DENVER – After a shocking, impossible-to-make-this-up finish to Sunday's opening game, MSU Denver was looking for some answers.
 
Kylee Burnside (Idaho Falls, Idaho/Skyline) had them.
 
"When we needed it," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said.
 
Burnside pitched a three-hit shutout, keeping the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in check until the offense clicked into gear. When it did, the Roadrunners rolled up the runs needed to end the game after six innings, 8-0, via the mercy rule.
 
"I was just attacking the hitters, honestly," said Burnside, who walked two and struck out three and didn't allow any baserunner to reach third. "Just getting ahead and keeping us in the game. I knew our offense was going to come alive."
 
Said Van Wetzinga: "Obviously Darby (McGhee) had been stepping up and it was nice to see another pitcher stepping up, especially a senior. You need your experienced people to step up. It was good for her, because I think she had been struggling a little trying to find her rhythm. She was really sharp. She didn't let anything get to her."
 
The Roadrunners could be forgiven for letting things get to them after the first game, a 2-1 loss to Sioux Falls (S.D.) in eight innings.
 
The game went to extra innings, tied 1-1, before the Cougars' Sarah Keen sent a double down the left field line. MSU Denver left fielder Kassy Reiger raced after it to cut it off at the bullpen gate along the left field fence. But when Reiger contacted the gate, it buckled, and that was more than enough to throw her off balance and allow the ball to get past her. Keen raced around the bases on what was scored a double and a two-base error.
 
"That's a blow to the gut," Van Wetzinga said. "You can't make something like that up. And of course it's their fastest runner, and of course the next batter flies out. We focused on, 'Yes, that play was ridiculous, but think of everything that happened before that.'"
 
The Roadrunners were unable to scored in the bottom of the eighth to end the game.
 
The tough finish made McGhee a hard-luck loser after she allowed six hits and two runs, one earned, while walking three and striking out six in a complete game. She also went 3 for 3 at the plate, starting a game-tying rally in the fourth inning with a double and scoring on Laney Sheppard's (Fountain Valley, Calif./Fountain Valley) RBI single.
 
McGhee pitched in three games over the weekend, posting a 2.45 ERA while striking out 17 in 18 1/3 innings. At the plate she hit .643 (9 for 14) with two doubles, one homer and a 1.667 OPS. She actually "cooled off" in the final game – she had been 8 for 10 before going 1 for 4 with a pair of lineouts against UCCS.
 
"She had a huge weekend," Van Wetzinga said. "It's her junior year, and it seems like she's busting out now, using her experience and letting that give her confidence."
 
Also busting out was true freshman center fielder Rebecca Gonzales (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista), who was 10 for 20 with four doubles, six RBIs, a 1.200 OPS, and three stolen bases for the weekend. While she had been sending well-hit doubles all around the park for most of the weekend, it was her fourth-inning bloop single to left field that got the Roadrunners on the board in the win over UCCS.
 
"Go figure," Van Wetzinga said.
 
Said Gonzales: "I was just trying to get a hit and get on for the team. Even little bloopers help. I told my coach when I got to first, 'I didn't want to do that, but I guess it works.'"
 
MSU Denver erupted for five runs in the fifth, which included an RBI double by JJ Sheppard (Fountain Valley, Calif./Fountain Valley), run-scoring singles by Abby Anderson (Loveland, Colo./Loveland) and Megan Sansburn (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge), and then a two-run single by Gonzales.
 
Van Wetzinga had changed her lineup for the final game of the weekend, putting Gonzales in the leadoff spot and moving McGhee to the No. 3 slot, among other moves.
 
"We just needed to get going," Van Wetzinga said. "Our offense was too sporadic. Our hits were too spread apart throughout the lineup. We tried to put them together in hopes of stringing something together. Was that the reason for the spark? I don't know, but it worked. Things clicked and we got more key hits."
 
Despite going 1-4, the Roadrunners outhit their opponents .296 to .216, and also had a better ERA than their foes: 3.86 to 5.71.
 
"I guess if you're only going to win one game, it's nice to win the last one," Van Wetzinga said. "My message to the team was, we finally started clicking on all cylinders and look at what we did. Look at how many bad things happened, how poor we were in some areas, and we were in every one of those games. What does that tell you? Imagine if we start doing things well what we could do."
 
Said Burnside: "A lot of good things came from this weekend. Once things start clicking together, we're going to be unstoppable."