WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Kristina Gutierrez and Katie Petersen certainly lived up to their coaches' preseason billing on the opening day of Holiday Inn at the Falls/MSU Invitational Friday afternoon at Mustangs Park.

Gutierrez, a junior transfer from Western Texas College, mowed down Northwest Missouri with nine strikeouts and a two-hitter as MSU rolled to a 5-1 win over Northwest Missouri in the opener.

Then Petersen delivered the most dominant pitching performance in school history with her second career perfect game as the Mustangs improved to 5-2 on the season with a 1-0 win over Western New Mexico.

"When you only give up two hits in two games, it's easy to win," MSU coach Brady Tigert said.

He had boldly projected the MSU starting trio of Gutierrez, Petersen and former Burk standout Brittney Tanner as the best staff in the South Central Region.

"They can be dominating staff," Tigert said. "It's what I expect from them and what they expect of themselves."

Petersen, who moved within one of MSU all-time wins leader Brittany Willson with her 67th career victory, delivered a perfect game last season when she fanned 13 of the 15 batters she faced last season at Southwestern Oklahoma State.

The Plano native struck seven of the first nine she faced Friday afternoon and finished with 11 strikeouts.

Battery mate Lauren Craig made it stand up with a leadoff home run to center field in the second inning.

It was the only run the Mustangs would muster off of Western New Mexico starter Sarah Almanza, who allowed one run on seven hits in six innings of work.

Gutierrez was nearly as dominant in the opener as the Pearland native fanned nine and walked just one while allowing one unearned run in the fourth inning against Northwest Missouri.

The Bearcats tallied after Erin Leslie reached on an infield single then came around when MSU third baseman Mallory Mooney committed her first error in 58 games dating back to last season.

The Mustangs got off to a quick start as freshman Natalie Rodriguez blasted a leadoff homer to start the game and Craig delivered an RBI-single single up the middle to highlight a four-run outburst.

Craig, who finished the day 3-for-6 with 3 RBIs, had another run-scoring single in the fifth.

Midwestern State continues play in the Holiday Inn at the Falls Invitational Saturday afternoon against LSC South foes Texas Woman's University and West Texas A&M. First pitch is set for 1 and 3 p.m., respectively.

Holiday Inn/MSU Invitational

Friday, Feb. 19

Mustangs Park
Midwestern State 5, Northwest Missouri 1
Midwestern State 1, Western New Mexico 0
Western New Mexico 8, Panhandle State 1

Burkburnett High School
Texas Woman's 10, Missouri Southern 0 (6)
West Texas A&M 2, Missouri Southern 1
Northwest Missouri 10, Texas Woman's 7
West Texas A&M 11, Northwest Missouri 4

Saturday, Feb. 20

Mustangs Park
West Texas A&M vs. Texas Woman's, 11 a.m.
Midwestern State vs. Texas Woman's, 1 p.m.
Midwestern State vs. West Texas A&M, 3 p.m.

Burkburnett High School
Western New Mexico vs. Missouri Southern, 11 a.m.
Panhandle State vs. Missouri Southern, 1 p.m.
Western New Mexico vs. Northwest Missouri, 3 p.m.
Panhandle State vs. Northwest Missouri, 5 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 21

Mustangs Park
Northwest Missouri vs. Missouri Southern, 11 a.m.
Midwestern State vs. Missouri Southern, 1 p.m.

Burkburnett High School
Western New Mexico vs. Texas Woman's, 11 a.m.
Western New Mexico vs. West Texas A&M, 1 p.m.
Texas Woman's vs. Panhandle State, 3 p.m.
Panhandle State vs. West Texas A&M, 5 p.m.