Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score - PDF | HTML
Game 2 Box Score - PDF | HTML

HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. – The Portland State softball team dropped a pair of games to North Dakota Saturday night at Hood View Park in Happy Valley, Ore. The Vikings tried to get in games at Erv Lind Stadium but were forced to change location due to the field conditions. Subsequently, Sunday's series finale has been cancelled.
 
North Dakota took the first game 12-8 before taking the second game 11-9. UND led 11-2 going into the bottom of the seventh in game two before the Vikings scored seven runs off seven hits to cut into the lead but they were unable to complete the full comeback.
 
Sophomore Melissa Masters was terrific at the plate on the day for the Vikings going 5-for-7 (.714) with four runs scored. She hit a double, triple, and a home run while driving in three. She also walked and had an OPS (on base + slugging) of 2.321.
 
Senior Becca Bliss went 5-for-9 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of doubles. She drove in a team-high four RBIs. Shae Nelson, Aubrey Nitschelm, Candice Orozco, and Brittany Hendrickson all recorded three hits. The Vikings hit .394 as a team with 26 hits including seven doubles, a triple, and a home run.
 
North Dakota led 6-1 going into the bottom of the third inning in game one before Portland State plated six runs to go up 7-6. UND came right back with six runs of its own to go up 12-7. The Vikings would add a run in the bottom of the seventh when Nelson singled in Masters, who tripled with one out, but the Vikings would drop the opening game of the series, 12-8.
 
The Vikings scored a run in the bottom of the first in game two on a Nitschelm RBI double on a shot down the left field line. North Dakota came up with another six run inning in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-1 lead. After each team scored a run in their half of the fifth, UND added four more in the top of the seventh to go up 11-2.
 
The Vikings would not go quietly as they plated seven runs in the bottom of the seventh. Becca Bliss led off the inning with a single followed by a double by Hendrickson. Nitschelm hit the ball as solidly as possible right back at the pitcher who was able to get a glove on the ball and throw her out for the first out of the inning.
 
Alicia Fine then drove in a run with a single before Crysta Conn drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left field. Orozco then doubled in a run before Alex Flores singled in a run to bring the score to 11-6. Flores recorded the first two hits of her Portland State career in game two.
 
 Following a pitching change, Masters singled before Nelson walked. Bliss doubled in a pair to bring the Vikings to within two at 11-9. Hendrickson, who had been battling an illness all day, hit the ball sharply to the right side but right at the second baseman who threw her out at first for the final out of the game.
 
Sunday's series finale has been cancelled due to inclement weather and unfavorable playing conditions. The Vikings will next step across the lines at Southern Utah next week. They begin a three-game set with the Thunderbirds April 4 at 11 a.m. PDT.