DENVER, Colo. – The final regular season trip to the Mile High city saw the Black Hills State University softball team (12-23, 11-19 RMAC) hang tough with a top-half Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) squad in the Regis Rangers (26-14, 22-8 RMAC) Monday afternoon. Ashlynn Pauwels picked up two more doubles and drove in three more runs on the day.   
 
GAME 3: Regis 9, BHSU 8
 
PITCHING DECISIONS:
Win: Vanessa Candito (3-2)
Loss: Shayla Tuschen (5-10)
 
Back-to-back Regis errors to start Game 3 put the first two Yellow Jackets on base to start the second day in the Mile High City. Regis would take advantage of an early opportunity with a 2-RBI double down the left field line to jump out to the early 2-0 lead through one inning of play.
 
Malaya Coleman (So., Johnstown, Colo.) would help herself in the circle with a double down the left field line in the second, moved to third with two away. But for the second-straight inning the first BH run would be stranded at third. The Rangers would tack on one more run in the bottom half, extending their lead to 3-0.
 
Black Hills State would break onto the scoreboard in the third inning. Alyssa Wong (R-Fr., San Antonio, Texas) would start the frame with a single up the middle, later to be drove in with the tenth double of the season for Pauwels (Jr., Tallahassee, Fla.) to cut in to the Ranger lead, making it 3-1. Regis would respond with a big inning of their own, plating four of runs to extend the lead to 7-1 after three innings of play.
 
Following a lead-off triple in the bottom of the fourth, the Rangers made it 8-1 heading to the fifth inning.
 
A single and a walk in the fifth inning for BH put a pair of runners on with just one away. Audrey Fouras (So., Jackson, Wyo.) would be hit by a pitch to load the bases with two away in the frame. A two-out, two-RBI double from Shayla Tuschen (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) would plate a pair of runs to cut the Ranger lead to 8-3.  
 
Black Hills State would put on the rally caps and pull even in the seventh. The inning would start with getting the bases loaded in the final attempt to claw back with just one away. Tyler Whitlock (Jr., Erie, Colo.) would drive in the fourth Yellow Jacket run of the day after being hit-by-pitch. Lily Simmons (So., Frederick, Colo.) would drive in another run with an RBI single to cut the lead down to three, 8-5 Rangers.
 
Once again, the clutch bat of Wong would pull the Jackets to just one with a 2-RBI single down the right field line. That would force Regis to make a change in the circle with the attempt to hold the lead, leading just 8-7. After working a full count, Kayla Lee (Sr., Kearney, Neb.) would put the ball in play and a Regis error would allow the game-tying run to score, knotted up at 8-8 with the go-ahead run standing on second for Pauwels.
 
Regis would get the game-winning run to second with two outs in the bottom half of the seventh after a lead-off single and a sacrifice bunt. They would push across the game winning run to take the game – and series – 9-8.
 
GAME NOTES

• Alyssa Wong goes 3-for-5 with a pair of runs in Game 3, recording her team-leading 10^th multi-hit game of the season and driving in two runs.
• Wong becomes the second Yellow Jacket to drive in at least 20 runs this season (Pauwels, 30).
• Shayla Tuschen records her first multi-RBI game of the season with her 2-RBI single in the fifth inning.
• Ashlynn Pauwels becomes the first Yellow Jacket to reach double digits in doubles this season with her 10^th, needing just three more to set a new single-season program record.
• She also drove in the other run on the day for her team-leading 28^th RBI of the season.
• Malaya Coleman picked up her first double of the season in her one at-bat on the afternoon.
• Despite the result, Coleman had a solid outing allowing just a pair of earned runs in her 2.2 innings pitched.

GAME 4: Regis 5, BHSU 3
 
PITCHING DECISIONS:
Win: Ava Edwards (5-2)
Loss: Laci Peskey (5-10)
Save: Vanessa Candito (1)
 
The series finale began with each team trading a run in the first inning. BHSU got on the board thanks to an RBI double from Gianna Haley (Gr., Arvada, Colo.), while Regis picked up their run on an RBI single in the bottom half of the frame.
 
A pair of home runs in the fourth inning proved to be the difference in the finale, as the Rangers jumped to a 4-1 lead. They pushed across a further insurance run in the frame, leading 5-1 after three complete.
 
A relatively scoreless game followed after the third, but the Yellow Jackets made a push in the fifth inning as Pauwels recorded her second double of the day, scoring a pair of runs to make it 5-3. But that would be it for the score column as Regis would take the final game of the series, 5-3.
 
GAME NOTES

• Ashlynn Pauwels went 2-for-3 and hit her second double of the day, bringing her season total to 11 and one away from tying the program single-season record.
• It also marks her ninth multi-hit game of the season for the Yellow Jackets.
• Tyler Whitlock also recorded two hits on the day, picking up her fourth multi-hit game of the year.
• Gianna Haley drove in the first run of the day, driving in her eighth run of the season.
• She also picked up her fifth double of the season.
• As a team, BH worked five walks in the series finale with three coming from Kayla Lee.

Up Next: Black Hills State returns home for a two-week homestand to conclude the home slate this season, starting with a four-game set against Fort Lewis College (10-27, 8-20 RMAC) scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 13-14 at Yellow Jacket Field.