GAME ONE - COLORADO CHRISTIAN 7, MINES 6 (8 inn.)
Colorado Christian hit four home runs, including to tie the game in the seventh and the walk-off winner in the eighth, to overcome Mines 7-6 in the series opener.
The Orediggers took advantage of three Cougar errors to lead 6-4 after five and a half, but CCU hit solo homers in each of the final three innings to win it.
Stephanie Day had two of the long balls in a three-RBI game, while Piper Lujan had the pinch-hit walkoff in the eighth and Carly Perry had a key homer in the sixth to cut the deficit to a run.
Kendall Murphy went 3-for-5 with an RBI to lead Mines at the plate;
Stefanie Brunello also drove in a run as she and
Dani Valerio had two-hit games.
CCU built a 2-0 lead after three, but Mines quickly came back as Brunello's double scored
Hana Mawlawi in the fourth and a bizarre top of the fifth saw four runs come across for the Orediggers. Two runs scored as
Katie Leiker reached on an error, but Leiker later scored off
Kara Jones' groundout before another error allowed
Megan Dickson to reach and
Clara Larson to plate for a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, Day hit her first homer of the game, a two-run shot, but Mines got a run back courtesy of
Kendall Murphy's double in the sixth to lead 6-4.
The Cougars chipped away with Perry's solo shot in the sixth to make it 6-5, and Day went yard with one out in the seventh to send the game to extras. In the eighth, Murphy doubled and moved to third but was stranded; after two quick outs by the Cougars in the bottom half, Lujan pinch hit and sent one over the fence in right for the win.
Jennifer Romero (11-4) earned the win, allowing two earned off 12 hits in the complete game.
Sydney Marchando left with the lead in the sixth having allowed four earned in 5.1 innings of work;
Claire Stringfellow (9-7) took the loss in relief.
GAME TWO - COLORADO CHRISTIAN 11, MINES 7
CCU again used the long ball to win a slugfest, outlasting Mines 11-7 in Sunday's second game.
The two teams produced 13 hits apiece as they scored early and often. The Cougars overcame an early Oredigger lead to control the game as Carly Perry drove in five runs on two homers to lead the way.
Megan Dickson went 3-for-4 with two RBI and
Katie Leiker,
Clara Larson,
Kara Jones, and
Hana Mawlawi all had two-hit outings for Mines.
Mines got off to a fast start with a four-run first as Jones and
Boston Ludlow each drove in runs before Dickson launched her second home run of the season to make it 4-0. CCU immediately responded with three runs in the first, but starter
Kylie Redding settled the game with two scoreless frames before the Cougars took the lead 5-4 on Piper Lujan's long ball and Stephanie Day's RBI single in the fourth.
Leiker scored off Larson's double in the fifth to tie it back up 5-5, but Perry's first homer and another Day RBI single blew the game open at 9-5 in the bottom half.
Kendall Murphy doubled in
Hana Mawlawi in the sixth to get a run back, but Perry went long again for a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth to lead 11-6.
Loren Dempsey's pinch-hit single in the seventh gave Mines life, but CCU worked out of trouble as the Orediggers left the tying run at the plate.
Makena Martin (3-2) went the distance in the win, striking out three. Mines combined three pitchers with Redding (0-3) taking the loss striking out four;
Claire Stringfellow and
Maddie Rogers worked in relief.
NEXT UP
Mines and CCU will finish their series Monday with a new doubleheader start time of 1 p.m.
