LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The 2026 season came to an end Thursday afternoon at All-Star Park for the Colorado School of Mines in their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal against MSU Denver. Unfortunately for the Orediggers (26-29), seven was not a lucky number against the Roadrunners (36-19), as they scored in five of six innings in a 9-1 run-rule shortened affair.
Mines recorded the first hit of the day as
Kellan Ton opened things with an infield single, but MSU Denver recorded the first run with a two-out single to left field by Neila Fee to take the lead. MSUD added two more in the second when Janessa Esquibel led off with a home run to right center before Victoria Pearson's RBI groundout made it 3-0. The Orediggers got on the board in the third thanks to
Lauren Romero as her RBI groundout to second scored
Kylie Bickford after she led off the frame with a single.
Rylee Church (6-6) came back with a 1-2-3 inning as Mines looked to carry their momentum into the fourth, but a lineout double play on a hard-hit ball from
Madyson Ortiz dashed what was setting up to be a promising inning.
The Roadrunners pushed their lead back to three in the home fourth on an RBI single by Pearson before Brooklyn Enny and Neila Lucero hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth to make it 6-1. In danger of being run-ruled Mines looked to add runs in the sixth as a one-out walk by
Kendall Aragon set the table, but a 4-6-3 double play with a close play at first again ended the inning. In the home sixth,
Taylor Wayne looked to keep the deficit put and send things to the seventh, but the Roadrunners had other ideas. After a single and a pair of one-out hit by pitches loaded the bases, MSUD went single-walk-single with the game-ending hit dropping into shallow right center to score Trinity Kennemer and end things early with a 9-1 result.
NOTABLES
-Romero drove in her 31st run of the season
-Bickford went 2-2 in her postseason debut and finished the year 6-8 at the plate over the last four games
-Ton's 81 hits on the season are tied for the third-most in a season in program history while her 55 runs and .433 batting average are good for fifth
-Head coach
Tobin Echo-Hawk is now 48-61 (.440) at the conclusion of her second season leading the Orediggers and is 300-395 (.432) in 13 seasons at the collegiate level
-Aragon ends her career as one of the best players to don a Mines uniform, finishing the season with a .420 average as the only player to appear in all 55 games with 42 hits, 13 doubles, 12 triples, three home runs, 49 RBI and 11 stolen bases; in her career she appeared in 210 games with 209 starts and batted .402 (274-681) with a .450 on-base percentage, a .533 slugging percentage, 144 runs scored, 274 hits, 36 doubles, 19 triples, five home runs, 133 RBI, 40 stolen bases and 65 walks
-Aragon becomes the third player in program history to post a career batting average of .400 or better and ranks third on the all-time list; she also ends her career second in hits, fourth in at bats, fifth in runs scored, tied for 11th in doubles, first in triples, sixth in runs batted in, eighth in walks and tied for seventh in stolen bases while also ranking on the top 10 on several single-season lists
-Wayne's five years in Golden wrapped up Thursday with one final inning of work in her 100th career appearance which included 53 starts, during which time she posted a 5.45 ERA in 348.1 innings with 153 strikeouts, 21 wins and three saves; at the plate she recorded 12 career hits, scored 11 runs, hit two home runs and recorded five RBI and closed out by batting .226 this spring
-Miller's four-year career comes to a close after 76 appearances in the circle with 43 starts for 256.2 innings of work, during which time she won 17 games, recorded two saves, worked 10 complete games and struck out 107 with an ERA of 4.50; she also closes her time at Mines with a .500 career batting average, a double and two RBI
ON DECK
The offseason begins for the Orediggers as they look ahead to 2027. Stay tuned to minesathletics.com for news and additional postseason awards.
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.
