DENVER – The final weekend of the RMAC softball regular season is upon us, and the message is clear.
 
"This is the final push," MSU Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "It's not the final coast."
 
The Roadrunners (25-9 overall, 23-7 and second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) play the next six games away from home, including doubleheaders Saturday at noon and Sunday at 11 a.m. against Adaams State.
 
"As coaches, we talk about finding things to challenge our players, and then to have a Plan A and a Plan B for when things don't necessarily go our way," Van Wetzinga said. "In practice we're working on more challenging things offensively – situational hitting, two-strike approach, execution.
 
"But I love how this team has grown. We've improved. We've kind of settled in to a lineup, which has helped us because we shifted around a lot at the start of the season. Now it's about continuing to find ways to improve."
 
Adams State is 13-25 overall and 13-23 in the RMAC.
 
But the Roadrunners aren't overlooking the Grizzlies and towards a potential second-place showdown Wednesday at Colorado Christian (23-10, 22-7).
 
"They have a pitcher (Jade Garbiso) who was conference pitcher of the week," Van Wetzinga said. "When she's on, it seems like she can do some good things – especially if we're not quite sharp offensively. If we have something like our last game on Sunday, where we didn't make adjustments as soon as we wanted, she could give us problems."
 
The Grizzlies figure to be motivated, too.

"It's their Senior Weekend, so they're going to have good energy," Van Wetzinga said. "They're going to go out fighting, so we'll have to be ready. But I'm confident our team will be because this team has taken care of business, for the most part, in situations like this."