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PREVIEW | Mountain Lions Travel North For Conference Series With Orediggers

3/15/2022 1:21:00 PM

By: Tyler Tvelia, Assistant Sports Information Director
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
  • The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team will head on the road for the first time in over a month as they make the short trip north to Golden, Colo. to take on Colorado School of Mines. The Mountain Lions and Orediggers will begin their four-game set on Saturday, March 19 with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. before concluding the series with another doubleheader at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 20.
GAME COVERAGE
  • Live stream and live stats links for the Mountain Lion's series at Colorado School of Mines can be found below.
LAST TIME OUT
  • The Mountain Lions welcomed Regis University to Mountain Lion Field for a four-game series on March 12-13 and earned a series split to hand the Rangers their first two conference losses of the season.  
  • The first game of the series on Saturday started off on a sour note with Regis using a pair of first inning home runs to take an early 3-0 lead. UCCS starting pitcher Braelyne Crenshaw would settle in to toss seven complete innings and allow just one more run the rest of the way, but Regis starter Kylie Harpman proved to be nearly unhittable on the other side as she allowed one earned run over seven innings pitched while fanning 17 Mountain Lion hitters in a 4-1 victory.
  • After Regis' shortstop Jessi Case started game two with a leadoff home run to give the Rangers a first inning advantage once again, freshman Paige White countered with a grand slam to left field in the bottom half of the inning to put the Mountain Lions on top 4-1. UCCS would be held scoreless the rest of the game, but four runs turned out to be just enough for Mountain Lion starting pitcher Lexi Rayburn, who fired a complete game while holding the Rangers to three earned runs to claim a 4-3 win.
  • The Mountain Lions would fall into a four-run first inning deficit to begin game three of the series on Sunday, but a two-run home run by Sawyer Brewster in the first inning and RBI doubles by Morgan Hernandez-Belew and White in the third and sixth innings, respectively, helped UCCS climb back into a tie game at 4-4. A scoreless seventh inning from both sides sent the game to extra innings, but a two-run home run from Ranger's catcher Rachel Williams in the ninth inning would prove to be the difference in a 6-4 win for Regis.
  • UCCS and Regis locked into another extra-innings battle in the fourth and final game of the series after the Mountain Lions battled back from a 7-3 deficit to tie the game at seven in the sixth inning on a two RBI single by Solana Martinez. With the game tied, freshman Mackenzie Rutkoff tossed scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings, setting up Brewster for a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
  • Martinez and Brewster tied for the team-lead with six hits each over the weekend series, while Brewster also paced the squad with eight RBIs, four runs scored, and two home runs.
RMAC RECORD/STANDINGS
  • Colorado Mesa University earned a four-game sweep over Fort Lewis College last weekend to improve to 10-0 within the conference, while Colorado Christian University swept Chadron State College to remain one game behind the Mavericks at 9-1.
  • Regis and UCCS split their series and hold the third and fourth spots in the RMAC standings, respectively, with the Rangers holding a conference record of 10-2 and the Mountain Lions sitting at 8-4.
  • Rounding out the rest of the conference standings are Colorado State University Pueblo (6-6), Colorado School of Mines (5-5), Black Hills State (5-7), MSU Denver (4-6), Adams State University (3-9), Chadron State College (3-9), Fort Lewis College (3-9) and New Mexico Highlands University (2-10).  
THE SERIES
  • The Mountain Lions hold a record of 66-53-1 all-time against Colorado School of Mines and went 2-3 in five meetings with the Orediggers last season.
SCOUTING COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
  • The Orediggers began their 2022 season with a 1-13 record but are coming off a four-game sweep of New Mexico Highlands that brought their conference record back to .500 at 5-5.
  • Through their first 18 games of the season, CSM has recorded a team batting average of .285 and are scoring an average of 3.61 runs per game.
  • Junior Renata Boyd has started each of the Orediggers 18 games and leads the team with 22 hits and 11 runs scored. Freshman Hannah Roberts holds a team-leading .469 batting average and .500 on-base percentage across 34 plate appearances.
  • Colorado School of Mine's leading RBI producer is sophomore Kayleigh Kruger with 11, followed by sophomore Sidney Wilson with nine.
  • Inside the circle, the Orediggers' pitching staff has combined to tally a 4.74 ERA across 113.2 innings pitched with 75 strikeouts. The leader of the staff is junior Sadriena Rodriguez, who has posted a 2.60 ERA on the season across 29.2 innings pitched while fanning 30 hitters.
HOT TAKES
  • The Mountain Lions carry a .299 team batting average through 18 games this season, with seven of the nine regular starters hitting at or above .300.
  • Sawyer Brewster has broken out for the Mountain Lions this season, leading the team with 24 hits and a .421 batting average while starting 17 games at the hot corner. The infielder is also tied with Paige White for the team lead with six home runs and 18 RBIs.
  • Junior shortstop Solana Martinez sits second on the team with a .383 batting average as she has pounded out 23 hits in 18 games played. Martinez also ranks tied for first on the team with Brewster with seven multi-hit games.
  • Redshirt sophomore Morgan Hernandez-Belew has flashed some power at the top of the order, hitting four home runs out of the leadoff spot in the order while batting .317 with 13 runs scored and 11 RBIs.
  • Braelyne Crenshaw and Lexi Rayburn have combined to toss nine complete games and are responsible for 92 of the 124.2 innings pitched by the Mountain Lion pitching staff this season.
  • Rayburn is the team leader with a 3.05 ERA and four wins on the season across 41.1 innings pitched, while Crenshaw holds a record of 3-5 and has notched an ERA of 4.56.
  • Freshman Mackenzie Rutkoff has pitched well in her collegiate debut season, holding a 3.37 ERA and team best 1.39 WHIP with a record of 2-1. Rutkoff is striking slightly more than one batter per inning with 19 punchouts in 18.2 innings and has limited the free passes with just three walks on the season.   
  • With 11 strikeouts in her 16 innings pitched against Regis, Crenshaw surpassed Amanda Ritchie for the seventh most all-time with 214 in her career. The redshirt junior now sits 20 strikeouts away from passing Stacy Ortiz (234) for the sixth most in program history.
UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH RICKI ROTHBAUER-STUBBS
  • Ricki Rothbauer-Stubbs, who picked up her 200th career Division II victory last season with a 9-7 win over Chadron State on March 8, enters her seventh season at the helm of the UCCS Softball program during the 2022 season. In her first six seasons as the head coach of the Mountain Lions, Rothbauer-Stubbs has collected 120 wins and made three appearances in the RMAC Tournament.
  • During the 2021 season, Rothbauer-Stubbs coached two players to the All-RMAC team with Brianna Santos receiving First Team honors and Solana Martinez being named as an Honorable Mention. She also led her team to great academic success, as Santos was named to the RMAC All-Academic First Team and 13 more softball student-athletes were named to the Honor Roll.
WEATHER
  • The weather in Golden, Colo. on Saturday is forecasted to be mostly sunny with a daytime high of 53 degrees and winds from the southwest at 5 to 10 miles-per-hour.
  • On Sunday, the temperatures will be slightly warmer with a high of 58 degrees but winds will also pick up at 10 to 15 miles-per-hour.
UPCOMING GAMES
  • The Mountain Lions will have a busy week next week as they will play a four-game non-conference series against Colorado Christian on Tuesday, March 22 and Wednesday, March 23 before resuming their conference schedule at home with a four-game set against Adams State on Saturday, March 26 and Sunday, March 27.
SOCIAL 
Twitter - @GoMountainLions 
Instagram - @gomountainlions  
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions 
  
As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.  
 
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