Softball goes five for six
The Portland State softball team took the field again last Saturday against Tulsa’s Golden Hurricanes, hoping to continue its four game win streak. Portland State shut out the Golden Hurricanes in game one 2-0, upping its win streak to five, but the ‘Canes fought back. In game two, Tulsa edged out the Vikings 3-1.
On the mound for the Vikings in game one was their junior rocket, Morgan Seibert (11-10). In her third shut out of the season and her sixteenth of her career, Seibert allowed only two hits and struck out eight.
This was Seibert’s second straight shutout for the week. In Thursday’s 4-0 victory over Louisiana Tech, Seibert allowed three on base with seven strikeouts. Thursday’s doubleheader sweep was also head coach Teri Mariani’s 600th win of her career.
In game one against Tulsa, the Vikings were up on the board in the third with an RBI by junior Nichole Ivie. The Viks had runners on second and third, when clutch hitter Ivie belted a single into right field to score second baseman Megumi Hackett. Ivie’s RBI was her team high 20th of the season. The Vikings scored again when freshman Rose Rutledge knocked in sophomore Annie Peccia for the final score of 2-0.
The Golden Hurricanes fought back hard in game two, trying not to get swept by the Vikings. The Vikings faced a tougher pitcher in the second half. Tulsa’s Amy Day struck out seven Vikings and only allowed five to get on base.
“The second pitcher was a little bit better. She has a really good off-speed pitch,” Mariani said.
The game was scoreless through the fifth inning until Tulsa got the big hit that both teams were looking for. With two outs and two on base Tulsa’s Chrissy Strimple donged a three-run homer into left field. Strimple’s seventh homer of the season put the Golden Hurricanes up 3-0 with only an inning and a half left.
The Vikings tried to answer back by scoring senior Monica Martell in the bottom of the sixth. That was all they could manage, however, and the inning ended with a Viking runner left on. The Viks couldn’t add on any more in the seventh and left two more runners on to close out 3-1.
“We did not get the quality hits we needed to get them in,” Mariani said of the runners left on base.
The Vikings closed out a week of solid games, going five for six. This week the Vikings face the toughest part of their schedule, playing Oregon, Oregon State and Hawaii.
