DENVER – It was a tough day to hit. It was a tough day to pitch.
Yet MSU Denver did both quite nicely on Saturday in a 13-1 victory over Chadron State in the first game of a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference doubleheader. The second game was postponed because of cold weather conditions and will be made up as part of a 10 a.m. tripleheader Sunday at the Regency Athletic Complex.
After a four-hour delay as the field was prepared for play following Friday night's snowstorm, the Roadrunners wasted little time in taking control of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener.
MSU Denver (5-8) rapped out six second-inning hits to score five runs. The Roadrunners added two more in the third inning and then tacked on six seventh-inning runs in winning for the fourth time in five games.
"It was nice to do that early," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach
Annie Van Wetzinga said. "We've been struggling at doing that early in games, stringing hits together and breaking games open. That was huge. It takes a lot of pressure off. It takes pressure off the pitcher, too."
MSU Denver pitcher
Darby McGhee (Camarillo, Calif./Adolfo Camarillo) didn't need much help, not while pitching a second straight complete-game two hitter. Both hits were infield singles and both were on bang-bang plays at first base.
"I wouldn't necessarily say she was sharp, but she did what she needed to do," Van Wetzinga said. "She struggled a bit with her control, but sometimes Darby does that. Just another step in her maturity in being able to handle it, get outs, and strand runners."
McGhee (2-3) walked six and hit a batter, but she also struck out eight. She trimmed her ERA to 2.42 and has 37 strikeouts (in 37 2/3 innings) after entering the weekend as the RMAC's leader in strikeouts.
And early on, she was pitching like Eddie "The King" Feigner, the legendary leader of the four-player team that would travel the country using only a pitcher, catcher, first baseman and shortstop.
McGhee needed only herself and her catcher through two innings (she struck out five and caught a popup to the circle), then got help on a popup fielded by her third baseman in the third. After giving up the infield single on a ground ball to shortstop, McGhee got back to work.
Chadron State's only run was unearned, after the Roadrunners committed to throwing errors in the fifth. The Eagles didn't hit a ball to the outfield until the fifth inning and had only three leave the infield all night. The Eagles (3-8) played as the home team since the series was originally scheduled to be played at Chadron State, before being shifted to Denver between a slightly better weather forecast.
McGhee also led the offense with three hits and two RBIs, while
Rebecca Gonzales (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) and
Ashlee Kim (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County) each drove in three runs on two hits and
JJ Sheppard (Fountain Valley, Calif./Fountain Valley) and
Alyssa Richter (Thornton, Colo./Mountain Range) each had three hits. Sheppard is batting .571 this season (12 for 21), while McGhee is at .463 (19 for 41) and Gonzalez is hitting .413 (19 for 46).
The Roadrunners had a season-high 16 hits, five more than their previous best this season.
The wind chill had dipped into the mid-20s at game's end, leading to the postponement and Sunday's tripleheader.
"The last couple of innings was tough," Van Wetzinga said. "Before that it was cold, obviously, but manageable. At the end, it was getting to be time to go."
