End of the line

Though they played brilliantly during the regular season to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Vikings found themselves outmatched once they arrived there.

Portland State dropped their initial game on Friday night by a score of 10-3 to host team Stanford, the number eight seed in the 64-team field. In the elimination game on Saturday, the Vikings faced Cal Poly, who had lost to Nevada 4-1 in their tournament opener.

Once again, the Vikings offense struggled to find its rhythm, and their season came to an end on a 5-0 shutout loss to the Mustangs.

The Vikings’ opening campaign against the Cardinal stumbled to an inauspicious start, as Stanford pitcher Missy Penna fanned eight batters in the first four innings.

The Vikings recorded just two hits and no runs in those four innings of action, while Stanford piled up five runs on seven hits in that same span.

With two outs in the fifth inning, sophomore shortstop Arielle Wiser smacked a double to left field, putting her in scoring position. Senior Jamee Rauch, an All-Pacific Coast Softball Conference First Team selection, took advantage of the opportunity and sent Wiser home with a single to left field, putting Portland State’s first run on the scoreboard.

In the next inning the Vikings continued to push the issue, loading the bases after Brandi Scoggins was hit by a pitch and Jenna Wilson and DeChauna Skinner both connected on singles.

Junior Becca Diede was then also hit by a pitch, bringing home Scoggins and keeping the bases full. Rauch then hit a grounder to bring home Jenna Wilson, making the score 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

But Stanford would have a huge sixth inning themselves, churning out six hits to tack on five more runs to their total, pushing ahead to an insurmountable 10-3 advantage.

Penna won the pitchers’ duel with Portland State’s Nichole Latham, the newly crowned PCSC pitcher of the year. Penna struck out 11 on the day, while Latham gave up eight hits and five runs in the loss.

On Saturday, the Vikings’ bats were once again silent through the first four innings, but the Cal Poly Mustangs suffered from the same malady. Neither had posted a run when the Vikings put two runners on base with only one out in the bottom of the fourth. But Portland State could not seize the opportunity, stranding the two runners at the end of the inning.

The Mustangs found themselves in a similar position in the top of the fifth, but they were able to capitalize and bring both runners home to lead 2-0.

In the next inning they doubled their tally, and in the sixth they added one more run to push the game to 5-0. In the final three innings, Portland State failed to get any offensive footing as nine straight Viking hitters were retired.

In the rest of the regional tournament’s action, Stanford made quick work of Nevada, needing only five innings to run the score up to 9-1. Cal Poly and Nevada then faced off to determine who would play Stanford for the regional finals, with Cal Poly claiming the victory 6-1.

In the regional finals, the Cardinal continued their dominance by shutting out the Mustangs 4-0 and punching their ticket to the next round where they will face ninth-seeded Arizona.

The pair of losses ended the Vikings’ season at 29-26, capping their second NCAA postseason appearance in four years.