WASHBURN, Kan. – With dominating pitching performances from freshman Hanna Cress and senior Sydney Nieveen, the University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (4-3) picked up a pair of wins at the ESU 5-State Classic on Sunday. The Cougars, which concluded play at the tourney with a 2-1 record, defeated Missouri Western, 3-2, and Washburn (7-10), 2-0 at the Washburn University Softball Complex.

Between Cress (2-1) and Nieveen (1-1), opponents recorded 13 hits but no earned run while striking out 13 times. On the day, USF had a 0.00 earned run average in 14 innings.  With their performance today, USF lowered its team ERA to 4.28 through seven games.

USF's offense was led by Shayla Running, who had three hits in seven at-bats and is hitting .476 on the season. Sophomore outfielder Lexie Swift also had three hits in seven at bats as she is hitting .379 on the season. Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag is hitting .455 and has a .647 OBP in 11 at bats this season.

"I am proud of the way our kids responded to the challenge today. We had a bad taste in our mouth after last night (7-2 loss to Emporia State) and we came out today with a little more fire to compete," said second-year USF Head Coach Shannon Pivovar. "Sydney (Nieveen) and Hanna (Cress) completed their tails off on the mound which allowed our defense to work behind them. We worked together and executed at the plate with Cass (Cassie Van Beek) providing a spark to get us rolling. We have constantly learned as we've grown and it is fun to compete with this group," said Pivovar, whose team is scheduled to play six games at the Washburn Invitational, which runs Feb. 28-March 1.

G1 – USF 3 Missouri Western 2
In the opener today, USF fell behind early but rallied to take a 3-2 decision as the pitching and hitting work together.

USF fell behind 2-0 in the third inning as Missouri Western (3-6) scored two unearned runs. After that, Cress, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., shut the door and did not allow another hit. Over the final four innings, Cress retired 12-of-13 hitters and recorded four strikeouts. In total, she allowed three hits with a career-high nine strikeouts and no walks in her best performance at USF.

Down 2-0, the Cougars put together five hits with three runs in the fifth inning to take the lead. Senior centerfielder Frankie Mickelson opened with a single and moved to second on a bunt single by senior shortstop Lindsey Mossman. Senior Emily Cheloha delivered a pinch hit single to centerfield in which Mickelson scored on a throwing error by the center-fielder.  Running, who led USF's offense with three hits, delivered a game-tying RBI single up the middle as Mossman came across to score. Sophomore outfielder Rachel Klassen also scored when junior infielder Cassie Van Beek delivered the go-ahead run-scoring single. With a one-run advantage, Cress closed out the MWSU with a dominate performance over the final three innings.

G2 – USF 2 Washburn 0
In game two, Nieveen was the story.  A senior from Hallam, Neb., Nieveen moved to 1-1 on the season after she scattered 10 hits in tossing her first career shutout with her fourth career complete game in the 2-0 win over WU. Nieveen registered four strikeouts and didn't walk a hitter.

On offense, USF had just five hits but they made them count. Sophomore outfielder Lexie Swift had two hits and a run scored while Van Beek had a hit and two RBI and Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag had a double and run scored.  USF scored the only two runs of the game in the second inning. After Van Der Zwaag led off with a walk, she advanced to second on a single by Swift. Van Beek then delivered the game-winning hit for a second straight game with a single which plated Van Der Zwaag and Swift, who scored on a fielding error by the left fielder.

WU collected hits in each of the final four innings but couldn't push across a run. The Ichabod's biggest opportunity was the sixth inning when Bri Francis singled and advanced to third on a double by Ashton Friend. However, Nieveen struck out Samantha Dutton and retired the side by forcing a ground out. In the seventh inning, WU also put two runners on with singles but with two out, Nieveen 's clutch pitching ended the threat with a strikeout.