DURANGO, Colo. – The Metropolitan State University of Denver softball team began its four-game series at Fort Lewis with the Roadrunners taking both halves of the doubleheader by scores of 8-1 and 6-4, respectively, at Aspen Field on Saturday.
MSU Denver climbs to 21-22 overall with a 16-10 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, good for fifth in the league. The Skyhawks fall to 13-30 overall with an 8-22 mark in RMAC play, which is 13
th in the conference standings.
With the Roadrunners clinging to a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning of game two,
Kassi Reiger pinch-ran for
Abby Anderson after she singled through the right side. With Reiger on second after a wild pitch and
Ari Valdez on first from a walk, Kim singled up the middle and allowed Reiger to reach home to make the score 4-2.
Kim went 2-for-4 and scored a run in both games. She also had a stolen base in the latter contest.
Following a walk to Sansburn to load the bases,
Rebecca Gonzales grounded out to second base but doubled the lead in the process. Valdez and Kim both scored while the Skyhawks threw the ball around the infield and eventually cut down Sansburn at third.
Fort Lewis answered back in the bottom of the seventh, cutting its deficit in half, 6-4, when Mackenzie Parks hit a two-run double to center. McKenna Hefley singled to center then reached second on a wild pitch before Pilar Gutierrez walked.
Although the tying run was at the plate, relief pitcher
Destinee Lopez proceeded to strike out Julia Roberts to end both the threat and the game. Lopez did solid relief work after entering for
Julia Heitz in the fifth, earning her first save of the season.
Heitz claimed the win for the Roadrunners in her four innings of work during which she struck out one and allowed two unearned runs. Heitz improved to 7-5 on the season, lowering her season ERA to 3.93.
"I thought our pitchers did a really nice job today," MSU Denver coach
Annie Van Wetzinga said. "Even in the few innings Fort Lewis got something going, they limited the damage and never gave up a big hit or inning.
Destinee Lopez came in for relief during a tough spot in the fifth (inning of game two) and did a great job of shutting the inning down."
Kassidy Trumbo (3-9) took the complete-game loss for the Skyhawks, giving up seven hits, six runs (five earned) and a pair of walks.
Though their second game had a nail-biter of a finish, the Roadrunners started the day in decisive fashion.
Deadlocked in a scoreless tie for the first two innings of the opener, the third inning was a charm for MSU Denver when the Roadrunners lit up the scoreboard for five runs. Kim reached base on a single to right field and came home on Sansburn's double to center, giving the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead.
Sansburn later advanced to third after Gonzales was hit by a pitch and starting pitcher
Darby McGhee walked.
With the bases loaded,
Laney Sheppard belted her second grand slam of the season over the fence in right-center to grow the MSU Denver lead to 5-0 and effectively put the game out of reach.
Sheppard finished the day 2-for-7 at the plate with five RBIs and two runs scored. All five RBIs came in game one, giving the freshman a single-game career high and her third game with four-plus RBIs in 2019.
The Roadrunners tacked on an insurance run for a 6-0 advantage in the fifth when Sansburn scored on Sheppard's RBI groundout to short.
"I would have liked to see us string some hits together a little more," Van Wetzinga said, "but we did get some key hits, which were big. Laney (Sheppard) obviously with the grand slam was a big spark in the first game, and we never looked back.
Ashlee Kim and
Megan Sansburn also provided key hits and good at-bats today."
The Skyhawks ended the potential for an MSU Denver shutout in the bottom of the fifth when Parks homered to center to trim the deficit to 6-1.
Anderson extended the lead in the seventh, 8-1, on her two-run single to center, scoring both Sansburn and Gonzales.
McGhee (9-9) earned the win for the Roadrunners in her typical dominant fashion, throwing a complete game two-hitter. She gave up just one run on the home run to Parks while striking out four and walking two.
McGhee has thrown complete games in her last four starts in the circle, going 3-1 in that stretch while lowering her season ERA all the way down to 2.42. Amazingly, McGhee has given up just 12 hits in those 28 innings, surrendering only five earned runs while striking out 16 batters.
MSU Denver returns to action for a series-closing doubleheader with the Skyhawks on Sunday. The first of game one is set for 11 a.m. MDT in Durango, with game two to follow.
Even though the Roadrunners have clinched the minimum of a series-split with the Skyhawks, Van Wetzinga and her squad will not be letting up on the momentum.
"We're looking to keep the sharp defense and pitching tomorrow and continuing to have strong team offense with putting people on-base and getting clutch hits," Van Wetzinga said.
