Mines (20-18, 16-14) vs. UCCS (15-26, 12-20) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (DH) – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (20-18, 16-14) vs. UCCS (15-26, 12-20) – Sunday, 11 a.m. (DH) – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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THE COMFORTS OF HOME
After spending the last two weeks on the road and getting mixed results each time out, the Colorado School of Mines softball team returns to Golden and the confines of Joe Coors, Jr. Softball Field this weekend as they look to continue their success this season on their home field as they look to strengthen their position in the RMAC standings when they play host to UCCS.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live coverage of this weekend's games will include live stats and streaming on the RMAC Network. All links can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
PROFESSOR APPRECIATION DAY
Saturday the Orediggers will host Professor Appreciation Day as members of the softball program will invite Mines academic faculty members to the game who have had an impact on their in during their academic careers. Each player will select a faculty member to come onto the field and be recognized in a brief presentation before the start of game one of the series and ceremonial first pitches will be thrown by professors accompanying the seniors on this year's team.
 
E-DAYS ADVISORY
A reminder to fans that the annual E-Days will take place this weekend at Mines with a full slate of activities taking place before the games Saturday. Starting at 8 a.m. in the Q Lot will be the Mining Games followed by the Cardboard Boat Race down Clear Creek at 9 a.m. followed by a car show in the CTLM Lot and carnival at noon in D Lot with fireworks closing out the festivities at 9 p.m. For the full schedule of events, visit the E-Days website.
 
AT THE HELM
Mike Coutts enters his third season at the helm of the Orediggers and owns an overall record of 61-74 with a mark of 54-50 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play and is coming off his first 20-win season in Golden in 2023. He oversaw a nine-win improvement overall and an eight-win improvement from year one to year two and guided the Orediggers to an appearance in last season's RMAC Tournament. Before arriving at Mines, Coutts was the head coach of the softball program at Maine for six seasons, where he posted a 94-129 record with two 20-win seasons in 2016 and 2018.
 
IN THE POLLS
Mines was tabbed to finish fifth the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll this season, up two places from their projected result last season of seventh. Defending RMAC champions Colorado Christian were picked to repeat this season with eight first-place votes followed by MSU Denver and Colorado Mesa, who each earned a pair of first-place ballots and were separated by just one point in the poll. Regis checked in just ahead of Mines in fourth with UCCS in sixth with CSU Pueblo and Chadron State in seventh and eighth. Fort Lewis and New Mexico Highlands each earned 37 points to finish tied for ninth in the standings while Adams State and Black Hills State each earned 18 points to finish tied for 11th.
 
WEEK 9 RECAP
Braving gale-force winds Saturday and some milder gusts on Monday, the Orediggers closed out their eight-game road trip against CSU Pueblo and came away with a result that probably makes them wish they could take a mulligan, as the split the four-game series with the ThunderWolves taking the first game each day by scores of 2-1 in eight innings and 6-3 before dropping the second games of the day 6-5 and 9-8.
 
Sadriena Rodriguez worked her longest outing of the season in the opener, turning in a complete game effort in the extra innings win and allowing just one run on nine hits while Cassidy Chvatal's go-ahead solo home run the eighth was the decider. Game two Saturday saw the Orediggers leading 5-1 in the sixth inning, but CSUP rallied for five runs in their half of the inning, taking advantage of some poor defense by Mines to rally for a win.
 
After Sunday's games were pushed to Monday on account of high winds, Rodriguez again shined in the circle and got a little more run support that included a three-run single in the fifth inning by Lexie Semeyn as four different Orediggers drove in a run in the win. Eyeing a series win, Mines fell behind early but took the lead in the third with two runs but immediately fell behind again as the ThunderWolves scored four in the inning to lead 5-3. After battling back to tie things in the fifth, three runs in the bottom of the inning again pushed CSUP back ahead and though Mines rallied in the seventh and got within a run with the tying and go-ahead runs on base, they couldn't complete the comeback as they had to settle for a split once again.
 
QUEEN SADRIENA
After exploding to post a 14-4 record and a 2.18 ERA on the way to Second Team All-RMAC honors last season and ranking among the top of the conference in nearly every major pitching statistic, Sadriena Rodriguez has backed that up with another stellar campaign in 2024. A 12-game winner already this year (which ranks tied for second the RMAC), she finds herself in the top 10 in ERA (2.82, 6th), opponent batting average (.254, 6th), innings pitched (114.0, 4th), strikeouts (84, 3rd) and strikeouts looking (21, t5th).
 
To date over the last two seasons, Rodriguez is 26-10 with a 2.47 ERA, working nine shutouts with 24 complete games and 231 strikeouts against just 88 walks and holding opponents to under a .250 batting average. Without doubt once the left-hander hangs up her spikes, she'll be remembered as one of the best to ever spin in during their time in Goldeb.
 
SORTING THE STANDINGS
Three weeks remain before the RMAC Tournament and the standings saw a major shakeup over the weekend. After splitting with Fort Lewis, MSU Denver (28-4, .875) dropped to third as Colorado Mesa and Colorado Christian (29-3, .906) remain tied for first and are riding winnings streaks of 21 and 16 games respectively. Regis (22-8, .733) remains in fourth with Mines (16-14, .533) in fifth with CSU Pueblo (14-18, .438) still holding onto sixth as the final team in if things ended today. UCCS (12-20, .375) is the first team followed by Black Hills State (11-19, .367), while the chances of making the field for the bottom four teams in the league are getting slimmer by the game with the Skyhawks (8-20, .286) and New Mexico Highlands (7-23, .233) in need of major help while Chadron State (5-23, .179) and Adams State (3-29, .094) likely ready to put 2024 in the rear view.
 
DEFENSE LEADS THE WAY
Through 38 games, Mines can lay claim to the best defense in the RMAC this season, fielding .971 and currently one of two teams with a percentage of .970 or better. They have committed just 29 errors and are the least remaining team in the league with fewer than 30 errors and have 13 players with a fielding percentage better than .970 as individuals. An area of emphasis under head coach Mike Coutts, the Orediggers went from fielding .954 in his season to .963 last year and are poised to maintain that upward trend again this year.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
As the 2024 season continues on, several Orediggers have hit some significant career milestones over the past month. Sara Larson went over 100 career hits in early March while Kendall Aragon did so at the end of the month, needed less than two full seasons to hit that number.
 
Kayleigh Krueger and Sidney Wilson are both on the north side of 150 hits in their careers with the former at 169 and the latter at 176 as they both look to chase down Somoma Toot (2015-18) for 12th all-time with 182. For Krueger, she also broke through the 100 RBI plateau in her career at the end of March, becoming the 13th player in program history to hit the century mark in that category, while Wilson needs just 11 more to join her as she stands at 89. Krueger also now has 36 doubles in her career, tied with Deborah Ausmus (1993-95) for 10th in program history. Wilson meanwhile has cracked the top 10 in career walks and is now tied for eighth all-time with Paige Coufal (2012-14) with 57, passing Kyndra Bradley (1995-98).
 
Sadriena Rodriguez continues to climb her way up the record books in Golden in her fifth and final season in the circle. The graduate student is tied for second in career shutouts at 12 with Hallie Smith (2015-18), ranks fifth all-time in wins with 35, currently stands fifth all-time in career ERA at 2.75, is in the top 10 twice now in single-season shutouts (5, 2023; 4, 2024) and is now seventh all-time in innings pitched with 371, passing Libby Balogh (2010-11) over the weekend. Against Fort Lewis in mid-March, she became just the fifth pitcher in program history to reach 300 career strikeouts and currently ranks fifth with 326 as she tries to track down Balogh in another category for fourth.
 
Freshman speedster Kellan Ton is now into the single-season record books as well with 15 stolen bases, joining Molly Thiebaut (2010) and Kara Walling (2014) in a tie for ninth all-time and is nine shy of tying the single-season record of 24 held by Brinley Benson (2011) and Lauren Decker (2023) and with 12 games to go, that's not out of the question as 1/3 of her season total to date has come when playing at home.
 
Head coach Mike Coutts also hit a major milestone against Colorado Christian in early March, becoming the fifth-ever skipper at Mines to reach 50 career wins, joining Mark Roberts, Annie Van Wetzinga, Kristie Hawkins and Leah Glasgow.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
If last weekend was any indication, it seems like  there won't be much change to the lineup for the Orediggers over the final month of the season as they make their push for the postseason. Five regulars are batting over .300 after the trip to Pueblo and a sixth isn't too far behind as Kendall Aragon continues to lead the way batting .383 and is over 50 hits for the second time in her young career and continues to add to her career-best RBI total with 24 while scoring 17 along with six extra base hits and five steals. Sara Larson is batting .368 out of the cleanup spot and has eight doubles and a home run while scoring 16 times and driving in 13 and has quickly amassed 10 stolen bases in recent weeks. Kellan Ton remains the everyday left fielder and is batting .364 out of the leadoff spot with a team-leading 26 runs scored while driving in 11 with seven extra-base hits and is 15-15 on stolen bases.
 
Sidney Wilson remains hitting third in the lineup at .333 with 22 RBI, two doubles and two home runs with 15 runs scored and leads the way with a .433 OBP thanks to 18 walks and four hit by pitches, both of which lead the way. Lexie Semeyn has settled in to hitting fifth and is batting .314 with five doubles, four triples and now has two home runs after last weekend and leads the way with 25 RBI and will likely handle most of the catching duties from here on out.
 
Kayleigh Krueger's average dipped back below .300 as she'll look to mirror her performance the last time Mines was home as she's batting .296 with five extra-base hits, 18 RBI and 19 runs scored. Cassidy Chvatal has 12 extra-base hits now after blasting her fourth home run of the season Saturday to go with seven doubles and a triple while scoring 19 and driving in 17 while Hannah Roberts rounds out the regulars batting .250 with four doubles and seven RBI. On the bench, the freshman duo of Emily Rogers and Sam Whisenand have seen an uptick in playing time and are both batting over .300 with a home run and two stolen bases apiece.
 
In the circle, Sadriena Rodriguez is just two wins shy of tying her mark of last season and enters the weekend at 12-6 with a 2.82 ERA in 21 games with 18 starts for 114 innings with 84 strikeouts against 37 walks and is holding opponents to a .254 BAA. Kat Miller has been up and down at time this season and has been a hard-luck loser on a few occasions as she'll look to rebound this weekend as she sits at 4-5 with a save and a 3.80 ERA in 21 games with 13 starts, working 70 innings and striking out 25 while issuing 22 walks and posting a BAA of .315. Allison Westbrook has been the bullpen this season for the most part, appearing in relief 18 times in 20 outings and is 4-3 with a save and a 6.39 ERA and has 11 strikeouts on the season. Chvatal's performance in the lineup and in right field has limited her time in the circle this season as she has a 5.95 ERA in eight games with five starts for 20 innings with six strikeouts, while freshman Ellen Shull recorded her second-longest outing of the season in relief Monday and now has worked six innings in six outings with two strikeouts to her credit.
 
SCOUTING UCCS
Led by Dwight Sanders in his first year at UCCS after a stint at Fort Lewis, the Mountain Lions are coming off a series win over Adams State at home, taking three of four from the Grizzlies including a pair of run-rule victories Sunday by scores of 12-1 and 12-2 to improve to 10-12 at home. However, the road has been unkind to UCCS this season, as they are just 3-10 in true road games in 2024.
 
Three regulars are batting over .300 on the season for the Mountain Lions led by Gianna Pancost at .434 with a team-high 10 doubles and 20 RBI while slugging .614. Jacqueline Berkowitz is next at .344 with six doubles, 15 RBI an leads the team with 25 runs scores and is 7-10 on stolen bases while Jennavieve Goldsworth is batting .325 with six doubles, 11 RBI 10 runs scored and is 5-6 on steals.
 
Izzy Giroux is batting .283 with seven extra-base hits including three home runs and has also driven in 15 while Hailey Bussart checks in at .259 with a team-best five home runs and has 17 RBI while scoring 15 times. Laynee Case is batting .276 with seven extra-base hits and is 7-9 in steal attempts while Alyssa Gutierrez has five doubles, two triples and is a perfect 12-12 on steals while batting .223.
 
A team with plenty of options off the bench, UCCS has utilized a total of 22 different players in 2024 but just six reserves has logged 25 or more at bats and of that group, none are hitting above .267.
 
In the circle, Autumn Kunze has emerged as the staff ace and is 8-9 with a 4.37 ERA in 21 games with 20 starts for 105.2 innings with 77 strikeouts against 26 walks and a .308 BAA. Kailey Bond has backed her up and is 6-7 with a 5.82 ERA in 21 games with 10 starts and struck out 43 while issuing 46 walks in 73.1 innings with a .339 BAA. Fort Lewis transfer Caydee Farnworth has struggled some in her first season in Colorado Springs and is 1-7 with a 10.36 ERA in 16 games with nine starts, walking 34 while striking out 24 in 49.1 innings. Mackenzie Rutkoff is 0-3 in 15 appearances, mostly in relief and has struck out 17 with 14 walks in 23.1 innings while Ella Ebert rounds out the staff with one appearance for 1.1 innings with three walks, a strikeout and four runs allowed.
 
Defensively, UCCS is tied for the ninth in the RMAC with a .947 fielding percentage and is third in the conference with 57 errors, trailing on Adams State and Chadron State.
 
SERIES HISTORY
When it comes to the Mountain Lions, the Orediggers are 60-71-1 all-time, but do lead when playing at home with a mark of 32-26. Last season in Colorado Springs, the teams split the four-game series with Mines taking games one and three 2-1 and 3-0 with UCCS taking games two and four 13-5 and 6-2. Looking at the last three seasons in RMAC play, the teams have split the last 12 games at 6-6.
 
This weekend's home games against the Mountain Lions will be the first since the 2018 season, when Mines made a clean sweep of the series. The teams were scheduled to play in Golden in the 2022 season, but weather forced a location change to Colorado Springs where the Orediggers did play as the home team on the scoreboard.

ON DECK
The Orediggers close out their 2024 road slate with a trip back to downtown Denver April 20-21 when they take on MSU Denver.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines softball on X at @MinesSoftball and on Instagram at @mines_sb. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.