Stan Schrock
Sports Reporter

Heading into the RMAC tournament as the No. 8 seed, the CMU softball team beat No. 1 Colorado School of Mines and No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney before losing to No. 3 Fort Lewis in the double-elimination tournament. The Mavs’ run ended in the semifinal against No. 4 Colorado Christian on Saturday, losing 6-1.

The Mavs started the tournament strong on Thursday against Colorado Mines, as Ashley Pulido and Courtney Maihi carried the team to a 4-0 win. After a scoreless first inning, Maihi opened the second with a single to right field. On the ensuing pitch Megan Smith smacked a double down the left field line, scoring Maihi. Tawnee Woosley hit a two-strike double, scoring Smith, and a single from Lita Romero allowed Shannon McClenahan to score on a close play at the plate.

Maihi, who was selected First Team All-Conference, opened the third inning with a first-pitch homer to put the Mavs up 4-0. Maihi went 3-3 with a walk, an RBI and scored two runs. Ashley Pulido pitched a complete game shutout, with four hits and two strikeouts.

“The lead definitely helped calm me,” Pulido said. “We were really just out to show everyone how much talent we really have on our team.”

The Mavs faced Nebraska-Kearney on Friday, scoring four runs in the fourth inning to win 4-1. Woosley started the inning with an RBI single, scoring Lisa Pille. Taylor Gross lined a single up the middle to score Woosley, and Danielle Vallie finished the scoring with a  two-run single. Kearney scored their only run of the game in the first inning on a wild pitch by Pulido. Pulido responded, pitching another complete game and shutting out Kearney in the remaining six innings. The Mavs stranded 10 runners on base.

The Mavs’ next matchup proved to be a thriller, losing 4-3 in extra innings against Fort Lewis. Maihi put the Mavs up early with an RBI single in the first inning before Fort Lewis hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to go up 2-1. McClenahan answered in the second inning, lining an RBI double to left field.

After Maihi took over pitching duties, Fort Lewis snagged a run in the fourth inning, taking the lead 3-2. Maihi responded in the sixth inning, with a solo homer to send the game to extra innings. With a Fort Lewis runner on third, Maihi threw a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving Fort Lewis the 4-3 win.

“Tying the game was exciting, but I would’ve traded that for a win,” Maihi said.

Despite the loss, the Mavs advanced to the semifinal round against Colorado Christian. They lost 6-1 and were eliminated from the tournament. Colorado Christian opened the scoring, jumping ahead 3-0 after the Mavs failed to score with runners in scoring position. Poor base-running hurt the Mavs in the third inning, as Romero and Vallie were both caught stealing. Colorado Christian added three runs, forcing Maihi to take over the mound for Pulido.

The Mavs put more runners in scoring position in the fourth inning, but couldn’t score with the bases loaded as McClenahan hit a line drive right at the pitcher for the third out. The lone run for the Mavs came in the fifth inning when Maihi doubled to right-center field, scoring Gross.

The Mavs and Colorado Christian both finished the game with 11 hits, but the Mavs stranded 11 runners, unable to produce runs.

“It was disappointing we couldn’t bring home our runners,” Smith said. “Now we just get ready for next season.”

Fort Lewis beat Colorado Christian 7-4 to win the RMAC championship and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA D2 Central Regionals.

Lauren Cross didn’t travel with the team due to undisclosed disciplinary reasons.