DENVER – Ting. Ting. Ting.
 
That's the sound Laney Sheppard, along with twin sister JJ, produced all summer long in their yard in Fountain Valley, Calif., as they prepared for the 2020 softball season, hitting softballs off a tee and into a net.
 
"It's a little loud," Laney Sheppard said.
 
Hopefully the neighbors didn't mind, because Laney got off to a loud start last weekend.
 
In earning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors, Sheppard led hit three homers and had 11 RBIs, and she ranked in the top 11 of seven major RMAC offensive categories as the Roadrunners went 3-2 on the weekend.
 
She is tied for second nationally in homers and tied for third in the country in RBIs.
 
Sheppard extended hitting and RBI streaks that dated to last season to 10 games with at least hit and one RBI through the first three games.
 
And she compiled a .467 batting average that is 11th in the RMAC, a 1.200 slugging percentage that is second in the RMAC and a .556 slugging percentage that ranks ninth. She's tied for fourth in the RMAC with five runs, and she also had two doubles (tied for second in the RMAC) while going 7-for-15 at the plate (tied for third in hits) and drew threw walks (tied for third).
 
She had a Ruthian OPS of 1.756.
 
"Obviously she had a great start," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "She put up really big numbers and she definitely served as a catalyst for us."
 
Sheppard also received more recognition for her efforts, as she was named the MSU Denver Student-Athlete of the Week.
 
Her summer, which included about the normal amount of work, consisted of a net, a bucket of balls and a tee.
 
"Mainly just working off the tee, and if we could we got a little front toss in," Sheppard said. "It's kind of hard when you don't have a pitcher, but the tee work helps."
 
And practicing with the team once on campus helped pave the way for success during the opening weekend.
 
"This year, we've come so close together and we always talk with our teammates, no matter what," Sheppard said. "If the energy is low, we notice it and we pick it back up. The start of the season has been fantastic because the connection is so strong between each player. That's made me want to do better and it's made me more confident.
 
"My teammates are the ones making me become who I am."
 
As MSU Denver heads for the Dixie State Courtyard Classic, with five tough games scheduled from Thursday through Saturday, Sheppard has become someone many teams may want to avoid.
 
She went 3-for-4 with two homers and five RBIs in the season opener against Humboldt State (Calif.) and followed that up by going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the second game of the doubleheader. She picked up another double and an RBI in a doubleheader with Sioux Falls (S.D.) on Saturday, then hit a grand slam Sunday against Humboldt State while drawing walks in her other three plate appearances.
 
"Our last game, things were going well, but the grand slam was the back-breaker," Van Wetzinga said. "It was nice to see her start it off where she left off last year. Now we just want her to keep focusing on little things to get better. She's doing a good job of keeping a level head about it and using that to elevate herself."
 
Sheppard set MSU Denver's freshman home run record last season with 13, which also tied for the 10th-highest single-season total in program history, and she ranked fifth in the RMAC in homers.
 
She also led the team in RBIs (44), slugging percentage (.695), on-base percentage among qualifiers (.442), OPS (1.137) and total bases (107). She was second on the team in batting average among qualifiers (.351) and was also second in walks (18). She ranked 10th in the RMAC in slugging percentage. She posted four games with at least four RBIs, and she had a two-homer game against Chadron State on Feb. 24.
 
In other words, everyone knows about her now.
 
"At the beginning, I was still trying to figure out what I was supposed to do," Sheppard said. "It was freshman nerves and stuff like that. Once I got more connected with the girls and more confident, I think I was able to step up my game.
 
"I feel like this year I need to be more selective. Last year they gave me a few easy pitches to go for because I was a freshman and they didn't really have any stats on me. Now they do, so I have to choose the pitch I want. During practice, I figure out what pitch works for me."
 
Pitching her on the outside corner may not be the best way to stop her. All three of her homers this past weekend were opposite-field shots to right field on outside pitches. Sheppard said last year only four of her 13 homers went to the opposite field.
 
"I'm trying to be selective about the pitch I want, and it depends on the pitcher as well," Sheppard said. "Our coaches are very good at understanding what the pitcher is like, if she up or down or side to side. And getting the information really helps me figure out which pitch is best to hit during the game."
 
The Roadrunners' scheduling gauntlet this weekend starts with Thursday's 11 a.m. game against St. Mary's (Texas), a team that went 30-25 overall last year and finished in second place in the since-disbanded Heartland Conference. The Rattlers (2-3) are picked to finish eighth in their first year in the Lone Star Conference.
 
Next is a four-game junket with four of the top five teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. MSU Denver faces Concordia-Portland (Ore.) at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Central Washington at 3 p.m. Friday, Western Washington at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Both Concordia and Central Washington reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
 
Concordia (3-2) is picked third in the GNAC after going 31-23 overall and 18-10 for third place last season. Central Washington (4-3) is picked to finish fourth after going 33-20, including 21-7 for the regular-season title. Western Washington (1-4) is picked to finish second after going 27-18 overall and 16-12 and tied for fourth. And Northwest Nazarene (4-1) is picked to finish fifth after going 28-24 and tying for fourth at 16-12.
 
"We play a lot of GNAC schools who have had success," Van Wetzinga said. "And we'll see some teams that appear to have some good offense, and we need to take some steps with our defense and pitching to handle some of those challenges. We have a big regional matchup with St. Mary's, which is a traditionally tough program that makes you earn everything you get. We're going to have to be ready to play a high level of softball."
 
Sheppard and her teammates played at a high level this past weekend, but they've struggled at this tournament each of the past two years.
 
"I want to see a lot of fight," Sheppard said. "Last year was hard for us. This year I want it to be fun. You want to relax and enjoy it and connect as a team. If we can do that, I think we'll do really well."