WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State clinched a Holiday Inn at the Falls Invitational championship by outlasting East Central (Okla.) 11-7 Sunday morning at Mustangs Park.
 
With the win, the Mustangs improved to 11-4 on the season including a 4-1 mark in tournament play.
 
MSU took advantage of a pair of Tiger miscues in the second inning to plate four runs keyed by a bases-loaded walk by Elena Bennett, a Courtney Bingham RBI-single to left field and Kelley Schaefer's two-run single up the middle to take a 5-1 lead through two innings.
 
ECU starter Ali Manship struggled with her command in the third issuing consecutive walks to Christina Roosmalen, Chelsey Wall and Haley Howerton setting a two-run double by Carey Campbell to push the advantage to 7-1.
 
Junior catcher Kim Jerrick extended her hitting streak to 21 games with a run scoring single to center field push the MSU lead to 8-1.
 
East Central clawed back with three-run fourth highlighted by Gina Mengwasser's two-single through the left side of the infield to pull the Tigers to within three runs at 8-4.
 
But the Mustangs struck back quickly in the bottom of the frame as Schaefer lead off with a single to right field and Shelby Carter found the left-field gap for a double to set up Roosmalen's two-run double down the left-field to push the advantage to 11-4.
 
ECU's Jordynn Van Pelt and Leah Tigert connected for back-to-back homers in the sixth to narrow margin to 11-7 in the sixth before Schaefer closed out the scoring with her first long ball of the season in the bottom of the inning.
 
Schaefer paced MSU's 12-hit attack going 3-for-3 with three RBIs while Bingham was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
 
Kat Batey claimed the win in the circle to move to 5-2 allowing seven runs - six earned - on 15 hits with three strikeouts and four walks.
 
Van Pelt and Tigert had three hits each for East Central.
 
The Tigers claimed the tournament finale with an 11-3 run-rule win over Texas A&M International to move to 10-4 on the season.