DENVER – The quality work done by the MSU Denver softball team early in the league season has helped keep the Roadrunners afloat.
 
Even though they've lost 11 of their last 14 games while playing teams in the upper half of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings, the Roadrunners (26-19 overall) are still 22-12 for fourth place in league play, just two games out of second place with two weekends left in the regular season.
 
Next up, MSU Denver plays at second-place Regis (28-18, 25-11) in a four-game series set for Sunday and Monday, with doubleheaders each day at noon.
 
"Two through five (in the RMAC standings) is completely wide open," MSU Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "There's still so much to be determined. This is a big series."
 
Colorado Christian has already clinched the league crown at 35-1. But finishing second would be huge since the second-place team also receives a first-round bye for the double-elimination RMAC Tournament.
 
MSU Denver will try to right a ship that hasn't gone completely off course. Even in its recent rough stretch, which includes being swept in four games by Colorado Christian last weekend, the Roadrunners have six losses by three runs or less.
 
"We've had some really heartbreaking, frustrating, discouraging losses," Van Wetzinga said. "You're not going to win every game – sometimes you have a well-played game and you lose. We've had some of those. But there are some other games where we felt like we weren't at our best or didn't capitalize on our opportunities. We've got to learn to close out games and we have to have shutdown innings after we score."
 
Van Wetzinga said her team is handling the rough patch reasonably well.

"They're human," Van Wetzinga said. "Young or not, if you go through a stretch like this, it's hard. But overall they're doing a nice job. They're close as a team. There's a good team culture of working together and staying positive. Practices have been good. They're doing what they need to do to get ready."
 
Regis features quality pitching and a lineup with plenty of speed.
 
"Regis is tough," Van Wetzinga said. "They're built similar to us – they're going to have some speed. They've got a fifth-year senior shortstop at the top of the order who is a really good player. And their pitcher does a really nice job.
 
"We've got to be able to attack early in the count, and when we've got opportunities with people on base, we've got to have some good, quality team at-bats and take advantage of those opportunities."
 
With four teams within three games of second place (Colorado Mesa is 24-11 for third place, while Colorado School of Mines is fifth at 21-13) there's still plenty out there.
 
"We're young," Van Wetzinga said. "At some point we're going to have to stop saying it and take the next step, whether it's closing out a game against a good team, or coming out of the gates ready to go toe-to-toe with somebody."