(6) Mines (26-28, 22-22) vs. (3) MSU Denver (35-19, 28-16) – Thursday, 2:30 p.m. – Lakewood, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV] [Tickets] [Tournament Central]

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TOURNAMENT TIME
After missing out on postseason action last spring, the Colorado School of Mines softball team is back in 2026 as they set their sights on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Softball Championship when they begin tournament play Thursday afternoon against metro-area rival third-seeded MSU Denver.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
All RMAC Tournament games will be available for purchase on the RMAC Network. Free live stats will be available as well. Links for video and stats can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
GET YA TICKETS
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference has partnered with Hudl Tickets to manage ticketing for all championship events during the 2025-26 season. Fans can purchase tickets online prior to the event, and will receive them via email with a QR code. When fans arrive at the gates, scan the QR code on your device for a frictionless entry. On-site ticketing is CASHLESS at all RMAC Championships. Single-day general admission tickets are $21, while military members and children ages 6-17 can purchase tickets for $16. Tournament passes are also available to $37.74.
 
RMAC NETWORK CHANGES
As was announced on June 30, this year the RMAC Network is moving to a pay-per-view model for all events beginning with the 2025-26 season.
 
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours. For technical support questions, fans may submit a support ticket with Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (rmac@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
WEATHER REPORT
After a blast of winter weather is forecasted to rock the Denver metro and Front Range Tuesday and Wednesday and plummet temperatures in to the 30s and 40s with rain and snow expected, Thursday's conditions look to be much better suited for softball. The high is forecasted to be in the lows 60s with scattered clouds and winds out of the west at 10-15 miles per hour.
 
AT THE HELM
2026 will be the second season of the Tobin Echo-Hawk era in Golden as the Orediggers look to return to the postseason after missing out in 2025. In Echo-Hawk's first season, Mines went 22-32 overall and 21-22 in the RMAC. The 2026 season will be Echo-Hawk's 13th as a head coach at the NCAA level which has included stops at Portland State and UTEP as she sports a career record of 300-394 (.432). Nine times her teams have won 20 or more games in a season and twice recorded 30-win seasons as she looks to elevate the Orediggers in 2026 and beyond.
 
JOINING THE STAFF
Some new faces will be in the dugout this spring for Mines as Zoe Bacon joined the program as the top assistant in the summer of 2025. Most recently the assistant coach at St. Edward's University in Texas, Bacon will work primarily with the pitching staff this season. Get to know Coach Bacon more ahead of the 2026 season here. Also joining the program in a more prominent role this season is Jordan Ruiz, who was a part-time assistant in 2025.
 
WEEK 14 RECAP
The Orediggers played to a draw over the weekend with New Mexico Highlands to close the regular season, taking games two and three of the series 24-4 and 11-5 while dropping games one and four 7-6 and 8-6. Madyson Ortiz led the way at the plate, batting .778 on the series and reaching base 10 times as she went 7-9 with three walks while driving in three runs and recording a double. Kellan Ton and Kylie Bickford each hit .667 on the weekend with the former going 8-12 with six runs, five RBI and three stolen bases and the latter going 4-6 with four RBI and three runs scored. Kendall Aragon hit .538 (7-13) with a double, triple, home run and four RBI while going 2-2 on stolen bases while Lauren Romero hit .455 (5-11) with four doubles and eight RBI. Katie Bauer and Sam Whisenand each hit .429 as Mines posted a .420 average on the weekend as a team. In the circle, Rylee Church picked up the win Saturday in the run-rule shortened blowout while Kat Miller picked up the win Sunday. Ortiz also added a save in the Sunday win for her second of the season.
 
300 CLUB
Sunday's 11-5 win over the Cowgirls was a milestone one for head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk, as she reached 300 career wins as a collegiate head coach. Over 13 seasons, her overall record stands at 300-394 (.432). Echo-Hawk started her career at Portland State, where she went 148-127 (.538) over five seasons before spending six seasons at UTEP where she went 104-2047 (.334). In her second season at the helm of the Orediggers, Echo-Hawk enters her first postseason with a mark of 48-60 (.444) and already ranks sixth on the program's all-time wins list.
 
SETTING THE FIELD
Colorado Christian split their final weekend of the season against CSU Pueblo as their chase for a perfect 44-0 record in league play came up short. Nonetheless, the Cougars earned the #1 seed in the tournament with a record of 42-2 in RMAC play followed by the ThunderWolves at 34-10. Those two teams earned opener round byes as the top two seeds in the tournament. CCU awaits the winner of the first quarterfinal between #4 seed Colorado Mesa (27-17) and #5 seed UCCS (26-18). CSUP will take on the winner of the second quarterfinal between #3 seed MSU Denver (28-16) and #6 seed Mines (22-22).
 
POSTSEASON STRUCTURE
New to the postseason this year is a new structure to the 2026 RMAC Softball Championship. Beginning with this year's edition of the event, there's no chance for redemption as the single-elimination style bracket will crown a champion in just five games played over three days. The bottom four seeds will square in the quarterfinals Thursday, with the winners advancing to Friday's two semifinals. From there, the winners of the two semifinals will meet Saturday in a single game for the tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship.
 
EARNING THAT SILVER
A pair of Orediggers have already earned one silver-plated diploma and are working on their second as they wrap up their careers in 2026. Fifth-year pitcher Taylor Wayne wrapped up her undergraduate work in Mechanical Engineering last May and is now working toward a graduate degree in the same field. Senior outfielder Kendall Aragon meanwhile picked up her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering in just three years and is now working on a Master's in STEM Education.
 
ONE OF THE BEST
One of the most prolific hitters in program history, Kendall Aragon entered 2026 with her name on several lists in the program record book. Presently, the Legacy High School alum ranks third all-time in career batting average at .404 (274-679) and if the season ended today, would be the third .400 hitter in Mines history. She's also now in sole possession of second all-time on the hits list, having passed Clara Larson (2017-21) for second and now trails Sarah Van Lingen (2008-11) and her mark of 277 by three for the top spot all-time.
 
Her 16 doubles from last season are tied for the eighth-most in a single season while she owns three career hitting streaks of 10 games or more including a 15-game streak that's the seventh-longest all-time, and is the only player in program history to have three such hitting streaks. As the season wraps up, Aragon is tied for 11th on the all-time doubles list at 36 with Deborah Ausmus (1993-95), while thanks to her six-triple weekend at Adams State she surged from fifth to first on the career triples list, passing Macy Jones (2010-13) and Heidi Bauer (2002-04) who were previously tied for first with 15 apiece. She's also broken into the top 10 on the career RBI list as her 133 are good for sixth and now trails Kaleigh Starr (2007-10) by three for fifth. She's also now fifth on the all-time runs scored list with 144 and has become the fifth player to score 140 or more times in a career. In addition, Aragon also finds herself eighth on the career walks list with 64 and needs three more to enter into a four-way tie for fifth. And to wrap it up, with 40 stolen bases she's now tied for seventh with Molly Thiebaut (2010-13) for seventh all-time and becomes the eighth player in program history with 40 steals in a career.
 
TRACK MEET
It wasn't too long ago that the Orediggers broke the single-season record for stolen bases, as they pilfered 86 bags in 2023. Heading back to the postseason this week, the Orediggers have turned in the first 100-steal season in program history with stolen 122 bases in 137 attempts in 2026. That total ranks 18th in all of Division II this season. 15 players have at least one steal this season while five have 11 or more. Kellan Ton leads the way at 37-41 followed by Lauren Romero at 17-18. Sam Whisenand is 16-16 while Emily Rogers is 13-15. Kendall Aragon rounds out the group at 11-14, making the first in program history five or more players have logged double-digit stolen bases in the same season.
 
FOR THREE
On April 3 against Black Hills State, Mines broke the program's single-season team record for triples as Lauren Romero's RBI three-bagger to left center was the 25th such base hit by the Orediggers this season. In fact, heading into the postseason, Mines has recorded 40 triples in 54 games to lead all levels of college softball. The closest team in Division II is Claflin with 35 triples, while Southeastern leads Division I with 33 triples. In Division III Rhode Island College is tops with 25. Individually, Kendall Aragon leads Division II and is tied for the NCAA lead with 12 triples alongside Rhode Island College's Noelle Simmons.
 
Looking back at the program record, the previous mark of 24 came in the 2013 season. Seven different players recorded a triple that season led by Molly Thiebaut's six. Macy Jones and Kamee Vessey each had five, Melissa Marshall had three, Courtney Derus and Sami Springer each had two while Cassie Ford had one. This season, a whopping 11 different Orediggers have recorded a three-bagger. Aragon's 11 leads the way and tops the single-season record book after she logged six in a weekend against Adams State. Kellan Ton's seven are second on the team and tied for fourth all-time with Kyndra Bradley (1998) while Emiaj Self's six are tied for sixth along with Thiebaut (2013) and Chrissy Ryan (1996). Emily Rogers has four, Katie Bauer has three, Lauren Romero and Sydney Pendowski have two each while Kylie Bickford, Miquela Tammaro, Mia Lopez and Kate Whipple all have one.
 
NEAR THE TOP
Mines ranks first in the conference with 40 triples heading into the postseason with 17 more than second place Colorado Christian and finished the regular season third with 122 stolen bases as one of three teams over the century mark on the bases. Their .965 fielding percentage is good for third in the RMAC, while their 4.42 ERA is also third in the conference.
 
Individually, Kellan Ton is sixth in the RMAC with a .435 batting average, second with 37 stolen bases and third with 80 hits. Kendall Aragon is seventh with a .425 batting average and leads with 12 triples while her 49 RBI rank sixth. Ton, Emiaj Self, Emily Rogers and Katie Bauer all rank in the top 20 alongside Aragon in triples. Mines also boasts three pitchers in the top 15 in ERA as Rylee Church is seventh at 3.37 followed by Madyson Ortiz in 11th at 3.82 and Taylor Wayne in 13th at 4.38. Ortiz also issued the fourth fewest walks in the RMAC this season with 19.
 
BREAKING HER OWN RECORD, AGAIN
After claiming the Mines career stolen bases record in February, Kellan Ton continues to stake her claim as the fastest woman in program history. Against Chadron State, the junior broke the single-season stolen base record for the third time in her career and now has 37 stolen bases entering Thursday's RMAC quarterfinal. As a freshman in 2024, Ton swiped 25 bases to break the previous record of 24 before taking 27 bags in 2025 as a sophomore. With the first 30-steal season in program in the bag, Ton sets her sights on 40 for the year as she continues to inch toward 100 in her career with 89 in 153 games.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
Heading into the postseason, Kellan Ton leads the Orediggers at the plate with a .435 batting average, 55 runs scored, three doubles, seven triples, three inside-the-park home runs, 24 RBI and 37 stolen bases. Kendall Aragon is batting .425 and is all but guaranteed her second .400 season at the dish with 42 runs scored, 13 doubles, 12 triples, three home runs, 49 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Katie Bauer reclaimed the top spot in home runs with her fourth of the season Sunday as she's batting .359 with 10 doubles, three triples and 34 RBI. Lauren Romero is batting .338 with 12 doubles, two triples and a home run while driving in 30 and going 17-18 on the bases. Emily Rogers continues to hover around .300 at .298 with a .511 slugging percentage thanks to six doubles, four triples and two home runs along with 18 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Emiaj Self is batting .247 with 19 of her 36 hits this season going for extra bases in the form of 12 doubles, six triples and a home run with 29 RBI.
 
Madyson Ortiz has shined in the designated player role in recent weeks and is batting .500 on the season now with a double, home run and eight RBI while also reaching base at a .590 clip. Rylee Church has also been hitting well for herself the last month with a mark of .412, two home runs and seven RBI. Sam Whisenand's left-handed conversion midway through the season has paid handsome dividends as she's batting .400 with four RBI and is a perfect 16-16 on stolen bases. Grace Weiler emergence at first base has seen her bat .359 this season with six doubles and 16 RBI. Kylie Bickford returned to action this weekend and raised her average to .333 with three doubles, a triple and a home run while now driving in 10 in her debut season. Miquela Tammaro now has 11 RBI in her first year with a .286 average along with three doubles and a triple while Sydney Pendowski also has double-digit RBI now with 10 while batting .273. Lindy French has also driven in 15 this season with three doubles.
 
In the circle, Rylee Church leads the way with a 6-5 record in 21 appearances with seven starts for 81 innings. One of the top freshman arms in the RMAC this season, Church sports a 3.37 ERA with 64 strikeouts and one shutout while posting a .247 BAA. Madyson Ortiz is 5-6 with two saves and a 3.82 ERA in her first season, making 19 appearances with eight starts for 69.2 innings and striking out 36 against just 19 walks with a .307 BAA. Taylor Wayne is 8-8 in 26 appearances with 22 starts in her final season for a team-high 112 innings of work with a 4.38 ERA, 41 strikeouts and a .302 BAA. Ellen Shull is 3-4 with a 5.41 ERA in 42.2 innings this season over 18 appearances with six starts and has struck out 10, while Kat Miller is 4-4 in 17 appearances with 11 starts for 48.2 innings this spring with a 5.61 ERA and 21 strikeouts. Ariana Hughes rounds things out with two appearances for two innings back in February.
 
On the season, Mines is batting .334 with a .404 on-base percentage and a .482 slugging percentage. They have outscored teams 320-275 this spring and racked up 138 extra-base hits (79 2B, 40 3B, 19 HR) and gone 122-137 on stolen bases. The pitching staff has a 4.42 ERA over 356 innings with 172 strikeouts against 254 free passes and a BAA of .303. Defensively the Orediggers are fielding .965 with 56 errors in 1,613 chances.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners split a shootout of a series with UCCS to end the regular season, taking games one and four over the Mountain Lions 17-4 and 12-4 while dropping games two and three 10-5 and 10-2 with each team run-ruling the other once. Over their last 12 games to end the regular season, MSUD went 7-5 against CSU Pueblo, New Mexico Highlands and UCCS.
 
Cheyenne Prieto, who was batting above .500 a large portion of the season, leads MSU Denver at the plate with a line of .476/.597/.811 with 16 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 45 RBI. Neila Free is second in batting at .378 and is slugging .611 behind six doubles and five home runs while driving in 27. Victoria Pearson is batting .360 with nine doubles, four triples and three homers while driving in 29 and leading the team with 22 stolen bases. Brooklyn Enny leads the team in home runs with 13 and is second in doubles with 10 while just edging Prieto for the RBI lead with 46 on her way to batting .347 and slugging .630. Janessa Esquibel is batting .339 with six extra-base hits and 24 RBI while Mackenzie Pearson has taken over as the primary catcher down the stretch and is batting .304 with four doubles, five homes and 26 RBI along with eight stolen bases.
 
Natalie Shellhorn is batting .296 with four doubles and 19 RBI while Lexi Gephart checks in hitting .287 with four doubles and 14 stolen bases. Zoe Stanzyk rounds out the regulars batting .281 with four doubles and 15 RBI. Several others played vital roles for MSUD this season like Trinity Kennemer, who is batting .386 with 12 doubles and 11 home runs with 29 RBI with an .898 slugging percentage as 23 of her 34 hits have gone for at least two bases. Neila Lucero is batting .379 with eight doubles, three home runs and 21 RBI while Shay Cwelich is batting .349 with six extra-base hits and nine RBI.
 
In the circle, Natalie Romero leads the way with a 14-9 record in 28 games with 24 starts for 139 innings. She has a 3.93 ERA and three shutouts on the season with 59 strikeouts against 69 free passes issued with a .271 BAA. Freshman Kianna Butler is 10-4 with two saves in her debut season, starting 14 times in 28 appearances for 102.1 innings. She's posted a 4.51 ERA and struck out a team-high 72 against 52 free passes issued and posted a .318 BAA. Samantha Mader is 6-3 with a save in 23 appearances with 12 starts for 77.2 innings and struck out 44 against 48 free passes and has a .302 BAA. Brooklyn Levin is 5-2 with two saves in 20 appearances with 17 in relief for 31.1 innings of work and has a 7.37 ERA with 15 strikeouts to 25 walks and a .343 BAA. Prieto rounds out the staff with one appearance for 1.2 innings all the way back in February.
 
On the season, MSU Denver is batting .338 with a .420 on-base percentage and a .526 slugging percentage. They have outscored the opposition 331-264 this spring and recorded 155 extra-base hits (88 2B, 12 3B, 55 HR) and gone 59-75 on stolen base attempts. Their pitching staff had a 4.65 ERA over 352 innings worked with 190 strikeouts against 196 free passes issued with a .299 BAA. Defensively, the Roadrunners field .969 with 47 errors in 1,515 chances.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Thursday will be the seventh (yes, seventh) meeting of 2026 between Mines and MSU Denver. The Roadrunners have taken the first six meetings of the year, as they swept a non-conference doubleheader in February in Denver 6-5 and 7-1 before claiming the four-game conference series in Golden 7-2, 13-7, 3-1 and 9-6 in 10 innings in mid-March. The teams last played in the postseason in the 2024 edition of the RMAC Softball Championship in which the Roadrunners took a 14-0 win in five innings in an elimination game. Since the start of the 2024 season, MSUD is 13-2 in the last 15 meetings.

ON DECK
With a win Thursday, Mines will advance to the semifinals of the 2026 RMAC Softball Championship against CSU Pueblo Friday. With a loss, their 2026 season will come to an end and the offseason will begin.
 
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.