DENVER – An MSU Denver softball team that has been terrific at taking two will be playing two on Tuesday.
The Roadrunners, who lead NCAA Division II in doubles, will play a doubleheader with Colorado Christian beginning at 3 p.m. at the Regency Athletic Complex.
"That's a solid, solid team," Van Wetzinga said of Colorado Christian, which is 20-7 overall and leads the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 14-2. "It'll be two tough games. We're looking to continue to compete and take steps, especially offensively, and to stay sharp defensively."
MSU Denver is 14-18 overall and improved to 10-8 for fifth place in the RMAC after winning three of four games over the weekend against Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Tuesday's doubleheader was rescheduled from March 2, when a doubleheader was called off due to snow. However, due to league rules, the Tuesday contests won't be counted as an RMAC games, so they are officially non-conference contests.
Van Wetzinga is pleased that her team ended the weekend on a strong note with a Sunday doubleheader sweep after letting a lead slip away late in the second game of Saturday's twinbill.
"It was disappointing to drop Game 2 on Saturday, it was a frustrating loss," Van Wetzinga said. "It was nice that we rebounded and, in a similar situation in Game 2 Sunday, we stayed steady and came up with some big defensive plays when we needed them and we stuck with it and pulled off the win."
The Roadrunners rapped out 11 doubles in the series, including a game-winning walkoff by
Rebecca Gonzales (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) in the series finale.
Darby McGhee (Camarillo, Calif./Adolfo Camarillo) leads the RMAC with 16 doubles, while Gonzales is second with 13. McGhee's average of 0.5 doubles per game is tied for sixth nationally in Division II.
As a team, MSU Denver already has 82 doubles for an average 2.56 per game, comfortably ahead of Central Oklahoma, which averages 2.44.
The Roadrunners have had at least 93 doubles in each of the last five seasons, including program records of 106 doubles and 2.12 doubles per game in 2014. That figure ranked third in the country.
With 23 regular-season games left, the Roadrunners are on pace for 141.
"We've always hit a lot of doubles," Van Wetzinga said. "If we want to hit home runs, I'm fine with that, but we do have a line-drive approach – use the whole field, drive it through the middle. And we have a combination of power and speed. We've earned a lot of them by driving the ball to the gaps, but part of it as a testament to how we run the bases, too, because our girls are willing to take an extra base if someone if there's an opportunity."
