Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

Photo Gallery

GOLDEN, Colo. - The No. 10 Metro State softball team swept Colorado Mines on the road on Friday, winning 10-1 in five innings in game one and 7-1 in game two.  The Roadrunners

improved to 23-2 overall and 20-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with the sweep, while CSM fell to 13-14 overall and 9-9 in the RMAC.

Game One
Metro State dominated a battle of the top-two pitcher in the RMAC.  Mines starter Libby Balogh, who pitched for Metro State in 2008, entered the game leading the conference with a 1.79 ERA in conference games, while Roadrunners starter Christie Robinson (Clinton, Wash./South Whidbey H.S.) was second in the RMAC with a 2.03 ERA.

The Roadrunners rocked Balogh for 14 hits and 10 runs--all earned--in just five innings, despite the wind blowing in at 30 miles per hour and Colorado Mines having outfield fences 220 feet deep and 10 feet high.  She walked three and struck out just one in the loss.  Meanwhile, Robinson was outstanding, shutting the Orediggers offense down.  She did not walk a batter and scattered five singles in five innings, while fanning four.

Metro State wasted no time jumping on Balogh and the Orediggers as Kellie Nishikida (Pearl City, Hawaii/Pearl City H.S.) laced a one-out single to left-center in the top of the first.  After advancing to third on a single by Sarah Rusch (Westminster, Colo./Standley Lake H.S.), Nishikida scored on Tara Mickelson (Wheat Ridge, Colo./Wheat Ridge H.S.)'s base hit to left.

A first and second rally with one out in the second was erased by a basrunning mistake that led to a double play for Mines.

But Metro State broke the game open in the third as the first five batters reached base.  Nishikida led off with an infield hit.  After Rusch walked, Mickelson delivered a double to center to score Nishikida.  Two runs came home on a single by Jessica Haab (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek H.S.), though the second scored with the aid of an errant throw back into the infield.  Jennessa Tesone (Longmont, Colo./Niwot H.S.) became the fifth straight batter to reach with an RBI single to right, driving in Haab for the fourth run to put the Roadrunners up 5-0.

Metro State went scoreless in the fourth, but the Orediggers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 5-1.  However, the Roadrunners fired up again in the top of the fifth with five runs.  Tesone led off with a single and advanced to third after a one-out single by Lauren Hainlen (Parker, Colo./Chaparral H.S.).  Following a pop out, the two-out rally started with a base hit to left by Amber Roundtree (Lakewood, Colo./Faith Christian H.S.), driving in Tesone.  A walk to Nishikida loaded the bases and Rusch was hit by a pitch following a nine-pitch plate appearance, forcing in pinch runner Jessa Minch.  Mickelson then crushed a pitch into the left-center gap, clearing the bases in her three-run double as Metro State took a 10-1 lead.

Robinson needed just nine pitches to finish the game on three ground outs in the bottom of the fifth.

Game Two
Metro State continued its hot hitting in game two, connecting on eight hits, while using four CSM errors in the 7-1 victory.  The Roadrunners used three defensive miscues in the top of the second to score two unearned runs, taking a 2-0 lead.

Tesone brought home Mickelson with a double off the 220-foot sign in center field in the third inning to push the lead to 3-0.

Mines scored an unearned run in the fifth to cut into the lead.

Roundtree led off the top of the sixth with a sharp single through the left side.  After a sacrifice by Nishikida moved Roundtree into scoring position, another Oredigger error should have put runners on first and third as Rusch reached when the CSM second baseman kicked the ball, but an alert Roundtree kept running, scoring from second on the error.

Mickelson then singled and advanced to second on a fielder's choice by Haab, but Tesone hit another double, this time scoring two runs.  Tesone was thrown out at third on the play to end the inning, but Metro State led 6-1 after the three runs.

Metro State starter Brittany Moss (Northglenn, Colo./Northglenn H.S.) pitched around a leadoff single and she was given another insurance run in the top of the seventh.  Hainlen hit her second career triple into the right field corner to lead off the inning and pinch runner Minch scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Molly Clark (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood H.S.).

Moss again escaped after a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh with three straight outs to close the game.

Moss went all seven innings, allowing five hits and one unearned run, while striking out six and not allowing a walk to improve to 6-1 this season.

The two teams will play a doubleheader in Golden on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m.