller ended the inning.
 
NMHU kept at it though and plated two more runs in the top of the fourth on a bloop triple down the line in right by Chloe Corral followed by a single to center by Andrea DeLaTrinidad to make it a 6-4 game. Pinch hitter Kate Whipple led off the home half with a single and was joined on base by Chvatal with a one-out single, but nothing materialized as it remained a two-run game.
 
After Westbrook stranded a pair in the fifth, Mines added another run in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-out single up the middle by Self that scored Hannah Roberts to extend the lead to 7-4. Unfortunately things came unraveled for the Orediggers in the top of the sixth as the Cowgirls scored five times to take a 9-7 lead. A fielding error followed by a single and a walk loaded the bases before a questionable call on a play at the plate following a wild pitch allowed a run to score. A two-run double by Banegas followed to level things at 7-7. After a popup to first, another error allowed the inning continue and saw two more runs score on a single by to left to make it 9-7 NMHU.
 
Mines' bad luck continued in the home sixth as with runners at first and third and one out, a well-struck ball off the bat of Roberts was right at the shortstop for an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. The Cowgirls scored two more runs in the seventh on a two-out single by Alexia Apodaca, but the Orediggers didn't go quietly in their last at bats of the game. Brooke Gonzales worked a 2-2 count to see 10 pitches, fouling off six in a row before launching a leadoff home run to straightaway center for the first big fly of her career. After a strikeout turned the lineup over, Sam Whisenand stood in after some lineup changes resulted in Ton taking a seat on the bench. The sophomore kept the line moving as she homered for the second time this season, also to center to make it 11-9. Starting pitcher Griego came back in for Kennedy Williams as Self welcomed her back to the circle with a single to left. A fielder's choice force at second for the second out allowed Aragon to reach before a single by Chvatal and an error allowed Semeyn to reach and load the bases. Unfortunately, the rally stopped there as a strikeout ended the game with the winning run on first base.
 
The Cowgirls kept it going in game two as Dioni Lincoln opened the action with a one-out two-run home run down the line in left for the early lead. NMHU looked to add more in the second, but Taylor Wayne (7-9) navigated around a pair of walks as she started to settled into a groove following the rude welcome to the game. The fourth-year junior went 1-2-3 in the third as her offense finally picked her up in the bottom of the inning.
 
Lauren Romero led off with a sinking line single to center and after a strikeout and a groundout left things looking bleak, Emiaj Self passed the baton with a walk before Kendall Aragon single to right center to get Mines on the board, scoring Romero and allowing Self to go first to third. The duo then executed a double steal of second and home to tie the game before a lineout ended the inning.
 
Wayne continued to mow down NMHU hitters with another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth before being graced with a three-run lead in the home half. Kailey Morales doubled down the left field line to get things going before scoring on a single up the middle by Hannah Roberts. Romero followed with a double of her own into the left field corner to score Roberts and after a lineout to center, Kellan Ton tripled the other way down the line in left. Romero scored easily on the play, but the speedster Ton blew threw a stop sign at third and was throw out at home 9-6-2 trying for an inside the park home run as the score moved to 5-2.
 
Following a 1-2-3 frame against the Cowgirls in the fifth capped with a groundout to first, Cassidy Chvatal turned right around and led off the action with a 2-1 home run to left center to extend the lead to four. After a walk was erased on a 6-4-3 double play, Roberts walked on four straight as Allison Westbrook strode to the plate in Romero's place in the order as the flex player to make her first collegiate plate appearance. After falling behind 0-2 and with the crowd and her teammates in full throated roar, she worked the count back even before flaring a double down the right field line to score Roberts and make it 7-2.
 
Wayne's streak of 10 in a row retired ended with a leadoff single in the sixth by Griego, but it didn't amount to much as she needed just six more pitches to get out of the inning. Mines tacked on a final run in the bottom of the inning as Ton led off with a single before stealing second, advancing to third on a sac bunt by Self and scoring on a groundout by Chvatal to make it 8-2.
 
A six-run lead was more than enough for Wayne in a dominant final outing of the season, as she went 1-2-3 for the final time and played a part in all three of the final outs of the game to put Mines in the win column one last time in 2025.
 
NOTABLES
-Wayne recorded a hit in game one and went the distance in game two in the circle, working six scoreless innings after two first inning runs to collect her seventh win of the season, striking out two and allowing just three hits; with one season of eligibility remaining in 2026, she sports 13 career wins and a 5.89 ERA over 235.1 innings with 111 strikeouts
-Morales called it a career following a double and a run scored in the finale and closed the best season of her career by batting .250 with eight doubles, a home run, 16 RBI and 17 runs scored
-Chvatal closed the book on a record-setting season by breaking the single-season RBI record with an RBI groundout in her final at bat in the finale to plate her 65th run; she also homered in game two for her 21st home run of the season to reclaim the Division II national home run lead and ended the season with a .354/.460/.814 line, seven doubles, two triples and 43 runs scored while closing her career as a .318 hitter with 31 home runs, 17 doubles, five triples, 99 RBI and 78 runs scored with her 2025 slugging percentage good for third in a season all-time as do her 33 walks
-Semeyn went 1-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored in game one Saturday and finished the season batting .288 with career-highs with 14 doubles and 12 home runs while also adding two triples and driving in 37 while scoring 39 and ends her career as a .288 hitter with a .658 slugging percentage on 27 doubles, 10 triples and 19 homer to go with 62 walks and 85 RBI while finishing second in the RMAC in runners caught stealing
-Roberts logged a hit in each of her final two games and scored three times while driving in a pair to close the season batting .286 with two doubles, two home runs, a triple and 19 RBI while posting a career .292 average with 116 hits, 17 doubles and 55 RBI
-Westbrook posted a career-high nine strikeouts in a complete game effort in game one before recording an RBI double to right field in game two in her first career plate appearance as her three-year stint in Golden ends with 67 appearances in the circle and a record of 16-14 with a save and a 5.24 ERA with 81 strikeouts in 177.2 innings of work
-Aragon finished the series by going 3-7 on the final day of the season with three RBI and a run scored to close 2025 on an 11-game hitting streak; the junior posted her first .400 season at the plate with a .409 mark and totaled career-highs with 16 doubles, four triples, two home runs, 38 RBI, 43 runs scored and 12 stolen bases and through three seasons, remains third all-time in career batting average with a mark of .396 (203-512)
-Self ended her debut campaign with a 6-6 day at the dish with three triples, three runs, two RBI and a walk to end the year on a 14-game hitting streak and finish third on the club with a .349 average, 10 doubles, five triples, 24 RBI and 31 runs scored
-Romero closed the season 3-3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI to end the season fourth in the team in hitting with a .337 average, four doubles and nine RBI
-Ton reset her own single-season stolen base record and ended 2025 with 27 steals as she went 2-4 with a run and an RBI in the season finale to close the year batting .328 with 19 RBI and five extra-base hits
-Gonzales recorded her first career home run in game one as part of a 2-2 performance while Whisenand left the yard for the second time this season in her only at bat of the afternoon
-Bauer and Whipple each delivered pinch hit singles in game one as 11 different Orediggers found the hit column in the game
-For the year, the Orediggers homered 43 times to finish the regular season fourth in the RMAC in long balls; that tally is the highest single-season home run total by a Mines ball club in more than a decade going back to the 2012 team that homered 51 times in 53 games
-The Orediggers led the RMAC in the regular season with 23 double plays
-Head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk's debut season at the helm in Golden concludes with a 22-32 overall record and a 21-22 mark in league action, good enough for a seventh-place finish in the RMAC; in her return to the college coaching ranks this season, Echo-Hawk carded her eighth 20-win season in 12 year's between Portland State, UTEP and Mines
 
UP NEXT
The offseason now awaits the Orediggers. Stay tuned to minesathletics.com to keep up with postseason honors and the latest news around the softball program.
 
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.