THIS WEEK
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team will be traveling to Spearfish, S.D. to take on Black Hills State University (BHSU) in a four-game series. The series will feature two double headers, one on Saturday, Apr. 13 and one on Sunday, Apr. 14. The games on Saturday are slated to begin at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. Sunday's games are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
In the program's history, UCCS has an all-time record of 14-5 against BHSU and have outscored the Yellow Jackets 123-72 since the two teams first met in 2014. The best series performance for UCCS against BHSU came last season as they outscored the Yellow Jackets 33-8 in four games. The Mountain Lions tallied 44 hits in the series, including 12 doubles, two triples, and eight home runs. Defensively, UCCS shutout BHSU in two of the four games, including a no-hitter and one-hitter thrown by Taylor Reidhead. The best game of the series came in the no-hitter (one error away from a perfect game) as the Mountain Lions scored 12 runs on 12 hits including two doubles and two home runs.

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
The Yellow Jackets currently have a record of 10-19 on the season, including a 7-14 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). In their most recent series, BHSU went 1-3 in a pod series featuring Dixie State University and Metropolitan State University Denver. After losing the first three game of the pod, BHSU bounced back with a 6-4 win against Metro State as they tallied eight hits with one home run in the game. As a team this season, BHSU has a batting average of .289 (eighth in the RMAC), 224 hits (11^th in the RMAC), 36 doubles (11^th in the RMAC), 12 home runs (12^th in the RMAC), 110 runs scored (12^th in the RMAC) and 94 RBI (12^th in the RMAC). Individually, the Yellow Jackets are led by junior Kindall Bethke and senior Alex Wiley. Behtke leads the team in batting average (.442, fourth in the RMAC), hits (42), runs scored (19) and triples with three. She also ranks second on the team in home runs (two) and doubles (five), and has 11 RBI on the season. Wiley ranks second on the team in batting average at .341, hits with 28 and doubles with six. Maddi Fidler (.230 BA) actually leads the team in RBI with 17, even though she only has 17 hits on the season. Brittany Henricksen (.279 BA) leads the team in home runs with three. Defensively, Crystal Amaral (7-5) is the leading pitcher for BHSU. She has appeared in 18 games (13 starts) and given up 70 runs (53 earned) on 99 hits and has 74 strikeouts (seventh in the RMAC), awarding her a 4.56 ERA on the season. Alex Wiley (3-8) is the next best pitcher for the Yellow Jackets as she has allowed 69 runs (58 earned) on 84 hits with 19 strikeouts, earning her a 7.38 ERA this season.

LAST TIME OUT
UCCS struggled against Colorado Christian University (CCU) last weekend, going 1-3 in the four-game series and bringing their overall record to 18-21, including a 14-13 record in the RMAC. In the series, UCCS scored five runs on 21 hits including three doubles and one home run. After being shutout on Saturday and scoring only one run Sunday morning, UCCS finished the series strong with a dramatic 4-3 victory. Trailing 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, UCCS managed to tie things up on a fielder's choice hit by Melissa Martinek, scoring one and advancing the tying run to third. Alex Cook then hit a ball in foul territory down the left field line. The left fielder elected to catch the ball, which allowed Kaley Wagner to score after she tagged up on the play.

Even after a tough weekend, UCCS still ranks in the top five of the RMAC in runs scored (210, fourth), hits (308, fifth), doubles (65, fourth), triples (10, third), home runs (34, fourth) and RBI (201, fourth).

Individually, Alex Cook (.302 BA) led the way for UCCS as she recorded four hits in the series, including the Mountain Lions' only home run and four of the five RBI. Her home run came in the Mountain Lions' Sunday victory over CCU, as did her walk-off sacrifice fly ball. Taylor Reidhead (.299 BA) had four hits in the series as well, and Melissa Martinek (.382 BA) had three hits including one double and the fifth RBI for the Mountain Lions. Those stats give Martinek 14 doubles and 37 RBI on the season, which rank sixth and eighth in the RMAC respectively. Defensively, the pitching staff performed admirably against one of the top offensive teams in the RMAC as they finished the weekend with a combined ERA of 5.00. Braelyne Crenshaw (6-7) picked up the only win for UCCS in a relief effort of Cami Duffey (5-5). Duffey pitched well to start the game, allowing only three runs (all earned) on eight hits with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings pitched. Crenshaw came in the fifth inning and threw 2 2/3 shutout innings and allowed only two hits to earn her win.

WEATHER FORECAST
The forecast for this weekend in Spearfish, S.D. shows high temperatures of 35, 42 and 50 degrees for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Spearfish may be affected by another 'bomb cyclone' during the week, however the weekend shows low chances for precipitation. Wind gusts are expected to reach 12 miles per hour on Friday, but only highs of seven miles per hour on Saturday and Sunday. For any updates on schedule changes related to weather, stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.

UP NEXT
UCCS will be traveling to Grand Junction, Colo. to take on #14 Colorado Mesa in a four-game series. Due to the holiday weekend, the game schedule will be adjusted slightly. Instead of the usual Saturday – Sunday double headers, the first double header will take place on Friday, Apr. 19 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively. Saturday, Apr. 20 will feature the second double header with the games slated to begin at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.