CANYON, Texas (May 13, 2017) - Texas Woman's University defeated 20^th-ranked St. Mary's, 3-1 and 6-5, in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship at Schaeffer Park on the campus of West Texas A&M to advance to the NCAA Division II Super Regional held next week at No. 1 Angelo State to mark the second trip in program history to the Super Regional with the first visit occurring during the 2013 season.
 
Head Coach Genny Stidham's strategy in the circle proved successful with Abby Walker and Tori Bice trading pitching duties throughout each contest, sometimes even substituting for each other within the same inning. The duo limited the Rattlers to six earned runs on the day and the pair compiled 13 strikeouts.
 
Offensively, Alexis Elizondo went 4-for-5 in the two contests, Tylia Sylestine compiled a home run on two hits along with three RBI, and Walker notched a pair of hits and a trio of RBI.
 
Texas Woman's 3, No. 20 St. Mary's 1
 
The Rattlers (44-14, 16-5 Heartland) took a walk in the bottom of the second before a sacrifice bunt advanced the runner to second. St. Mary's sent a single to left field that bobbled around to allow the first Rattler in for a 1-0 lead.
 
Bice sent a hard single past the pitcher with two outs recorded in the top of the fourth and made it to second on a passed ball. Elizondo registered a walk before Walker sent a double to right field to give Bice enough time to slide home and tie the game.
 
In the top of the fifth, Nicole Nordie doubled with a hot shot down the left field line, and Hazel Puempel made her way to first on a fielder's choice. Nordie made her way to third and continued home on a St. Mary's error to push the Pioneers ahead, 2-1. Sylestine propelled the ball to left center to score Puempel to add another TWU run.
 
St. Mary's led off the sixth with a deep shot to left field, but as the runner raced to third she changed her mind and got hung up between bases. Elizondo caught a lofty foul ball for out number two, and Walker subbed in for Bice to secure the third out with a strike out to preserve the Pioneer advantage.
 
Logan Polasek hit a chopper towards the shortstop to beat the throw to the bag and made it to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nordie. A groundout pushed Polasek to third, but a strikeout left her stranded. Three straight popups in the bottom of the frame by St. Mary's finalized the TWU win.
 
Bice (7-9) earned the win on one run with two hits, two walks and matched a season-high with five strikeouts. Walker recorded her fifth save of the season with one hit, one walk and three strikeouts.
 
Texas Woman's 6, No. 20 St. Mary's 5
 
Puempel registered a standup double with two outs recorded in the top of the first and was brought home by a Sylestine blast, her 10^th of the season, that cleared the center field fence for an early 2-0 TWU edge.
 
An RBI double to left field for St. Mary's in the bottom of the third cut the Pioneer lead in half. The Rattlers had runners on second and third, but TWU was saved by a catch from Nicole Parnell in left field.
 
Sylestine took a walk to first in the top of the fourth, and Bice dumped a double in front of the center fielder to push Sylestine up a base. Elizondo attempted to execute a squeeze play to score Polasek, but did one better by also bringing pinch runner Hailey Dixon to third and making it to first herself. Elizondo then stole second, and Walker placed a single to center field to bring both runners around to increase the TWU lead to 5-1.
 
The Rattlers scored off of an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth and added another run on a home run in the next inning to pull within 5-3.
 
Nordie singled to right center to lead off the seventh inning, and Katy Stephens bumped her to second on a sacrifice bunt. Puempel singled to right field to give Nordie time to scoot in to push the score to 6-3.
 
Walker struck out a Rattler batter for the first out in the bottom of the seventh, and Parnell grabbed a fly out for the second, but St. Mary's homered to left field to cut the margin to 6-4. The Rattlers then reeled off a triple and followed up with a double down the left field line to make it 6-5. With the winning run up to bat, Elizondo captured the final out to send the Pioneers (37-20, 18-11 LSC) onto the Super Regional.
 
Walker (18-9) took the win with three earned runs on five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.