Softball finishes season strong

The Portland State softball team’s 2001 season ended on Saturday with a pair of come-from-behind victories over San Jose State in San Jose, Calif.

It was an impressive ending to an up-and-down but altogether successful season. The Vikings (25-36, 9-11 Western Athletic Conference) clinched the fourth spot in the WAC with the victories against San Jose. They had already earned their first season series win against the Oregon Ducks since 1985 by splitting a doubleheader on Wednesday.

In the first game against San Jose, the score remained 0-0 into the sixth, thanks in part to the pitching of Morgan Seibert. It would be Seibert’s final appearance of the year, and she maintained the level of pitching she has kept up for the entire season. She allowed five hits and one run in her 18th win of 2001.

In the bottom of the sixth, San Jose scored. The Vikings responded in the seventh, when Stephanie Hagen hit a sacrifice fly and Kiauna Anderson hit an RBI double to win the game, 2-1.

San Jose State also scored first in the second game, putting a run across in the fifth. Portland State retaliated with four runs in the sixth. Half of those came off the bat of starting pitcher Nichole Ivie, who hit a two-run homer in that inning to go with her complete game victory. The Vikings won by a final score of 4-2.

Anderson, in her last game for Portland State, went 4-for-4, continuing her recent streak of fine hitting. Anderson’s offense was all the Vikings could find in several games this season and it won many of those games.

The season was a long one for the Vikings at the plate, and the team never quite found its offensive rhythm. The Vikings did manage to win 25 games in spite of their poor hitting, the most wins since moving to Division I, thanks largely to tough pitching and defense that kept the Vikings in many of their games.

Wednesday, Portland State traveled to Eugene in hopes of continuing this season’s success against some Pac-10 schools. Seibert pitched in game one, and beat the Ducks 4-2. Seibert is 3-0 against Oregon this year.

The win clinched the series victory for the Vikings, who beat both Oregon Pac-10 schools this season. The Vikings were beaten 7-0 in game two but already had the series in hand.