CHADRON – The Chadron State College softball team, which has battled its way into the upper echelon of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, will return to action Friday and Saturday when it plays the Colorado Christian Cougars in a pair of double headers in Lakewood.
 
The Eagles have won seven of their 10 conference contests this spring, including two last Friday before wintery weather at Spearfish, S.D., caused two games that were to have been played on Saturday to be canceled.
 
On Friday, Chadron State beat Western New Mexico 11-1 and Black Hills State 8-3.
 
The 7-3 conference record ties the Eagles for fifth place among the 13 conference teams in the standings. Colorado Mines is alone at the top at 8-0. Adams State has a 5-1 record and is second.  Colorado Mesa is third at 7-2-1, followed by CSU-Pueblo at 8-3 and the Eagles and Colorado-Colorado Springs with their 7-3 marks.
 
The Cougars are 3-5 in the RMAC after winning three of four games at New Mexico Highlands last weekend. The team's second baseman, Jackie Sanzolone, was named the conference's Player of the Week after compiling a .733 on base percentage. Her five hits included three doubles and a three-run homer. She also was hit by pitches five times and walked once in the series.
 
The Eagles have a .309 team batting average, 28 percentage points higher than their opponents. Freshman outfielder Shea Graham leads the team at the plate with a .464 average. She has 13 hits in 29 at bats.
 
Senior Amy Schartz is hitting .373 on 19 hits in 51 at bats and sophomore Rebecca Wetsch has a.350 average on 27 hits in 40 at bats.
 
Junior Kylee Polsley leads the pitchers with a 4-1 record and a 2.60 earned run average. She has won four games in a row.

Despite having just a 4-5 record, senior Aryn Grywusiewicz also has pitched well for the Eagles. She has a 3.04 ERA and has struck out 38 in 47 innings in the circle. The pitching staff also got a big boost last week, when freshman Breeze Phillips threw a five-hit shutout during a 3-0 win over Nebraska-Kearney.