DENVER – What a difference six days can make.
 
Less than a week after a 10-2 loss on a neutral field to the same team, the Metropolitan State University of Denver softball team turned around and swept a doubleheader Friday against Montana State-Billings by scores of 6-0 and 10-3 on Teal Day/StrikeoutCancer Day at the Regency Athletic Complex.
 
"What we really needed to do was get back on the field and compete," MSU Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "Against anybody really, but it was kind of nice to go out there against a team we had struggled with."
 
Darby McGhee (Camarillo, Calif./Adolfo Camarillo) pitched a two-hit shutout with a career-high 11 strikeouts in the opener, then had three hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs while playing second base in the nightcap. Five other Roadrunners had three hits over the course of the two games.
 
"We talked about attacking, being on the offensive, and swinging with conviction," Van Wetzinga said. "We just haven't been swinging with confidence, like we wanted to do damage. … You have a bat in your hand, get ready to use it."
 
The opener was a rematch of the pitching matchup when the teams met last Saturday. But McGhee completely turned the tables in recording her seventh career shutout. McGhee had been touched for three runs on three hits in two innings in the first meeting between the teams.
 
"I was just trying throw hard and be better than I was last weekend," McGhee said. "Just a little bit sharper and hitting more spots. I was throwing pitches where I needed to throw them."
 
McGhee gave up a first-inning hit and stranded five runners through two innings, but was otherwise in command. The Yellowjackets' second hit didn't come until the seventh inning.
 
"We want her to get after it," Van Wetzinga said. "She'll give up a couple of walks here and there. But we want her to keep pushing. We need her to be that leader in terms of composure. And she has that ability. She has a lot of velocity.
 
"Things are clicking this year for Darby with her approach, maturity and composure."
 
Ari Valdez (Denver, Colo./John F. Kennedy), batting ninth in the order, singled and scored in the third inning as the Roadrunners scored three times to up their lead to 4-0, then added an RBI double in MSU Denver's two-run fourth. Valdez also made a nice running catch of a long drive in the fourth inning.
 
"She's a tough kid," Van Wetzinga said. "Kind of like 'Becks,' (freshman center fielder Rebecca Gonzales (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista)) quiet and you won't hear much from her. But she's all in. She's not scared. She soaks in the information we give her. How you want a freshman to be. Show up and do your job."
 
Freshman Julia Heitz (Queen Creek, Ariz./Queen Creek) turned in a complete game from the circle in the second game for her first collegiate win.
 
Trailing 3-0, the Roadrunners came into the window of Alyssa Etheridge with four runs in the third inning and the first three runs of a five-run fourth.
 
"I think we started swinging more at our pitches and made her pitch to us rather than us swinging at everything," McGhee said. "Once we got our pitches, it was easier."