DENVER – Jasmine Wessel wasn't completely sure she wanted to play for years of college softball.

MSU Denver is glad she did.

After two years at Western Nebraska Community College, the catcher made her way back home to the Denver area. She's been a two-year fixture for the Roadrunners, and she carries a .299 batting average along with three homers and 18 RBIs into this weekend's four-game Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series at Fort Lewis.

"I loved Western Nebraska," Wessel said. "I didn't know if I wanted to play softball all four years. So I decided to try junior college for two years. And I loved college. I loved the structure, the organization, the hard work you have to put into it. So I decided to transfer here and coach really makes me work hard and helps me with everything."

Metropolitan State University of Denver is 19-22 overall and is fifth in the RMAC at 14-10. Fort Lewis is 13-28 and 8-20 (10^th).

Doubleheaders are scheduled for Saturday at noon and Sunday at 11 a.m.

Wessel hit her third homer of the season Tuesday in a non-conference loss to NCAA Division I Northern Colorado and ranks third on the team in that category. Her 18 RBIs are fourth-best on the team, while her .299 average is fifth among regulars. She's 5-for-10 (.500) at the plate over her last three games.

"I'm feeling a lot better than I was before," Wessel said. "I was struggling a little bit, trying to find my swing again. I've been really focusing on trying to stay on top of the ball and to hit line drives. The home runs come if you hit line drives."

Last year Wessel hit .311, but her slugging percentage this season has jumped 128 points to .505. She has 14 extra-base hits in 36 games this season after having 11 (all doubles) in 57 games last year.

"She's more comfortable," Van Wetzinga said. "She was a transfer last year, and that can be hard. It took her a while to settle in, but I like where she's at right now. You always knew she had power. She had really good numbers at her junior college. She's been putting it all together."

Wessel said her adjustment last year was two-fold. First came transferring to a new school.

"It's way different when you transfer," Wessel said. "You've got to get accustomed to things the first two years, then you go to a new school and start over. That was harder than I thought it would be, but it's been a fun challenge."

Second was the quality of competition.

"We're seeing juniors and seniors, and in juco it's freshmen and sophomores," Wessel said. "They're spinning it (throwing breaking pitches), but they aren't spinning it as hard and they don't have as much training. The juniors and seniors also know how to locate it, too. So you've got to adjust to that."

Wessel said her recent hot streak comes from seeing and recognizing more pitches at the plate. Seeing pitches from her teammates from behind the plate as a catcher is beneficial.

"I've had to see a lot of pitches," Wessel said. "When I was struggling, I was swinging at the first pitch almost every time. But now I see pitches and where they're going. I talk to my teammates about what they are seeing. I've just calmed myself down."

Said Van Wetzinga: "Jaz has been seeing the ball well lately. She had some nice at-bats our last home weekend. She just has to make sure she's swinging at the right pitches. She gets too aggressive sometimes. But she's working on it."