DENVER – Pitcher Darby McGhee sparked the game-winning rally with a leadoff double, and after the game MSU Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga had a question for her.
 
"I asked her, 'Did you lead off the eighth and decide that you weren't losing this game?'" Van Wetzinga said. "She said, 'Maybe a little.'"
 
After Kassi Reiger moved pinch runner Kamryn Leoffler to third with a sacrifice bunt, Ari Valdez followed with a game-winning single off the shortstop's glove to give Metropolitan State University of Denver a dramatic, 3-2, eight-inning victory over 11^th-ranked Dixie State.
 
The Roadrunners also won earlier Saturday with a come-from-behind 6-2 decision over Black Hills State.
 
But nothing topped the drama of the second-game comeback against the Trailblazers and pitcher Carissa Burgess, one of the nation's top pitchers with an 8-0 record coming into the game.
 
After being kept in check with just two hits through six innings, the Roadrunners gradually began making better contact. Then, trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Olivia Dampier ripped a triple to right center.
 
Two pitches later, Laney Sheppard crushed her sixth homer of the year, a game-tying, no-doubt blast to straightaway center field.
 
"All of the energy in the dugout was boosting me," Sheppard said, who came into the game ranked ninth nationally in homers. "Once Liv hit that line drive (triple), something got me motivated to go, to get up there and crank it. I wanted to hit it so bad, and I wanted to support my teammates so bad."
 
Said Van Wetzinga: "Laney found a pitch, and it was an easy swing. She didn't try to do too much, and that's what the result is."
 
Meanwhile, McGhee, who has pitched in tough luck most of the season, including 7 2/3 shutout innings against top-ranked defending national champion Augustana in a game the Roadrunners lost in 11, suddenly was back in a tie game.
 
"The whole game we were in it, and then tying it up in the seventh, that just shows some fight, and shows that people want it," McGhee said.
 
McGhee (2-1) had settled into a groove in the circle and wounding up allowing only two runs on five hits, with four walks and four strikeouts.
 
"Darby kept us in the game," Van Wetzinga said. "She wasn't super sharp early. But that didn't change her approach. She kept attacking. She didn't worry about being better. She stayed calm, and she got better as the game went on.
 
"It was a really mature performance. It wasn't like she was racking up all these strikeouts. And I wouldn't say it was coming easy every inning. But it was steady."
 
After a clean top of the eighth, McGhee smoked a drive to left center to set up the winning rally. Also a top hitter, McGhee was 3-for-6 on the day as she continues to emerge from an early-season slump, bumping her average up to a still uncharacteristic .209.
 
"I'm working on it," McGhee said. "It's a big work in progress, but we're getting somewhere."
 
As for her approach in the eighth?
 
"Go up with a plan and pick a pitch to hit," McGhee said. "And I got that pitch, and I was ready for it and I hit it. It felt good."
 
Then came the critical pieces of execution.
 
Reiger's sacrifice bunt was perfect.
 
"We did the little things," Van Wetzinga said. "Darby got the double. We put Kam in to pinch run. Kassi got a bunt down, and that might seem small, but all of a sudden we have a runner with speed at third base with less than two outs, and we've got all sorts of ways that we can score.
 
"We scored on a chopper to shortstop."
 
The Roadrunners' camp thought that Valdez had won the game one pitch earlier than she actually did, as she struck a well-hit ball that MSU Denver thought had hit the first baseman's glove in fair territory before going foul.
 
"I've still got this," Valdez said she told herself. "I felt like I was on her. I felt really confident."
 
On the next play, with the infield in, Valdez hit a chopper to short that would have required an excellent play to result in an out at the plate.
 
"Ari put the ball in play, and Kam was gone," Van Wetzinga said. "She saw the chop, and I don't think they had a chance, even if she had fielded it cleanly. She read it so quickly."
 
Again, it was a matter of staying relaxed at the plate.
 
"All I needed was to hit a ground ball," Valdez said. "So don't try to do too much in that situation."
 
There's a theme here. Staying calm, not trying to do too much, doing the little things.
 
All were big steps for the Roadrunners (12-6 overall, 4-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) in another extra-inning game against a nationally-ranked team.
 
"I know we're capable," Van Wetzinga said. "I think the step we took was staying steady. It wasn't going great offensively. I mean there wasn't much going. But we didn't take it to the field. Our defense locked it down. Darby locked it down. And we found a way.
 
"The step was maybe not caving to the challenge, and that's a big thing. You keep it within a run or two and you always have a shot late in the game."
 
Dixie State dropped to 16-4 and 4-2.
 
The Roadrunners came from behind to win the opener against Black Hills State (2-11, 1-5).
 
Trailing 2-0 after 3 ½ innings, senior first baseman Alyssa Richter hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fourth.
 
"Ally was a nice spark that game," Van Wetzinga said. "For a while it was just, 'I'm glad Ally is here.' She made a nice defensive play in foul territory and hit the home run. She's just been steady. It's a maturity thing."
 
Rebecca Gonzales provided a go-ahead, two-run double in the fifth.
 
Meanwhile, Destinee Lopez righted herself after giving up two first-inning runs and kept the Yellow Jackets at bay the rest of the way in a complete-game four-hitter that included a career-high eight strikeouts.
 
"Destinee had a rough start the first inning, but locked it down and kept us in the game," Van Wetzinga said.
 
MSU Denver plays the same teams Sunday, but starting times have been moved up by one hour due to expected precipitation. The Roadrunners face Dixie State at 10 a.m. and Black Hills State at 2 p.m.