TUCSON, AZ: The Texas Wesleyan University softball team (9-7) tacked on a pair of wins with a 17-13 shootout win over Valley City State University (ND) (5-6) and 4-2 victory over Huntington University (IN) (0-1) in the final day of the Tucson Invitational on Sunday.
 
 The Lady Rams opened the flood gates in the first inning against the Vikings with a six run rally. Kayla Prachyl posted a RBI double before Amber Marlett drove her in with an RBI single. Wesleyan loaded the bases and Lauren Gunter unloaded with a grand slam to take a 6-0 advantage.
 
 The Lady Rams added three more runs in the third on some patient at bats, drawing a trio of RBI base on balls to make it a 9-1 lead.
 
 The Vikings cut the lead with a four run rally in the bottom of the third inning. Taylor Schroeder knocked in a pair of runs on a home run, and Valley City State capped the inning with two more RBI hits to make it a 9-5 game.
 
The Vikings struck again in the fourth and were able to draw within one run after a couple of Ram errors led to a Katarina Boychuck RBI single that scored two runs and brought the score to a 9-8 Wesleyan advantage.  
 
 Texas Wesleyan answered in the sixth inning with a Prachyl two RBI double after a double steal set up runners in scoring position with no outs. Chelsea Anderson followed that by destroying a ball deep over the fence for a home run, jumping back out to a 14-8 cushion.
 
 The Lady Rams added three more run in the top of the seventh capped by a Prachyl sacrifice fly to make it a 17-9 game.
 
 The Vikings made a bit of a comeback with a four run seventh, but the Rams closed the game out to secure a 17-13 shootout win.
 
The second game of the day for the Rams was not the offensive explosion it was in the first, as the Marlett and Rams had to play solid defense to stop the Foresters. Huntington got a run in in the first and threatened for more with the bases juiced and only one away. Marlett fought back on the mound though, striking out two in a row to get out of the inning.
 
Texas Wesleyan tied the game at one apiece after Dani West earned a leadoff base hit. West swiped second and coasted to third on a passed ball. Marlett drew a walk on the next play and a first and third play allowed Wesleyan to manufacture a run to tie the game.
 
 Gunter put the Lady Rams on top with a home run to lead off the bottom of the second. West hit a RBI single later in the inning to make it a 3-1 edge.
 
 The Foresters cut the lead in the fourth after scoring on a passed ball, but the Lady Rams answered with an Anderson groundout RBI for a 4-2 lead. The Wesleyan defense held off Huntington to take the game, 4-2.
 
 Gunter went 3 for 4 with 6 RBI on the day. Prachyl went 4 for 7 with four RBI.
 
 The Lady Rams will take on Southwestern Christian University in the first conference game of the season on Friday, March 20 at 2:00 pm at Sycamore Park.