Grizzly Softball Earns Sixth Seed in RMAC Tournament

Chris Day
ASC Sports Information

After not being able to play because of inclement weather in Alamosa and doubleheader splits in Durango, Golden and Kearney, Neb., the Adams State College Grizzlies have earned the sixth seed in the upcoming Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. They will take on the host and third-seed Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in the opening round on Thursday at 10 a.m. in Golden, according to the tournament bracket released by conference officials on Sunday night.
The Grizzlies, who qualified for the RMAC Tournament for the third time in four years, despite not being able to play their Sunday Senior Day doubleheader against Chadron State, will enter that game with 27-24 overall and 19-19 RMAC records.
They won a tie-breaker with Colorado State-Pueblo (21-24, 20-20 RMAC) to claim the No. 6 seed.  CSU-Pueblo split a doubleheader at Fort Lewis and will be the No. 7 seed.  The ThunderWolves will play second-seeded Western New Mexico in another opening round game, which will be played at 12:30 p.m., Thursday at Golden High School, the second field of the RMAC Tournament.   Western New Mexico won both games of a doubleheader at Mesa State clinching the RMAC West Division title.
Meanwhile, Colorado Mines (33-20, 28-11 RMAC) split a regular-season ending doubleheader with UC-Colorado Springs and ended up tied with Metro State, who also split a doubleheader at Nebraska-Kearney, for the RMAC’s regular season championship.  Metro State, which went 33-14 overall, earned the No. 1 seed for the tournament thanks to the better overall record, which is the third tiebreaking criteria.  They will face UC-Colorado Springs at the CSM Softball Field at 12:30 p.m., Thursday.
Regis, the fourth seed will face fifth-seeded Mesa State in another opening round game on Thursday.
The Grizzlies went 1-3 against Colorado Mines during the regular season in Golden but fared well in their last RMAC Tournament appearance in Golden advancing to the tournament championship game in 2008, the last time that the Orediggers have hosted the tournament.
The winner of Thursday’s game will advance to face the winner of the Western New Mexico/Colorado State-Pueblo clash on Friday at 10 a.m.  at the CSM Softball Field The losers of those opening round games will meet in an elimination game at 3 p.m. Thursday at Golden High School.
All of the Grizzlies’ games at the RMAC Tournament, which runs through Saturday, can be heard live on KSPK-FM (104.1 in Alamosa).