THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

• The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team will play host to Black Hills State University for a four-game series at Mountain Lion Field with a doubleheader on Friday, March 4 beginning at 12 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday, March 5 starting at 11 a.m. Due to the series originally being scheduled as a home series for the Yellow Jackets, the Mountain Lions will serve as the visiting team despite playing on their home turf.

GAME COVERAGE

• Live stream and live stats for the Mountain Lion's series against Black Hills State can be found at the below links.
  • Live Stream
  • Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT

• UCCS kicked off their conference schedule last weekend with a four-game series against Chadron State College and won three of the four games to improve to 5-5 overall and 3-1 within the conference.
• The Mountain Lion bats came to life in the first game of the series on Saturday as they took a 10-4 lead to the seventh inning with the help of a pair of three-hit days from freshman Paige White and junior Solana Martinez. The Eagles threatened with a four-run rally in the final frame, but a perfectly placed pitch from Braelyne Crenshaw would catch Chadron's 2-hole hitter J'Lyssa Martinez looking at strike three with runners on second and third to end the game with the Mountain Lions ahead 10-8.
• Game two of Saturday's doubleheader was all about junior pitcher Lexi Rayburn, who held CSC to just one hit and three total baserunners while tossing her first career seven-inning complete game shutout in a 3-0 UCCS victory.
• The first game of the doubleheader on Sunday started on a sour note with the Eagles plating three runs in the top half of the first to chase Gabrielle Cronin from the game after just 0.2 innings. The Mountain Lions did well to respond with a pair of runs in the second inning and four more in the third to take a 6-4 lead, but Chadron would outscore UCCS 5-1 the rest of the way to take game three of the series by a score of 9-7.
• After silencing the Eagles bats in game two of the series, Rayburn was back inside the circle for the Mountain Lions in the fourth game of the set and once again managed to hold Chadron in check as UCCS cruised to a 4-1 win. Rayburn pitched through much more traffic in her second outing of the series, allowing eight hits and five walks over seven innings, but nonetheless held the Eagles to just the one earned run while coming up just one strikeout short of her career high with nine in the game.

RMAC RECORD/STANDINGS

• Conference play kicked off across the league last week, with Colorado Christian University, Colorado Mesa University and Regis University each sweeping their respective series to start the RMAC schedule at 4-0.
• Directly behind the top trio is UCCS and Colorado State University Pueblo sitting at 3-1 in conference, followed by Black Hills State University and New Mexico Highlands University at 2-2.

THE SERIES

• The Mountain Lions own a record of 27-5 all-time against Black Hills State and are winners of their last 13 contests against the Yellow Jackets dating back to 2017.

SCOUTING BLACK HILLS STATE UNIVERSITY

• The Yellow Jackets opened their 2022 season last weekend with a conference series against New Mexico Highlands and split the four-game set with the Cowgirls to start the season 2-2.
• Offensively, it was a hot start to the season for BHSU as they posted a team batting average of .377 while slamming seven home runs and averaging nine runs per game in the four-game series.
• Sophomore Bell Luebken torched the NMHU pitching in her first action of the season, reaching base safely in 13 of her 16 plate appearances with 10 hits, including two doubles, one triple and one home run with seven RBIs.
• Sophomore Shayla Tuschen paced the team with 10 RBIs in the season-opening series while tying teammate Bayleigh Hubbard for the team-lead with a pair of home runs. Tuschen also contributed on the pitching side, throwing 9.1 solid innings, allowing six earned runs and punching out 12 hitters.
• The Yellow Jackets were led inside the circle by senior Crystal Amaral, who recorded a 2.80 ERA and matched Tuschen's 12 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched while posting a 1-1 record for the weekend.

HOT TAKES

• The Mountain Lion offense came to life in their conference-opening series against Chadron State last weekend, averaging six runs per game and posting a .327 team batting average.
• Junior Solana Martinez put together a strong weekend at the plate, hitting .538 in the four-game series as she pounded out seven hits in 13 at-bats with three doubles.
• Sophomore Mia Perez and redshirt sophomore Morgan Hernandez-Belew were the leading run-producers for the Mountain Lions against Chadron State, tying for the team lead with five RBIs each.
• Junior Lexi Rayburn had the Eagles' number inside the circle, picking up two wins as she tossed a pair of seven inning complete games while allowing just one earned run and striking out 12 Chadron hitters.
• For the season, the Mountain Lions carry a .291 team batting average and have scored an average of five runs per game. UCCS has also added 76 total hits, including 18 doubles, two triples and eight home runs.
• Redshirt junior Sawyer Brewster continues to lead the team with an overall batting average of .455 and on base percentage of .531 on the season.
• First year player Paige White paces UCCS with three home runs and has added eight RBIs to rank second on the team behind redshirt junior Peyton Reisman with nine.
• The Mountain Lions have also found success on the basepaths this season, converting on nine of their 10 stolen base attempts as Perez, Brianna Jennings, Briana Mattos, and Bryn Horton sit in a tie for the team-lead with two stolen bases each.
• As a team, UCCS has pitched to a solid 4.30 ERA, allowing 41 earned runs in 66.2 innings pitched with 63 total strikeouts.
• Rayburn's stellar performance over the weekend drops her season ERA to 1.69 across 20.2 innings pitched as she improves to 2-1.
• Redshirt junior Braelyne Crenshaw is the team-leader with 22.1 innings pitched and has recorded a 5.01 ERA with a team-leading 23 punchouts. With her 23 strikeouts, Crenshaw sits at 185 for her career at UCCS which is just seven away from moving into eighth all time in program history and 22 from surpassing the seventh most in UCCS history.

UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH RICKI ROTHBAUER-STUBBS

• Ricki Rothbauer-Stubbs, who picked up her 200^th 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

• Friday is shaping up to be a perfect day at Mountain Lion Field with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-60s throughout the day. Winds are expected to blow from the southwest at 10 to 15 miles-per-hour.
• The weather on Saturday is projected to be slightly cooler with a daytime high of 52 degrees and winds from the northwest at 10 to 15 miles-per-hour.

UPCOMING GAMES

• UCCS will remain home at Mountain Lion Field for the third consecutive weekend as they play host to Regis for a four-game series on Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13. 

SOCIAL 
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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.