The Colorado Mesa University Softball team is leaving Utah winning four out of their five games during their opening weekend. On Friday they swept the two Washington squads beating Central Washington 6-0 and Western Washington 7-2.
But on Saturday, they split their back to back games with a pair of schools from Hawaii. They won 9-1 in six innings against Hawaii Pacific, they dropped the last game to The University of Hawaii at Hilo 3-4. The Mavericks put up solid performances on the defense; a pair of complete games from Kimbri Herring and Paige Adair.
On Saturday, following the 14-1 win against Cal State East Bay to open up the season, Maverick pitcher Kimbri Herring earned her second victory of the year throwing a complete game shutout against Central Washington. During the complete game, Herring left five batters from Central Washington at the plate throwing five strikeouts. Herring got help from her teammates at the plate by putting six runs on the board.
Kaila Jacobi helped her team out by going 2-3 with three RBIs. highlighted by a two-run dinger in the third. Brooke Doumer added to the contribution with a home run and two more RBIs herself..
Western Washington was another big pitching game for the Mavericks. Sophomore pitcher Paige Adair threw another complete game for the Mavericks in their 7-2 win against Western Washington. Adair threw 126 pitches allowing only six hits while striking out eight batters.
The offense was alive in this game as well. AnnMarie Torres helped out the team during her two at-bats by having two knocks, one HR, and having three RBIs. During her three ABs, Bailey Kleespies contributed by with two runs batted in. Doumer went batting .500 during this game.
The Mavericks hit like they were in a home run derby during their 9-1 victory that ended up only being a six-inning game. There were three home runs off the bats of Tayah Gerber, Alexa Samuels, and Kellie Mrofcza. This game also got pitcher Mckenzie Surface the first win of her senior season. Surface relieved Herring after 2.1 innings of work. Herring and Surface were two of four pitchers that pitched this game. The pitching staff only gave up four hits in all this game.
They concluded the trip to Utah by playing Hawaii at Hilo but failing 3-4 in an extra inning. The team did not go down without a fight battling it out until the very last out. Right fielder Sarah Staudle went 2-3 with an RBI. The Mavericks pulled ahead from being tied at two in the 8th inning when Mrofcza scored on a throwing error from the second baseman making it a 3-2 game that unfortunately was not enough for the win.
CMU’s three runs on Saturday was the lowest of the five-game stint
The Mavericks continue their season next weekend in Tucson, Arizona as they compete in the Cactus Classic. It will the second straight five-game weekend for CMU as they will start it off by playing Saint Martin’s University and Biola University on Feb. 15.
