THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

• The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team will travel to Durango, Colo. to match up with Fort Lewis College in a four-game conference series beginning on Saturday, April 2.
• Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to start at 12 p.m. and Sunday's doubleheader is set to get underway at 11 a.m. from Aspen Field.

GAME COVERAGE

• Live stream and live stats links for the road series against Fort Lewis can be found below.
  • Live Stream
  • Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT

• The Mountain Lions began last week with a non-conference doubleheader at Colorado Christian University, where they squandered a pair of late leads to fall twice to the Cougars.
  • UCCS rallied to score four runs in the fourth inning and two more in the top of the sixth inning to take a 6-4 lead into the late innings of game one of Wednesday's doubleheader, but the Cougars managed to string together four hits in their half of the sixth to plate three runs and come away with a 7-6 victory.
  • The second game of the day against Colorado Christian was another close one as the Mountain Lions found themselves in a tie game, 4-4, after scoring a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. Much like the first game of the day, the Cougars rallied to score three runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning to earn a 7-4 win.
• UCCS returned home to Mountain Lion Field for the weekend to continue their RMAC schedule against Adams State and swept the four-game series against the Grizzlies.
  • A first inning, two-run home run by Adams State in the series opener on Saturday put UCCS in an early hole, but the Mountain Lions responded quickly with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 4-2 lead. After trading runs in the middle innings, UCCS began to pull away as they scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and four in the sixth to finish off an 11-4 win.
  • The second game of the series was all Mountain Lions as Solana Martinez and Sawyer Brewster each posted 4-for-4 games to help UCCS put up ten runs and defeat the Grizzlies in a 10-2 run-rule victory.
  • UCCS carried their momentum into the third game of the series on Sunday as they earned a five-inning run rule win by a score of 8-0 behind 11 hits from the offense and a scoreless outing inside the circle by redshirt junior Braelyne Crenshaw.
  • In the fourth and final game of the series, the Mountain Lions relied on the long ball as Martinez hit a pair of home runs and freshman Paige White went deep for a two-run home run as UCCS completed the series sweep with a 5-3 win.

AWARD WINNERS

• Infielder Sawyer Brewster was named the RMAC Softball Player of the Week after lifting the Mountain Lions to a 4-2 record last week, capped by a series sweep of Adams State.
• Brewster posted a remarkable .579 batting average across six games to go along with an on-base percentage of .636 and a slugging percentage of 1.053. Brewster compiled 20 total bases in her 19 at bats, including three doubles and two home runs, while driving in seven runs. During the Mountain Lion's four-game sweep of Adams State over the weekend, Brewster reached base in 12 of her 14 plate appearances while hitting an incredible .818 with three doubles, three walks, one home run and four RBIs in the series.

RMAC RECORD/STANDINGS

• Colorado Mesa University and Colorado Christian University hold a share of the top spot in the conference standings with identical 17-1 records in the RMAC. The Mavericks won three of four against Regis University over the weekend while CCU swept their series against Black Hills State University.
• Regis drops to 15-5 in conference play after losing three of four games to Colorado Mesa but remains in the third spot in the standings for another week. After sweeping Adams State, UCCS moves within one game of the Rangers at 14-6 in the RMAC.
• Hanging on to the final two playoff spots in the conference with five weeks left to play are Metropolitan State University Denver and Colorado School of Mines who each took three of four games this weekend to improve to 10-8.
• Rounding out the rest of the conference standings are Colorado State University Pueblo (8-12), Black Hills State (6-14), Fort Lewis (6-14), New Mexico Highlands University (5-15), Chadron State College (5-15), and Adams State (3-17).

THE SERIES

• The Mountain Lions hold a record of 42-39 all-time against Fort Lewis but are 17-4 against the Skyhawks under the direction of head coach Ricki Rothbauer-Stubbs.

SCOUTING FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

• The Skyhawks dropped three of four games against Colorado School of Mines last weekend to fall to 6-14 in conference play and 6-23 overall.
• Across their first 29 games of the season, Fort Lewis has slashed to a team batting average of .254 and are averaging 3.31 runs per game.
• Sophomore Jadyn Gilley leads the Skyhawks offensively with a .375 batting average and .931 OPS while starting each of the 23 games she has played this season. Gilley also sits tied for the team lead with 11 RBIs and is third on the team with 32 total bases.
• Cat Rodman and Alex Tenorio have also contributed to the offensive efforts of the Skyhawks as they have played in all 29 games and are tied for the team lead with two home runs.
• In the circle, Fort Lewis pitchers have had a difficult time limiting opponent offenses from scoring, posting an ERA of 10.29 for the season. Hailie Mann is the team leader with 70.1 innings pitched but holds a record of 1-9 and an ERA of 9.34 to this point in the season.

HOT TAKES

• The Mountain Lions have fielded a prolific offense to this point in the season, ranking fourth in the conference in team batting average at .327 and total runs scored with 164.
• UCCS has totaled 39 home runs on the season, which ranks third in the RMAC and tenth in all of Division II. Their average of 1.39 home runs per game sits second in the conference and fifth in the nation.
• Sawyer Brewster has led the charge for the Mountain Lions in the power category as she is currently tied for the league lead and sits seventh in the nation with 11 home runs. The Burnsville, Minn., native also leads the team in most other offensive categories, including batting average (.451), OPS (1.423), doubles (10), runs scored (25) and RBIs (29).
• Shortstop Solana Martinez is also putting together an exceptional junior season at the plate, hitting .432 while tying Brewster for the most hits on the team with 41. Martinez also ranks third on the team with 13 extra base hits, including nine doubles, one triple and three home runs.
• Peyton Reisman has found her stride offensively over the past two weeks, hitting safely in her last 11 games played while hitting .432 in that span with four home runs and 12 RBIs. Reisman's current 11 game hitting streak is the longest by any Mountain Lion player this season.
• Redshirt senior Courtnie Heller has appeared in 24 games for UCCS this season and continues to demonstrate strong plate discipline in the batter's box as she is tied for the team-lead with a .500 on base percentage and second on the team with 12 walks.
• The Mountain Lions rank in the middle of the pack on the pitching side with their team ERA of 4.60 but are coming off an exceptional four game stretch against Adams State in which they posted an ERA of 2.24 across 25.0 innings pitched.
• Braelyne Crenshaw is the team-leader with 79.1 innings pitched and improved to 5-7 on the season as she picked up a pair of wins against Adams State over the weekend. The redshirt senior holds an ERA of 4.59 and is tied for second in the RMAC with eight complete games.
• With 74 strikeouts this season, Crenshaw now has 236 in her four-year career with the Mountain Lions to rank sixth all-time in program history. With 17 more punchouts, she will pass Stephanie Chitkowksi (252) for fifth most all-time.
• Lexi Rayburn has also had a solid season for UCCS inside the circle, holding a 7-3 record with an ERA of 4.49 across 67.0 innings pitched. Rayburn sits second on the pitching staff behind Crenshaw with seven complete games and has fanned a career-high 55 batters.

 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

• The weather in Durango, Colo. for the weekend is expected to feature plenty of sunshine with temperatures in the mid-60s on both Saturday and Sunday.

UPCOMING GAMES

• UCCS will remain on the road next weekend as they clash with the Roadrunners of Metropolitan State University Denver for a four-game series beginning on Saturday, April 9.

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.