GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- February 22, 2020 -- The Chadron State College softball team suffered a pair of close losses on Saturday with the start of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference season in Grand Junction, at Colorado Mesa University. The Mavericks, who received three first-place votes in the league's preseason coaches' poll and finished a close second in the voting, came back twice to win 3-2 and 4-1 on their home field.

The Eagles were up 2-0 headed into the sixth inning of game one, thanks to a third-inning, two-run homer by freshman Addison Spears.

CMU tied things up in the sixth, however. three-time All-American AnneMarie Torres led off the inning with a solo homer, and three straight singles scored a second run to make it 2-0.

In the seventh, the Mavs walked off to a Brooke Doumer RBI single following a double by Lauren Wedman.

CSC's DeAnna Barrera received the loss in a complete game effort, falling to 3-4, while CMU's number one, Shea Mauser, climbed to 5-1.

Similar to the first game, the Eagles led in the second game early, when junior Gabby Russell airmailed a solo shot over the right field wall with two out in the second.

The comeback was on for the Mavericks, though, in the fourth and fifth frames, when they scored two runs in each inning to go up 4-1. The lead held as CSC went hitless in the fourth through the seventh, and CMU's Paige Adair earned her first win of the season to start 1-1, tossing a three-hit, one-run game.

Eagles' pitcher Tia Kohl fell to 2-4 despite a four-hit effort. Two of her charged earned runs came from batters walked, as the CMU offense proved highly efficient.

CSC begins league play 0-2, and is 5-8 overall, after one day of the conference schedule. Mesa goes to 8-4 (0-2 RMAC).

Another doubleheader is plotted for Sunday, to begin at 11 a.m.