DENVER – If one looks much at the NCAA Division II South Central Region rankings, it's pretty clear.
No matter whether you finished first in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference like Colorado Mesa (43-7 overall), had a tremendous season like second-place Colorado Christian (46-8), finished sixth like Fort Lewis (20-29) or came in anywhere in between, it seems very possible that only one RMAC team will be advancing to the eight-team South Central Regional.
"All six teams there, we're all in the same boat," MSU Denver coach
Annie Van Wetzinga said.
MSU Denver (35-20 overall, 23-15 RMAC) is the tournament's fourth seed and will play fifth-seeded UCCS (26-22, 24-16) at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in Grand Junction, Colo.
Tournament host Colorado Mesa (35-3 RMAC) and No. 2 seed Colorado Christian (34-4 RMAC) earned first-round byes in the double-elimination tournament. Third-seeded Regis (34-21, 28-12) plays Fort Lewis (20-20 RMAC) in the 10 a.m. tournament opener.
Should the Roadrunners win their opening game, they would face host Mesa later Thursday, tentatively scheduled for 5:30 p.m. A Roadrunners loss against UCCS would lead to a 10 a.m. elimination game on Friday.
Wednesday's latest regional rankings include Lone Star Conference teams occupying the top seven spots, with Mesa at eighth. Colorado Christian is 10th and is the only other RMAC team in the top 10. Conference tournament champions from the Lone Star and RMAC earn automatic bids, with the regional rankings (they will be reconfigured again Sunday) used to determine the six at-large qualifiers.
MSU Denver won three of four against UCCS – two of them walk-off wins – on April 9 and 10. The Roadrunners were swept at Mesa in late February, then split two games with Colorado Christian in early March. They lost three of four at Fort Lewis and Regis on back-to-back weekends before bouncing back to finish the regular season with a four-game sweep last weekend against Adams State.
Interestingly, the Roadrunners did some solid work in the non-conference portion of the schedule, earning a split with St. Mary's (Texas), ranked seventh in the region and receiving votes in the national poll, winning against Chico State (Calif.), which is receiving votes in the national poll and is third in the West Region, and sweeping a doubleheader against Washburn (Kan.), which is ranked 23
rd nationally and is fifth in the Central Region.
At their best, the Roadrunners are confident they are capable of making a postseason run.
"I'm excited for them," Van Wetzinga said. "We've seen everybody. We shouldn't be overwhelmed by anybody. Since we've played them, as a team and individuals, we've grown immensely. And I'm excited for them to have the opportunity to put it all together."
The Roadrunners are still youthful – only first baseman
Rebecca Gonzales, second baseman
Ari Valdez and pitcher
Destinee Lopez have played a full season of college softball prior to this year.
MSU Denver has been supremely unlucky with COVID-19 the past two seasons – the 2020 season was ended prematurely with the Roadrunners tied for the league lead and receiving votes in the national poll when the pandemic struck, and last year an outbreak deprived to the team of several of its top players just before the tournament.
This year, despite a critical midseason injury, it's all systems go.
"Let's just keep moving forward," Lopez said of the advice the veterans are giving to the young players. "Let's build off the weekend and look at the positives. We just need to be ready. We're all talented and we're all ready to do some damage. Let's go do it."
Shortstop
Hannah DiFabio, outfielder
Katie Maney, catcher
Jaiden Geist and pitcher/designated player
Audrey Burt are true freshmen who have had a major impact in their initial seasons.
DiFabio, the reigning RMAC Player of the Week, is batting .365 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs and has already set the program's freshman record for total bases (118) and runs (45) and has a chance of also setting freshman marks in hits and homers. Maney has 10 homers and 30 RBIs and Geist has been a late-season RBI machine. Burt is 11-7 with a 3.60 ERA and 92 strikeouts in the circle, and is batting .356 with six homers in 73 at-bats.
Meanwhile, sophomore outfielder
Kami Grammerstorf has come on strong in the second half of the season and is batting .339 while perfect on 17 stolen base attempts.
"I'm a freshman and I'm definitely a little nervous," DiFabio said. "But I think it will be fun. We've seen all these teams before and we know what to expect."
