DENVER – MSU Denver dipped its toes into the softball season's waters last weekend, and now the Roadrunners are set to take a head-first plunge.

MSU Denver will play five games in three days, starting Friday, at the Desert Stinger in Tucson, Ariz.

"This is one of the premier Division II tournaments in the country," MSU Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "We will be facing some of the top teams in the West Region. It will be a really good weekend to see where we are at and hopefully it will help us to improve and set us up for big things down the road."

MSU Denver (3-1) plays Friday at 9:30 a.m. against Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) and again at 2:30 p.m. against 10^th-ranked Concordia-Irvine (Calif.). Saturday the Roadrunners play at noon against Chico State (Calif.) and at 2:30 p.m. against Central Washington. They'll wrap up their stay Sunday with a noon game against Western Washington.

In addition to facing nationally-ranked Concordia-Irvine, two other opponents – Western Washington and Northwest Nazarene – are receiving votes in the preseason NFCA poll. Western Washington is 26^th among those receiving votes.

Western Washington and Northwest Nazarene are picked to finish 1-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Concordia-Irvine is picked second in the Pacific West Conference behind defending national runner-up and preseason No. 3 Biola (Calif.). And Chico State is the nearly-unanimous choice to win the California Collegiate Athletic Association title.

Concordia-Irvine is 7-0, with wins over Western Washington, Northwest Nazarene, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference favorite Colorado Mesa and Chico State. Chico State is 4-1, with wins over Biola (8-0), Northwest Nazarene and Colorado Mesa. Western Washington is 2-3 and Northwest Nazarene is 1-4 against an incredibly difficult schedule and losses by a total of six runs. Central Washington opens its season this weekend.

"I'm excited for our team's opportunity to go down to Tucson and be a part of this tournament, Van Wetzinga said. "It was great to start our season off at home, but it's been a few years since we've had a big trip in our pre-season, so this is definitely a great opportunity for our players."

MSU Denver showed it could potentially be ready for prime-time performances last weekend in a doubleheader sweep of Fort Hays State (Kan.) and a split with Cal Poly Humboldt.
All-RMAC first team pitcher Destinee Lopez struck out a program-record 14 in a complete-game win over Fort Hays State, and Rebecca Gonzales (.462), Shelby Robb (.333) and Ari Valdez (.333) demonstrated that they are also operating at a high level once again.

Meanwhile, transfer pitcher Sarah Norton earned RMAC Pitcher of the Week while going 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in two appearances, and true freshman shortstop Hannah DiFabio had a two-homer game that included a walkoff homer while hitting .500 (6-for-12) with a double, triple and five RBIs. Another true freshman, Katie Maney, hit .400 (4-for-10).

"I don't know if I would call it surprises, because we're talented, but it was nice to see so many new players contribute to our wins," Van Wetzinga said. "Whether you're a transfer or a freshman, it can be tough in a new environment but when you look at what newcomers such as Hannah DiFabio, Sarah Norton, Katie Maney, Miah Hartvigsen (2-for-5) and Audrey Burt (1-0, 3.32 ERA) did this past weekend, that's exciting."

Improvements can always be made, though. 

"I would like to see us have consistently better at-bats," Van Wetzinga said. "We didn't have great team offense at times last weekend. That comes with making adjustments to what the opposing pitcher is doing sooner and and learning from teammates' at-bats. 

"I'd like to see us be sharper on defense as well and control the basepaths. Overall, we weren't tested too much defensively last weekend, but I know we will be in Tucson, so we need to be prepared in those moments and handle other teams trying to pressure us."