DENVER – First came the opportunity, then came Destinee.
Destinee Lopez (La Verne, Calif./Bonita), MSU Denver's sophomore pitcher, held NCAA Division II's best-hitting team in check over 5 2/3 innings on Tuesday, then got a little help from the Roadrunners' relief corps in a 3-2 victory over Colorado Christian to pick up a split of a softball doubleheader.
Metropolitan State University of Denver lost the opening game at Regency Athletic Complex 7-2, despite matching the Cougars in hits. The Roadrunners gave up five unearned runs.
Lopez (2-1) allowed two runs on four hits in her outing, walking three and striking out four. In her last five appearances – including matchups with nationally-ranked West Texas A&M (the Division II leaders in homers) and Colorado Mesa (fifth nationally in slugging percentage), Lopez has given up just three earned runs on nine hits over 14 innings, good for a 1.50 ERA that has brought her season ERA down to a more than respectable 4.27.
"I just tried to stay positive," Lopez said. "Talking to my teammates and coaches, they know what I can do, and I know what I can do. So it's just going out and doing it when I get the opportunities. I just have to take advantage of them."
That was exactly what MSU Denver coach
Annie Van Wetzinga had been telling Lopez, who gave up six earned runs in 1 2/3 innings in her first two appearances this season before battling her way back.
"She had a super rough start and was super frustrated," Van Wetzinga said. "I'm proud of her for sticking with it. That was my message to her. Stay positive because I can't tell you when, but you will have other opportunities. They'll come and you've got to be ready.
"We gave her a few low-leverage situations and she did really well. And now she's back to where she should be."
Colorado Christian, which is 21-8 overall and is in first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 14-2 (Tuesday's games were non-conference matchups), came into the twinbill hitting .377. But the Cougars hit just .204 for the night (11-for-54).
With Lopez and the Roadrunners holding their 3-2 lead in the sixth, Van Wetzinga called upon
Julia Heitz (Queen Creek, Ariz./Queen Creek) (who has been the team's No. 2 pitcher) to finish off the sixth – which she did, with a strikeout. And, when Heitz hit the leadoff batter with a pitch to lead off the seventh – the call went out for
Darby McGhee (Camarillo, Calif./Adolfo Camarillo), the team's ace.
McGhee retired three batters in order as MSU Denver (10-8 RMAC) improved to 15-19 overall.
"All three did their jobs, which was great," Van Wetzinga said.
Freshman
Kassi Reiger (Loveland, Colo./Loveland) delivered the game-winning RBI with a fourth-inning single to put the Roadrunners ahead to stay.
"I wasn't thinking about anything," Reiger said of the at-bat. "I just knew that Ari (Valdez) was at second and I wanted to bring her home. I cleared my mind when I went to the plate, and I got the outcome I wanted. It was awesome."
It was another instance of a player taking advantage of another opportunity, as Reiger had misplayed a couple of balls in the second inning of the opening game, part of a two-run frame.
"She had a rough first game, but I'm really proud of her because she could have gone in the tank after that – especially as a freshman," Van Wetzinga said. "She stuck with it, had some good at-bats, did some good things on the bases. That's big to have that maturity and to stick with it like that, especially in that moment. And we needed it. There's nothing wrong with a freshman being a catalyst."
Kylee Burnside (Idaho Falls, Idaho/Skyline) (3-5) probably deserved a better fate in the opener after giving up seven runs – only two of them earned – in 5 1/3 innings.
The Cougars had three ground-ball singles in the first, took advantage of further miscues in the second and, after MSU Denver had pulled within 4-2 on a
Jasmine Wessel (Thornton, Colo./Horizon) homer and a
Rebecca Gonzales (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) RBI double, Colorado Christian parlayed back-to-back one-out errors into three sixth-inning runs.
"We've got to make plays behind her," Van Wetzinga said. "She's a ground-ball pitcher – she throws a drop ball and a changeup. Our infield needs to expect it, because when she gets ground balls, she's doing her job. Some of those plays were tough, but we can make those. I felt bad for Kylee, because the results didn't indicate how well she pitched against a good team that can do a lot of things."
MSU Denver has now split four games with Colorado Christian this season, and didn't feel outclassed in a series with second-place Colorado Mesa, despite losing all four games.
"We need to quit having self-destruction," Van Wetzinga said. "Because most games we're destroying ourselves. We have so many good things happening. You look at our statistics and you scratch your head when you look at our record. We just have some breakdown moments defensively and we're struggling to get key hits.
"The second game, we took care of the ball and we got a couple more key hits and we win. Weird, right?"
Said Lopez: "(The win) is good for our team. It builds our confidence and helps us moving forward. We were in a slump and we weren't playing to our potential. Coming out and winning against the team that's in first place in the conference tells us that we can play with anyone."
