Cowgirls host MSU Denver, UCCS in weekend pod

LAS VEGAS, N.M. --- The New Mexico Highlands softball team hosts MSU Denver and UC Colorado Springs in a three-team pod starting Saturday at Cowgirl Softball Field.

The Cowgirls have a chance to make up ground this weekend as two of the top three teams in the conference come to town in first-place UCCS and third-place MSU Denver as those two are a combined 12-1 in RMAC play (UCCS is 7-0, MSU Denver is 5-1).

It will be the first home games for the Cowgirls as they've played their first nine games away from Las Vegas, including last weekend where their series against Colorado School of Mines had to be moved to Pueblo. The teams only got two games in with NMHU dropping both, including a heartbreaker 3-2 in the first game - a game the Cowgirls led 2-0 late.

Breanna Cabrera continues to lead the Cowgirls in hitting at .500 with four RBI and a pair of doubles. Haley Rodriguez (.365), Brooklynn DeLozier (.357) and Leah Osborn (.353) are also hitting above .300 for the Cowgirls. In the circle, Belinda Gonzalez has been strong in RMAC play - giving up just three earned runs and 12 hits in 15.2 innings of work - a 1.38 ERA.

ABOUT MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners have won seven of their last eight contests - including sweeping Chadron State and splitting with Colorado Christian in RMAC play.

JJ Sheppard leads the Roadrunners in hitting at .471 while Rebecca Gonzales is hitting .413 with a team-best 11 runs gto go along with 13 RBI and nine doubles. Darby McGhee leads the team with three homers and 19 RBI to go alogn with a .397 average. In the circle, McGhee sports a team-best 1.99 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 52.2 innings (opponents are hitting .193 against her) while Julia Heitz is second on the team with a 3.19 ERA with 26 strikeouts and a .255 batting average against in 41.2 innings.

ABOUT UCCS
The Mountain Lions come into Saturday on a seven-game winning streak - all coming in RMAC play with a four-game sweep of CSU-Pueblo and a three-game sweep of Chadron State (all the games came at home). 

UCCS has slugged 22 home runs in 19 games - led by Rayle Glovier who has seven to go along with a team-best .413 average, 21 RBI and 20 runs. Melissa Martinek leads the team in RBI (27), runs (25) and doubles (9) to go along with a .402 average. In the circle, the Mountain Lions have employed three pitchers with 30-plus innings of work - Brayelyn Crenshaw (3.75 ERA, 37.1 IP), Taylor Reidhead (4.30 ERA, 44.0 IP) and Cami Duffey (5.63 ERA, 32.1 IP).