After splitting a pair of doubleheaders in the Bay Area over the weekend, the Portland State softball team is ready for an in-state rival. The Vikings travel to Oregon State for two non-conference games in Corvallis this afternoon at 2 p.m.
The Vikings (15-23, 7-5 PCSC) are coming off two losses at St. Mary’s on Saturday and have only two wins in their last six games. The Beavers (26-22) are riding Saturday’s win over No. 20 Oregon but have struggled in conference play.
The Vikings played a pair of makeup games with the Oregon last week in front of about 100 people in Portland and were shut out in both games. The Ducks took the opener 4-0 and won the nightcap 5-0. The Ducks are 4-0 against the Vikings this season.
Duck pitcher Amy Harris pitched the first four innings and won both games for the Ducks. Harris and reliever Lindsey Kontra only allowed two Megumi Hackett singles in the nightcap as Portland State couldn’t get anything going offensively. Morgan Seibert pitched the first loss, Michelle Hext took the loss in the second game, and Megan Herscher came on in the fourth inning and closed the nightcap by giving up only one Oregon hit.
The Vikings traveled to Moraga, Calif., just outside San Francisco, for two doubleheaders Friday and Saturday against St. Mary’s (20-20, 2-6). The Vikings won both games Friday, 2-0 and 4-2, and gave the Gaels their first two conference wins Saturday, 3-2 and 2-1.
Friday, sophomore catcher Rose Rutledge spotted the Vikings all the runs they’d need. She knocked in Megumi Hackett with a double for PSU’s only earned run in the opener. Her bases-loaded single in the second game scored Nichole Ivie and Whitney Olsen and gave the Vikings a 3-1 lead they would not relinquish. Hext took the win in the nightcap.
Saturday, offense was a lot harder to come by for the Vikings as the team tallied nine hits but left six runners on base in the opening loss. The defense wasn’t clicking, either, as senior pitcher Morgan Seibert took the loss without giving up an earned run. The Gaels scored all three runs in the opener in the sixth inning on a Jordann Bass double after a hit batter, a single and an error. PSU rallied in the bottom of the inning on Annie Peccia’s RBI double and Erin Stokey’s RBI single, but the Vikings couldn’t plate three runners and lost 3-2.
In Saturday’s nightcap, Hext (4-10) struck out five and allowed only three hits, but one of those was a Claudia Williams two-run home run in the fourth. The two runs were all the Gaels needed as the Vikings’ rally in the bottom of the seventh came up one run short.
The Vikings are scheduled to meet the Beavers today, weather permitting. The next home games for the Vikings take place May 1 against Oregon State as well. Admission is free for all PSU softball home games. Erv Lind Stadium is a couple of blocks south of Halsey on 57th Ave. MAX riders can walk north a couple blocks from the 60th Avenue station, turn left on Hassalo and the stadium will be straight ahead.