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Portland State University Athletics

PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS
Anna Bertrand
Scott Larson

Softball Written By Ryan McCall

Vikings Lose 12-Inning Marathon to No. 3 Arizona State

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TEMPE, Ariz.
– The Vikings held the lead twice and Anna Bertrand threw a stellar game but it was No. 3 Arizona State that came out on top scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning to take the game 6-5.

Bertrand pitched a career-high 11 innings and gave up just five earned runs to a team that had been averaging over seven per game. She threw an amazing 222 pitches in the game.

“Anna pitched an awesome game,” Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk said following the marathon game. “After a tough second inning she did a great job shutting them down. We also got some great timely hits but we came up short. It was an exciting game but a tough one to lose.”

Bertrand worked her way out of trouble on multiple occasions stranding 13 Sun Devils, eight in scoring positions, in the process. She gave up six runs, five earned, on 13 hits while striking out seven and walking five. She was credited with the loss and falls to 2-5 on the season.

On the flip side, ASU's starting pitcher Dallas Escobedo picked up her ninth win of the season moving to 9-0. She threw 12 innings and gave up five earned runs on six hits while walking five and striking out a career-high 19 batters. Escobedo entered the game with a 0.77 earned run average after allowing five earned runs in 45 2/3 innings on the season.

Portland State's bats came alive in a big way in the game. The Vikings (4-8 overall) scored five runs off Escobedo, doubling her total for the year. The Sun Devils had allowed only eight runs, seven earned, on the season. The Vikings scored their five runs on three home runs. It was the second time this season the Vikings hit three home runs in the same game.

Arizona State (13-0) got on the board in the bottom of the second with back-to-back solo home runs by Elizabeth Caporuscio and Haley Steel. The Sun Devils added another run in the third to take an early 3-0 lead.

Caporusio went 4-for-4 with a run scored, a RBI, two walks, and a home run in the game to lead the Sun Devils. It was her first career four-hit game.

The Vikings plated two runs in the top of the third. Crysta Conn led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Two batters later Carly McEachran hit a two-run home run, her fifth of the year, to bring the Vikings within one run at 3-2.

McEachran went 2-for-5 with a run scored and the two-run home run. Conn finished with the double but made her presents known in the field accounting for nine defensive assists for the Vikings at third base.

After a three-run second inning by ASU, Bertrand settled in and threw two scoreless innings while stranding a pair of runners in scoring position.

Alicia Fine led off the fourth with a walk and two batters later was driven home on a two-run home run by Alexa Morales giving the Vikings their first lead of the game at 4-3. It was Morales' second home run of the season and the Vikings second of the night.

ASU tied the game at 4-4 with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth.

The Vikings had a great scoring opportunity in the top of the seventh but ended up leaving the bases loaded. After Bertrand dispatched of the Sun Devils in the bottom of the seventh the game headed to extra innings.

It was the Vikings first extra-inning game of the year and their first since a 1-0 loss in 10 innings against Seattle last season.

After a scoreless eighth, Brittany Hendrickson led off the top of the ninth for the Vikings with a solo home run to right center giving the Vikings a 5-4 lead and putting them three outs from a victory.

The Sun Devils were one hit away from victory in the bottom of the ninth down by one with runners at second and third with one out. The runners tagged on a fly ball to left field scoring a run to tie the game. On the play however, the trailing runner was thrown out at third ending the inning with the teams tied at 5-5.

Each pitcher went 1-2-3 in the 10th and 11th innings. The Vikings had a pair of runners on in the top of the 12th but could not plate the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the 12th, ASU loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a walk. Lucy Aubrecht hit a soft single to left field scoring the winning run from third and the Sun Devils took the first game of the four-game series, 6-5.

The Vikings and Sun Devils play two games Saturday starting at 3:30 and 6 p.m. PT. The series finale is slated for an 11 a.m. PT start on Sunday.

NOTES: Anna Bertrand threw a career-high 11 innings … Portland State hit three home runs for the second time this season … The 12 inning game took 3:28 … The 12 inning game was the longest for the Vikings since they defeated Santa Clara 5-4 in 12 innings on April 23, 2006 … Portland State scored 5 runs off ASU after the Sun Devils allowed just 8 runs on the season entering the game.
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