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

GREELEY, Colo. – It was a tale of two games as the Portland State softball team split a Big Sky Conference doubleheader at Northern Colorado Saturday afternoon. The Vikings dropped the opening game 17-5 before evening the series with a 9-1 win in game two. Both games ended in five innings. The Vikings will go for their first conference series win of the season Saturday.
 
The Vikings struggled in game one, allowing a season-high 17 runs to the Bears. It was an atypical game for the Vikings as they also committed three errors in the game. That all turned around in game two as PSU allowed just one run on two hits. The bats also came alive in game two as the Vikings scored nine runs on 11 hits.
 
Becca Bliss and Melissa Masters each went 4-for-6 on the day. Bliss scored three runs and drove in one with a triple in game two. Masters scored twice on the day and hit her second home run in the last eight games, a three-run home run in game two.
 
Masters was terrific in the circle for the Vikings in game two. She threw her first complete game of her career while allowing just one run on two hits.
 
Portland State scored three runs in the top of the first inning of game one. The lead did not last long as Northern Colorado scored eight runs in the bottom of the second as the first eight batters reached base safely. The Bears scored all eight runs, seven earned, off Vikings' starting pitcher Karyn Wright.
 
The Vikings added two runs in the top of the third to cut the lead to 8-5 but a five-run bottom of the inning increased the Bears' lead to 13-5. UNC added four more in the bottom of the fourth to go up by the final score of 17-5.
 
In game two, Portland State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first capped by Masters' three-run home run. Bliss singled up the middle with one out. Two batters later, Aubrey Nitschelm singled up the middle as well. Crysta Conn then doubled in Bliss from second. Masters drove in both runners with a shot to straight-away center field.
 
Masters went to work in the circle in the bottom of the inning and allowed a walk but did not allow a run in the inning.
 
Portland State tallied five runs on five straight hits in the top of the second inning to go up 9-0. Shae Nelson singled with one out and then moved to second on a wild pitch. Alicia Fine then drove in Nelson with a single. Bliss brought in Fine with her first triple of the season. Brittany Hendrickson followed that up with a single through the right side to bring home Bliss.
 
Nitschelm then hit her second home run of the season with a two-run home run to left field that put the Vikings up 9-0. Nitschelm went 2-for-3 in the game with a run scored and three runs batted in.
 
Northern Colorado plated a single run in the bottom of the second to bring the score to 9-1. From that point on Masters allowed only one runner to get into scoring position as she shut down the bears over the next three innings to give the Vikings the win in five innings. Masters moved to 2-4 on the season with the win.
 
The Vikings will go for their first series win in a Saturday rubber-match. The series finale is slated for a 12 p.m. PT first pitch.