Defend the crown.
That is exactly what the Colorado Mesa University softball team did this past weekend as they steamrolled their way through the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. Ultimately, they won the entire tournament after defeating Colorado Christian in the finals 8-2
“We played really well this weekend,” Head coach Ben Garcia said. “We hit ball reminiscent of how we played at the beginning of the season. We hit the ball very well and took advantage of the opportunities when we were presented them.”
The game started out slower than the previous game the day before against CCU in which they had eight runs in the first. Saturday’s first inning consisted of only a sacrifice fly RBI from Brooke Hodgson. However, the second inning is where it took off.
It began with a home run from Kaila Jacobi, and Zoe Pakes followed up with one of her own. Hodgson then got an RBI single and then with the bases loaded, Jacobi was sent walking which sent Alexandria Dufour home. The Mavericks would be up 6-0 by the end of the second.
“Our girls hit the ball really well,” Garcia said. “Our two top hitters: Maggie and Alex Dufour are our table setters. They get on base and they have done a great job all year long. It makes Brooke’s job fairly easy. When you have so many RBIs, someone has got to get on base and Brooke isn’t leaving them on base.”
CCU would score two runs of their own in the fifth after Hodgson hit another RBI double on the fourth. Zoe Pakes would bring the Mavericks lead back up to six with a groundout RBI in the bottom of the fifth.
Kimbri Herring, who threw a no-hitter the day before against CCU, took the start on the mound once again and delivered four solid shutout innings while only allowing four hits. McKenzie Surface would close out the game and eventually get the save.
“Kimbri Herring was absolutely great,” Garcia said. “We wanted to give McKenzie some opportunity to throw since we will need two down the road. It was good to give her an opportunity to throw a little bit and Kimbri did a really good job.”
Now the Mavericks have defended their conference crown, they will now look to continue their historic season as they will play host to NCAA Div. II South Central Regional tournament. The highest remaining seed after the best of three-game series will head to the NCAA Div. II Softball Collegiate World Series starting on May 24.
The regional series will begin on May 10.
