THIS WEEK
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team will be hosting Colorado Christian University (CCU) in a four-game series beginning Saturday, Apr. 6. The series will consist of the usual Saturday and Sunday double-headers. On Saturday, the games are scheduled for 12 pm. And 2 p.m. On Sunday, Apr. 7, the games are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Historically, UCCS has an even record against CCU at 9-9, scoring an average of 6.8 runs per game. The best season performance for the Mountain Lions against CCU came back in 2014 when they swept the Cougars in a four-game series and scored 46 runs in those four games. Last season, UCCS struggled against CCU, losing three of the four games. In those games, UCCS scored 17 runs on 19 hits including two doubles, one triple and two home runs. In their win last season, the Mountain Lions scored eight runs on six hits with one double and one triple.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
Colorado Christian has an impressive record of 24-9 this season with a 17-3 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), good enough for second overall in the conference. CCU is 3-1 in their last four games, scoring 35 runs on 33 hits, including nine doubles and five home runs. As a team, CCU is leading the RMAC in batting average (.364), hits (318), and triples (12), is second in runs scored (250) and RBI (225), fourth in doubles (57) and fifth in home runs (28). Individually, the Cougars are led by seniors Charlotte Romero and Kendall Yasui, and junior Stephanie Day. Romero is leading the team in batting average (.467, second in the RMAC), second on the team in doubles (seven), third on the team in RBI (24) and fourth on the team in home runs with two. Yasui is third on the team in batting average (.429, seventh in the RMAC) but leads the team in hits with 45 (tied for fifth in the RMAC). She also has four doubles, a team high three triples (tied for fourth in the RMAC), and 17 RBI. Day ranks second on the team in batting average (.449, fourth in the RMAC), hits (44, tied for sixth in the RMAC), and home runs (five), but ranks first in doubles (10) and RBI (41, tied for first in the RMAC). Kacie Burger leads the team in home runs with seven (tied for seventh in the RMAC). Defensively, the Cougars have team ERA of 2.86 (fourth in the RMAC). Kenzie Mattey (13-3) and Jennifer Romero (8-3) are the pitching leaders for CCU. Mattey has appeared in 23 games this year (16 starts) and as given up 51 runs (27 earned) on 95 hits with 56 strikeouts, awarding her a team best 1.87 ERA. Romero has appeared in 15 games this season (12 starts) and has allowed 40 runs (29 earned) on 74 hits with a team high 68 strikeouts, giving her an impressive 2.87 ERA.

LAST TIME OUT
UCCS went 2-2 in their most recent pod series, taking one game each from Colorado School of Mines and Fort Lewis College. In the series, the Mountain Lions scored 29 runs on 43 hits including 13 doubles two home runs. In their two wins, UCCS tallied 23 hits including six of their thirteen doubles and both of their home runs. Those numbers bring UCCS' season totals to 287 hits (fifth in the RMAC), 62 doubles (third in the RMAC), 33 home runs (third in the RMAC), 204 runs scored and 196 RBI (both third in the RMAC), and a team batting average of .298 (sixth in the RMAC). As a team, UCCS had 11 different players record a hit and five different players tally at least six hits in the series. Payton Romines (.281 BA) and Taylor Reidhead (.292 BA) led the offense for UCCS. Romines had seven hits, including two doubles and one home run, and five RBI in the series. The seven hits was tied for the most on the team and the five RBI was second most on the team behind Reidhead. Reidhead had six hits in the series, tied for second most with two other players, one double and one home run. She also had a team high seven RBI. Alex Cook (.301 BA) tied with Romines for the team high in hits (seven) and also had two doubles and two RBI for the Mountain Lions. Peyton Reisman (.390 BA) and Melissa Martinek (.400 BA) were the other two player who tied with Reidhead for the second most hits of the series at six. Four of Reisman's six hits were doubles (led the team) and she also had three RBI. Martinek had two doubles and two RBI for the Mountain Lions, which bring her season totals to 44 hits (tied for seventh in the RMAC), 13 doubles (tied for fourth in the RMAC), and 36 RBI (tied for sixth in the RMAC). Defensively, the Mountain Lion pitching staff finished the weekend with a combined ERA of 6.25. Taylor Reidhead (7-7) pitched well in two relief appearances as she gave up 11 runs (seven earned) on 12 hits and struck out 13 in 12 innings of action, awarding her a 4.08 ERA and a 1-1 record for the series. Cami Duffey (5-4) started two games that finished with no decisions for her. She gave up 11 runs (eight earned) on 15 hits in her two starts. Braelyne Crenshaw (5-7) appeared in all four games for UCCS (two starts) and allowed 11 runs (10 earned) on 18 hits with three strikeouts, awarding her a 1-1 record for the weekend.

WEATHER FORECAST
The forecast for this weekend in Colorado Springs shows high temperatures of 65, 66 and 65 degrees for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Partly cloudy conditions can be expected Friday and Saturday with winds of up to nine miles per hour. Sunday shows clear skies and winds up to 11 miles per hour. Overall, it looks to be a good weekend for softball. For any updates on schedule changes, stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.

UP NEXT
UCCS will be traveling to Spearfish, South Dakota to take on Black Hills State University in a four-game series. The series will consist of the usual Saturday – Sunday double headers. On Saturday, Apr. 13 the games are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. On Sunday, Apr. 14 the games are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.