Beavers pull out brooms

Despite taking a 1-0 lead into the top of the seventh inning on Wednesday, the Portland State softball team was unable to close out the game and fell to Oregon State 2-1 in non-conference game at Erv Lind Stadium.

The Vikings, now with a 16-24 overall record this season, fell to the Beavers for the third time this year as a two-RBI single by Oregon State outfielder Ashley Sanchez in the top of the seventh sunk yet another sterling outing by a PSU starting pitcher.

 Sophomore pitcher Kendra Suhr started for Portland State on Wednesday—her third start as a Viking, and first this season. Her lack of starts wasn’t obvious, however, as Suhr dominated through five innings of scoreless softball, allowing only one walk and two hits, while setting the tone early by retiring the side in order in the first.

 “She does a good job of keeping the ball low and getting her ground balls,” said head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk. “She’s been looking really good in practice and we needed to give her some innings so that she’s ready to go when we need her in conference.”

 Suhr and OSU pitcher Paige Hall traded zeroes for five innings, and neither team allowed a runner past second until the sixth inning. By then, Suhr had exited and senior Tori Rogers had come in as relief for Portland State.

 The Vikings finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, as the Beavers blinked first and allowed sophomore leadoff batter Alyssa Roblez to reach first after being hit by a pitch. Hall retired junior pinch hitter Susan Winningham and junior right fielder Brandi Campos before senior second baseman Becca Diede walked to the plate with two out and the runner still on first.

 With one of Portland State’s best hitters and team leader in doubles this season at the plate, Diede quickly turned on a 1-0 pitch from Hall, and knocked a double into deep left-center field that rolled all the way to the wall. 

“She’s in a zone, she’s feeling good about herself. With hitting, a lot of it is just being confident in herself and she’s on it and knows that no matter what she’s going to have a good bat. She’s in the zone, I hope she stays there,” Echo-Hawk said.

The lead would be short lived, however, as the Beavers were quick to jump on Rogers’ offerings and Oregon State tallied two singles before a sacrifice bunt brought the first out of the inning.

With Oregon State runners at second and third, outfielder Ashley Sanchez worked Rogers to a full-count before scorching a line drive off the glove of freshman third baseman Carly McEachran. Both runners came around to give the Beavers a 2-1 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning.

 Hall returned to the circle for the Beavers to finish the seventh and quickly retired the Vikings in order to preserve the come-from-behind victory.

Despite losing the close game in the final innings, Echo-Hawk feels that the team remains confident and ready to face conference opponent Idaho State on Saturday.

 “We played a good game, regardless of whether we won or lost. It was a good game and we can’t just rest on one inning, because they scored their runs in one inning,” Echo-Hawk said. “We all feel pretty positive, we have good energy and we played good and had good pitching…good pitching from someone who hasn’t had a lot of innings.”

With Portland State returning to conference action this weekend, Echo-Hawk feels that the team must continue to ride what has been a consistent effort all season long.

 “[We need to] continue to get better, continue to compete regardless of who we’re playing. That’s something that’s been consistent all year. I think that they’re pretty focused and understand that we control our destiny, and they’re making sure we stay focused and on track,” she said.