LAS VEGAS (Feb. 4, 2017) - Texas Woman's University picked up its first pair of wins on the season with an 8-5 win over Sioux Falls and a 13-4 drubbing of Sonoma State Saturday during Day Two of the Desert Stinger at Majestic Park where Tori Bice starred at the plate with six hits and five RBI, four of which came from a grand slam against SSU, and also picked up a win in the circle against the Seawolves.
 
TWU 8, USF 5
 
Tylia Sylestine homered to right field in the first inning against Sioux Falls for a 1-0 TWU lead. The Cougars (1-2) put up a big third inning starting with a Cougar batter being hit by a pitch and then stealing second. A wild pitch placed runners on second and third, and a sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1. A single to left center brought another runner around, and the Cougars added two more scores on a home run for a 4-1 advantage.
 
Nicole Nordie jacked a home run to right center on her first pitch in the bottom of the third to cut the Cougar deficit to 4-2. USF added another run in the fourth by way of a TWU fielding error.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Tara Solomon singled to the pitcher and Nordie reached on a fielding error to put Solomon on third. A walk by Sylestine pushed Nordie to second to load the bases for Tori Bice who singled through the right side to bring home Solomon. A double by Katy Stephens to left center scored Hailey Dixon and Nicole Parnell to knot the score at 5-all.
 
Logen Polasek sent a triple to center field in the sixth to score Nordie and Soloman, and Sylestine laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring Polasek in to round out the 8-5 win.
 
Dixon (1-0) earned her first win on the year with one run, two hits, two walks and a strikeout.
 
TWU 13, SSU 4
 
Sonoma State (3-1) placed the first run in the books in the bottom of the first, but TWU (2-1)  responded in the second with a pair of singles from Katy Stephens and Melanie Stephens. Solomon reached on an error by the first baseman that scored Katy Stephens for a 1-1 ballgame.
 
The bottom of the second was marred by TWU interference and two wild pitches that led to a SSU run before the Pioneer offense came alive in the top of the third. Sylestine was the first to reach the bases by way of an error, and singles by Bice, Katy Stephens and Melanie Stephens led to a pair of runs. Morgan Harrison knocked a single to left field to load the bases before Solomon singled to center to bring in two more. Harrison then stole third and scampered home on an error to put the Pioneers on top, 6-2.
 
Sylestine opened the fourth inning with a double to left field and made it home two batters later to add one more run for TWU. The Pioneers exploded again in the fifth beginning with a Harrison single followed by a Nordie RBI double. Polasek made her way all the way to third by way of SSU errors to push home another score before a grand slam from Bice tallied the four final Pioneer runs on the night.
 
The Seawolves pieced together a rally to try to extend the game by scoring off of a TWU error and collecting three walks. SSU tallied another run on a fielder's choice to pull within 13-4, but the Pioneers collected the final out to end the game in five innings.
 
Bice (1-1) chalked up her first win in 2017 with four runs on two hits, five walks and four strikeouts.
 
The Pioneers continue play in the tournament tomorrow with games against Concordia (Ore.) at 1:30 p.m. CST and New Mexico Highlands at 4 p.m. CST.