AZTEC, N.M. -- April 30, 2017 -- On the final day of the regular season, the Chadron State College softball team finished strong, completing a four-game sweep of Fort Lewis College with wins of 5-4 and 9-2 at an alternate site in New Mexico on Sunday.
The Eagles will await the results of games postponed until Monday, but their first round tournament opponent will be either Regis University or Colorado Christian University, when the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament begins on Thursday in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The rest of the field is set. Host Colorado Mesa University (42-6, 35-4 RMAC) will be the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Colorado Mines (29-13, 26-10 RMAC) and No. 3 MSU Denver (34-19, 26-12 RMAC). Chadron State will be the fourth seed with a regular season record of 29-23, and 25-14 in conference play. Mines will play two games Monday but owns the regular season tiebreaker over the downtown Denver squad.
Regis (28-24, 20-16 RMAC) will host two games Monday against New Mexico Highlands University (19-30, 16-20 RMAC), and Colorado Christian (27-21, 17-15 RMAC) hosts Mines, to determine the fifth and sixth seeds. The Eagles will face the fifth seed at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
Seventh seed Adams State (19-29, 18-20 RMAC) concludes their season unable to move up and owning the tiebreaker over Highlands, who has clinched the eighth and final spot.
Chadron State was resolute in Sunday's morning game, getting the lead 3-1 after three innings, but falling behind 4-3 after a double and a miscue put runners on base and FLC senior Mandy Owens, a Division I transfer from Liberty University, knocked out a first pitch fastball from CSC's
Jessica Jarecki for the go-ahead three-run homer.
Nevertheless, the Eagles responded.
Lindsey Karlin walked, and
Angelica Maples doubled to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. A fortunate fielder's choice led to the score by Karlin, and
Aspen Eubanks put the winning run over with a sac fly to left.
There were fewer theatrics in the final game of the series, but
Kinsley Mason reached double digits with her 10th win of the season, and
Dallas Magnusson added to her school record with a sixth save this season. Magnusson is second in the conference for saves after Colorado Mines' Hallie Smith.
The Eagles did all the scoring they needed in the top of the first, with
Kayla Michel driving home the first RBI of the game with a double. The Skyhawks had two errors and hit Karlin, who later scored on one of the miscues, with a pitch. CSC led 3-0 after one.
Fort Lewis's only two runs of the game were earned in a four-hit fourth inning, but Mason was able to survive the inning without surrendering the Eagle lead.
CSC went on to tack on a single run during innings four and six, and three Skyhawk errors in the seventh led to four more Eagle runners crossing in the seventh.
Seniors Karlin,
Taylor Bauer, and
Morgan Wilhelm all finished batting over .500 for the weekend. Karlin's 8-of-11 was best in the series, as were her eight RBI. Wilhelm's seven runs scored were a team-high as well.
Chadron State enters the conference tournament on Thursday with momentum, winning eight of its last nine outings. The Eagles' team batting average is at a season high of .290, after hitting .398 against Fort Lewis in what was their best series all season long in the batter's box. In addition, the CSC pitching rotation is peaking, with a team ERA of 3.84. Only after the second game of the season, in Florida, did they register a slightly better average of 3.77.
Chadron State will depart for Grand Junction early Wednesday morning, will get in a practice at CMU Softball Field by the evening, and will warm up on the CMU campus midday Thursday. Should the Eagles win their first game, they will rest on Thursday evening and play again Friday at approximately 10:45 a.m. A loss in the first round would put CSC in the consolation round, with a second game late Thursday evening.
