GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines softball team dropped their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series of the season Monday as they came out on the short end in doubleheader action against Colorado Mesa 6-1 and 6-4. After their bats were held in check in the opener, the Orediggers (11-11, 7-5) led early before battling back to even in game two but a pair of late runs lifted the Mavericks (10-10, 9-3) to the win and the series.
 
Taylor Wayne (5-3) and Sophia Tassinari each worked two scoreless innings to start game one before the Mavericks broke through for two runs in the top of the third on a single and an error in centerfield to take the lead. A bases-loaded two-out walk by Emily Rogers forced home a run for Mines in the home half but no more as a flyout ended the inning with CMU up 2-1.
 
A leadoff home run in the fourth by Khloe Kubitschek followed by two more runs in the fifth saw Colorado Mesa pull away as Tassinari continued to deal in the circle. The Mavericks added another run in the seventh against reliever Rylee Church as they took the opener 6-1.
 
Looking to bounce back in the series finale and earn a split, Mines started off strong with three first innings runs against Marissa Nehm. After leading off with a single and stealing second, Kellan Ton came around to score on an RBI double to left by Lauren Romero for the opening salvo. Romero then scored on a bunt single combined with a throwing error to make it 2-0. After a fielder's choice force at second allowed Katie Bauer to reach, Emiaj Self tripled the other way to right center to make it a three-run lead.
 
Kat Miller shook off a tense first inning to go 1-2-3 in the second before running into trouble in the third as Colorado Mesa scored four two-out runs to go in front. After a walk and a single to start the inning, a bizarre caught stealing of TK Landes at third base from Katie Bauer resulted in the first out, as with runners on first and second the Mavericks thought Molli Magaña was hit by a pitch. The umpires thought otherwise as after Landes was thrown out and a discussion had, the out stood and Magaña returned to the plate before striking out. Five one-out singles with a walk and some wild pitches mixed in resulted in four runs scored but not a fifth as Emily Rogers threw out Cailynn Parsons at home plate on a single by Olivia Litzen to end the inning and keep it 4-3.
 
Now trailing, Mines relied on Madyson Ortiz (2-2) to keep them in reach after coming on in relief of Miller in the third. The freshman picked up right where she left off in the opener, working around a one-out double in the fourth and a leadoff single in the fifth to post zeros on the scoreboard. After leaving three runners over the third and fourth innings, the Orediggers rallied to tie things at 4-4 on a one-out opposite field double by Self that scored pinch runner Sidney Pendowski.
 
Ortiz cruised through the sixth as Mines looked poised to retake the lead in the bottom of the inning as Lauren Romero and Kendall Aragon reached with two outs, but Tassinari returned to the circle to induce a groundout to end the inning. CMU went in front for good in the seventh as they finally broke through against Ortiz. A leadoff pinch hit double by Tegan Medina set the table as Allison Lindsay followed with a double of her own to make it 5-4. A passed ball followed by a single down the left field line scored another run to make it 6-4 before a timely 4-6-3 double play and a flyout to right center ended the inning. The bottom of the seventh started off right as Emily Rogers led off with a single, but was then erased in a 6-3-4 twin killing before a groundout to third concluded matters in the finale.
 
NOTABLES
-Ton recorded three hits on the afternoon including two in game two while scoring twice and stealing two more bases as she extended her hitting streak to 13 games, the longest such streak of her career and tied for the 10th-longest in program history
-Church struck out a season-high five in three innings of relief in game one, allowing just one earned run on two hits
-Self recorded a double and a triple in the same game for the second time this season while driving in two in the series finale
-Ortiz, who made her first career start as part of the batting order as the designated player in the finale, struck out four more Mavericks in 4.1 innings of relief while allowing two runs on eight hits; for the weekend the freshman struck out 11 while issuing one walk in 11.1 innings of worked and allowing just three runs on 12 hits as she held CMU to .272 (12-44) against her
-Kiyana Tsuei saw her first career action at shortstop in the finale
-Mines sits in sole possession of fifth in the RMAC standings at 7-5 following three weeks of league action
 
ON DECK
The Orediggers welcome MSU Denver to Golden for a four-game series next weekend March 14-15.
 
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.