Box Score SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Minot State University's Ali Cygan (Jr., SS, Bozeman, Mont.) picked a great time to hit her first home run of the season.

Cygan's grand slam in the bottom of the fifth capped a five-run inning and lifted the No. 8 seed Beavers to a 6-2 win over No. 9 Upper Iowa in the first game of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference softball tournament Thursday at a chilly Sherman Park.

"Getting the win is pretty big," said MISU head coach Bill Triplett. "If you don't win that game, it's too long a road to come back from. We got a couple big hits left the yard – both were well struck. We did have the one inning that we have been trying to stay away from defensively, but fought through it and battled back. We saw a little adversity and fought through it."

The Beavers (29-18 overall) used the long ball to perfection, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a solo shot by Rachel Burdette (Fr., UTL/P, Temecula, Calif.) in the third and then scored four more on Cygan's homer. The Beavers other run came off a fielder's choice RBI by Melissa Bell (Jr., C, Belgrade, Mont.) to start the fifth inning.

With the cushion, Minot State' starter Mindy Lorimor (Jr., P, Thurman, Iowa) settled into a solid game as she worked a complete game seven-hitter. She gave up two runs, one earned runs and struck out one on her way to her 21st win of the season.

Both pitchers rolled through four innings as Burdette's home run was the only score as the Beavers led 1-0 heading into the fifth. Upper Iowa (20-27) got two runs in the top of the inning without hitting a ball out of the infield, staking starter Jacqueline Flood to a 2-1 lead.

But Minot State touched up Flood for all six runs in the fifth and chased the right hander. Brooke Redmond pitched an inning and a third of shutout ball for the Peacocks.

UIU's Shelby Christ and Riley Kruel had two hits apiece for the Peacocks. Flood, who fell to 6-14, went 4 2/3 giving up seven hits and six runs.

Burdette went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI in her first NSIC tournament game. Jen Dixon (Sr., OF/P, Brandon, Manitoba) went 2-for-4 and scored a run for the Beavers.

Minot State moves on to play top seed Minnesota State in a second-round game today at 2 p.m.