DENVER – Not to be impolite, but the MSU Denver softball team wouldn't mind kicking UCCS while its down this weekend.

UCCS has had the unenviable task of playing its third straight series against one of the top three teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this weekend, playing the Roadrunners in a four-game series after having played four times each against Colorado Mesa and Colorado Christian.

The Mountain Lions have lost eight straight, and have scored a total of two runs over their last seven games.

"They're on a tough stretch," MSU Denver coach Annie Van Wetzinga said. "And they play at Regis next week. So they're playing some tough teams and being challenged. But sometimes that makes a team even hungrier. They'll want to righten their ship."

The series is scheduled for doubleheaders Friday and Saturday at 3 p.m., with MSU Denver Athletics' Military Appreciation Day scheduled for Saturday – the Roadrunners will wear special jerseys for those games.

"We have multiple girls with parents who have served, so they're excited about this," Van Wetzinga said. "We appreciate having the Army as our sponsor. The girls are excited about the uniforms that we'll be wearing, too."

MSU Denver (25-7 overall) remains in first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 18-2, but its lead has dwindled from three games to one over both eighth-ranked Colorado Christian and Colorado Mesa, each of whom is 17-3.

The Roadrunners had their school-record 21-game winning streak come to an end when they were swept in a doubleheader on Sunday at CSU Pueblo.

"I really don't like losing, but it can be a wakeup call for a team," Van Wetzinga said. "It shows you that 'we need to refocus on this area, or that area.' Even as a head coach you can see that, 'yeah, we haven't worked on that enough and we were exposed there.' So it can be a chance for not just the players, but for coaches, too, to see what needs to be done.

"I thought Pueblo did a great job of executing. They know how they're built, with speed and a lot of lefties. They played the short game and did a wonderful job of executing things. They had us on our heels."

All of that should help MSU Denver prepare for UCCS (11-18), which was cruising along nicely with an 8-4 mark in league play before it started running the RMAC gauntlet.

"They're one of the more athletic teams in the league, similar to Pueblo," Van Wetzinga said. "They're a team that can challenge you on the defensive side. You have to contain mistakes, take care of the outs they give you, and then play team offense against them. We had a good number of hits against Pueblo, but we didn't have many before we had one or two outs in innings."

MSU Denver figures to continue getting the quietly consistent contributions of first baseman Miah Hartvigsen, who is batting .473 with two homers and 24 RBIs. She's second in the RMAC with a .545 on-base percentage and – in league play – is second in that category at .622.

"Miah is just not an easy out," Van Wetzinga said. "She grinds at the plate. And it seems like every time we look up it's, 'Oh, Miah is on base again.' It's cool to watch that competitiveness and someone who has that grit."