PUEBLO, Colo. (April 18, 2025) - The Colorado State University Pueblo softball team earned a hard-fought split on Friday afternoon against Colorado School of Mines, dropping game one 5-3 before bouncing back with a 9-5 victory in game two at Rawlings Softball Complex.

With the split, CSU Pueblo (26-19, 25-13 RMAC) remains in fourth in the RMAC Standings and are three games ahead in the loss column over fifth place Black Hills State.

For the day, Taylor Brower (Jr., Vacaville, Calif.) and Darleen Falcon (Jr., Moreno Valley, Calif.) led the Pack with three hits each and Emma Case (So., Loveland, Colo.) crushed her second home run of the season in game two and she, along with Juliannah Jimenez (So., Elk Grove, Calif.) both finished the day with two hits.

In the circle, Mia Sanchez (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif.) picked up the win in the nightcap and improved to 11-5 on the season. Game one starter, McKenna James (Jr., Windsor, Colo.) went the distance and falls to 12-10 this year.

Game One recap
In the opener, the ThunderWolves saw a solid outing from James, who tossed a complete game, allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out six. Despite a solid performance in the circle, the Orediggers held the Pack to score single runs in the first, third, and fifth innings.

Mines jumped ahead with two runs in the first before CSU Pueblo went on offense and got a run back on sac fly out from Madelyn Huerta (Jr., Azusa, Calif.), scoring Delaney Barela (5th., Pueblo, Colo.) who reached via base on balls.

Barela reached base three times in the game via base on balls.

The Orediggers went ahead 4-1 before the Pack came to bat in the third and thanks to two doubles in the inning, they were able to cut the lead in half, 4-2 going to the fourth.

Mines added another run in the T4 and the Pack was able to get another run across in the B5 and scored on a wild pitch.

Game Two recap
CSU Pueblo responded in the nightcap with an offensive surge, led by Case and Falcon, who each recorded two hits in the win. Case drove in three runs to pace the offense in the 9-5 victory.

After allowing two runs in the first, the Pack put up six runs in their half of the second and earned three walks and two hits and went ahead 6-2 going to the third.

Following a scoreless third, Mines got to within a run and scored three runs in the fourth on three hits and took advantage of a Pack error.

The Pack added a run in the fifth when Case led off with her solo shot over the right center field wall.

Two more runs would score in the B6 for the Pack when Case again stepped to the plate and crushed a 2-run double and helped the Pack to build a four-run lead.

Over the final two innings, Sanchez retired the Orediggers in order and struck out two more in that span before closing out the game with a fly out to left.

On Deck
The ThunderWolves and Orediggers will conclude the series with two more games on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. at Rawlings Softball Complex.