The bats remain hot.

Ashley York, Peyton Allen and Molly Gates all crushed home runs in the first inning, leading Colorado State softball past Drake 10-3 Monday afternoon.

This was the second time these two teams played during the Colorado State Rams Invitational, the first resulting in a 10-run mercy rule in favor of the Rams Saturday afternoon.

“The maturity of this team and the hitters that have been with our program for several years now they have such a great approach,” coach Jen Fisher said. “Coach (Shana) Easley does a tremendous job preparing them, she’s got the scouting reports, we’re simulating pitchers, we’re trying to really help the team prepare in the best possible way.”

Tying their season-high 14 hits, it almost seemed like every ball was put into play.

Part of the offensive surge came from Gates, not only crushing a home run to take the starting pitcher for Drake out of the game, but also picking up a double and single, driving in two RBIs for the Rams.

“I’m always thinking something hard up the middle,” Gates said. “I’m just trying to advance my runners and score runs with runners on. With nobody on, I’m just trying to get on base anyway I can.”

Her domination doesn’t come as a surprise considering her veteran status on this team, but she believes the success so far this season is driven from the team chemistry.

Which is certainly a positive factor for the Rams considering they have six seniors in their starting lineup.

“We’ve been really playing together,” Gates said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes, and yeah we’re very senior heavy so we’re just super connected this year I think and we’re on a mission and no one can get in our way right now.”

The Bulldogs scored an unearned run in the second inning and an earned run in the third off of starting pitcher Giselle Bentley to breathe life back into the Drake dugout. However, first-year pitcher Reagan Wick came in and held them to only one run through five innings.

“My mindset was just trusting my defense,” Wick said. “Knowing I need to hit my spots and trust my defense behind me and know that they will make a play.”

Despite the two errors on the field for the Rams, the fielding is what got the Rams out of a few jams with diving plays allowing the pitchers to keep throwing balls in the zone. 

The deep rotation has allowed the offense to thrive, but also give Fisher some flexibility knowing she can bring in multiple options at any point during the game.

A healthy mix of solid offense and defense has allowed the Rams to continue their undefeated home record alive, and Fisher believes her team needs their own term for ‘Moby Madness’. 

“I think with the stadium being new with the lights and everything there’s a lot of excitement, ” Fisher said. “Our team is starting to understand what Moby Madness feels like, I don’t quite have a name for it yet, but I definitely think they like to play well at home.”

Reach Luke Hojnowski at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @lukehojo.