Softball sets HR record in final week of regular season

The RMAC-Leading Oredigger Softball team made history last week as Mines exploded for a program-record six home runs in a 11-5 win over UCCS Wednesday in Colorado Springs, CO.

The game was tight throughout the early innings as the two teams traded punches early and often. Oredigger junior Molly Thiebaut opened the home run derby with a solo shot over the left field wall to give Mines an early 1-0 lead.

After UCCS regained the lead, Sarah Lustgraaf continued the hitting show in the fourth inning, launching a solo shot of her own. Three batters later, Paige Coufal followed suit with a two run homerun to right field, as Mines reclaimed the lead at 5-4.

And that was as close as the game would get, as Mines outscored the Mountain Lions 6-1 the rest of the way.

In the fifth inning, Lustgraaf connected on her second homerun of the game, this time a two run blast that pushed the score to 7-4.

The following inning, Mines got home runs five and six of the game as Kamee Vessey got into the action this time, with a solo shot with one out in the inning. Lustgraaf capped off the historic day, notching her third homerun of the game and the team’s sixth.

UCCS added one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough as Mines overwhelmed the Mountain Lions 11-5.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, Lustgraaf had collected a total of only seven home runs. She increased that total by nearly 50% after the record setting three home run performance. She now sits 12th in the RMAC in total home runs.

Lustgraaf’s teammate, Vessey collected one home run on Wednesday and another one Saturday, pushing her season total of homeruns to 15. She currently sits at second overall in the RMAC with that total.

After splitting the two game series with UCCS on Wednesday and splitting the first two games of their four game series with Colorado Mesa, Mines was in first place in the RMAC standings heading into their final two games of the regular season Sunday. In an incredibly heated RMAC race, in which only two losses separate first place from eighth place after 50 games played, Mines looks to make a strong playoff push in the RMAC tournament.