A doubleheader split with Fort Lewis has put the Mesa State softball team searching for more emotion.

“The bottom line is these are all really nice girls,” head coach Kris Mort said of the 2008 team. “Sometimes I think nice people have a hard time flipping the switch and getting after it.”

Such was the case Tuesday.

The Mavericks took a 4-2 lead to the seventh inning in game one, only to watch Fort Lewis score four times before falling 6-4. They recovered with an 8-1 victory in their first action at the team’s new on-campus field.

“The first game was a little bit of: ‘Oh no, it’s going to happen again.’ Our whole four-game series (last weekend) with UCCS was them fighting like crazy to come back and us fighting like crazy to hang on,” said Mort.

A two-run home run by NIcole Zuniga — the first homer ever hit at Mesa State’s new softball field — in the first inning gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead. Senior Leslie Reed raised Mesa’s lead to 4-1 with a double off the left field fence to score Amanda Marchegiano and Bridgett Berg.

Despite being dented for solo runs in the second and fifth, Mavericks starter Jessica Rayman appeared to be in control.

In five innings Rayman allowed five hits and had worked her way out of a big potential inning by the visiting Skyhawks in the fourth, when the junior induced a force out at third with one out, then ended the threat when Andrea Van Landingham grounded out to Mavericks third baseman Anita Diaz.

After a scoreless sixth, Fort Lewis broke the game open.

Jenna Peters hit the second of two solo home runs to start the four-run rally. Earlier, she bashed a ball off the centerfield scoreboard for the Skyhawks first run.

An out later, Rayman allowed the Skyhawks next four hitters to get on base. Stevie Benedict’s double put Fort Lewis ahead for the first time. An RBI sacrifice fly from designated hitter Amber Massey raised the deficit to 6-4.

Mesa State went quietly in their half of the inning when they failed to advance a runner beyond first base.

Determined not to repeat the performance, the Mavericks ripped Fort Lewis’ game two starting pitcher Mary Oppenheim for seven runs while sending 12 hitters to the plate in the first inning.

Diaz struck the key blow — a two-run homer — of the rally. An inning later the sophomore whacked a second home run for the Mavericks’ eighth run.

“I came out with a different mind set (from the first game),” she said. “I wasn’t really looking for the home run. But when you hit the ball well — it goes out for you.”

Diaz was Mesa’s main offensive weapon in the second game. She had two of the Mavericks’ four hits in the 8-1 mercy-rule rout. The rest of the first inning rally came off walks and Fort Lewis errors.

“We’ve got great hitters, and they responded just like they did in game four against UCCS,” Mort said. “I think the only disappointment for me was the intensity level.”

Reach Phil Sandoval at psandoval@gjfreepress.com.