GRAND JUNCTION, CO- The Cougars kicked off day one of the RMAC Tournament hosted by Colorado Mesa with a matchup against MSU Denver on Thursday. After splitting their final regular season series with the Roadrunners, CCU exacted a form of revenge as they scored 11 first inning runs en route to an 18-5 run-rule victory to vault themselves into the winners bracket.
MSU Denver jumped ahead with a pair of early homers as they appeared to grab momentum in the top of the first. All of that momentum was squelched in the bottom half of the first as the Cougars offense absolutely erupted.
Kayla Middleton got things started right away, leading off the game with a solo homer. After the next two batters reached safely,
Kaila Eastburn launched a three-run bomb to immediately give CCU the lead.
The onslaught continued as
Camryn Quilling roped a two-run single, and
Sami Edwards drew a bases loaded walk to make it 7-3. With the bases full of Cougars,
Kenzie Middleton stepped up to the plate and crushed a ball over the wall in right center field for a grand slam to send the CCU fans and dugout into a frenzy. The homer gave Kenzie #17 on the season, breaking the single season program record she set a year ago with 16. Colorado Christian forced the Roadrunners to use three pitchers in the first inning alone as they found incredible life offensively.
Defensive errors hurt the Roadrunners as they committed 6 throughout the game, with one in the second allowing Quilling to score. Just before that,
Samaria Roope connected on a pitch and sent it out of the park for a two-run homer and a 13-3 lead. Two more runs scored in the third as the number two seed in the tournament looked unstoppable with a 16-3 lead. Two Roadrunners crossed the plate in the fourth, but Kenzie and Eastburn responded with an RBI double and single to close the game with a final score of 18-5.
Eastburn not only was hot at the plate, picking up the win in the circle while pitching the entire game with 5 strikeouts. The Cougars blasted four homers, led by the grand slam from Kenzie as she notched an impressive 5 RBI game followed by Eastburn with 4.
CCU now advances to the winners' bracket, and they will take on #5 seed Regis May 3 at 3 p.m. MST. The Rangers took down Mines 4-2 earlier in the day before snapping host Colorado Mesa's 33 game winning streak with a stunning 8-0 victory in the afternoon. The two teams met at All Star Park April 13-14, with CCU taking all four contests including a pair of walk offs in the first two games of the series.
