GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Julia Heitz took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and the offense gave her plenty of support as MSU Denver won a second elimination game Friday at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference softball tournament, 10-4 over Colorado School of Mines.
 
Earlier Friday, Darby McGhee's walkoff seventh-inning double gave the Roadrunners a 5-4 win over Colorado Christian.
 
By winning three straight elimination games over two days, MSU Denver is now one of three teams remaining in the tournament. The Roadrunners play Dixie State at 11 a.m. Saturday, with the winner of that game moving into the championship round to play host and top seed Colorado Mesa at 1:15 p.m.
 
Colorado Mesa needs to win just once to earn the RMAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II tournament, while the other team would have to win twice – at 1:15 and again in another game that would follow – in order to advance.
 
"Our team just continues battle and play with awesome energy," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "It's everything we've been talking and working for this season. 

"Our defense has been the best it has been all season. Making the routine plays and not giving extra opportunities but also coming up with huge plays in clutch moments." 
 
In the nightcap against Mines, the Roadrunners (31-26) took control early on an RBI double by Ashlee Kim in the second inning. Kim was 4-for-4 with three RBIs in the game.
 
"Ashlee Kim was lights out tonight," Van Wetzinga said. "An offensive spark and awesome defense."
 
Then Laney Sheppard came up big, with a run-scoring single in the third inning and an RBI double that kick-started a three-run fifth. McGhee's bunt single scored another run, and an error allowed yet another to score, making it 5-0.
 
Mines finally got to Heitz in the bottom of the sixth inning, with a walk, a single that broke up the no-hitter, and a three-run homer that cut the margin to 5-3.
 
But MSU Denver responded with an RBI single by Abby Anderson and two-run singles by Ari Valdez and Kim to restore and then extend its advantage in the top of the seventh.
 
Heitz (10-6) got the win in both games. She pitched in relief in the opener, then in the nightcap she allowed four runs on six hits, as Mines also pushed across a seventh-inning run.
 
"We really needed Julia to step up and go deep in the game and she did everything and more that we could've asked for," Van Wetzinga said.

In the opener against Colorado Christian, MSU Denver jumped out to a 4-0 lead. After getting a second-inning run on a squeeze bunt by Valdez, the Roadrunners muscled up with Sheppard's solo homer in the third inning and a two-run blast by Anderson in the fourth.
 
But Colorado Christian chipped away. After getting a run in the fifth, the Cougars tied the game with a three-run rally in the top of the seventh.
 
But the Roadrunners weren't to be denied in the elimination matchup with CCU.
 
With two outs, Rebecca Gonzales walked. And, after Sheppard walked, McGhee delivered the game-winner down the right field line.