SEATTLE, Wash. – The Vikings slugged their way into a doubleheader split against the Seattle Redhawks Wednesday evening in Seattle, Wash. The Vikings dropped the first game 5-3 before taking the second game 15-10 in eight innings.
 
Game two went into extra innings with the teams knotted at 9-9 but the Vikings exploded for six runs in the top of the eighth to take the game.
 
Senior Brittany Hendrickson had a field day at the plate going 5-for-7 (.714) with three runs scored, a double, and six RBIs over the course of the two games. Junior Ashley Smith got in on the action going 5-for-10 (.500) with five runs scored, a triple, and her first career home run at Portland State. She also drove in three runs on the day.
 
The Vikings hit .389 as a team and tallied a season-high 20 hits in game two as they racked up a season-high 15 runs. The 20 hits was four shy of the all-time Portland State record set by the 1992 squad against Stanford.
 
Portland State came up clutch with runners in scoring position and with two outs. They hit .464 (13-for-28) with runners in scoring position and .391 (9-for-23) with two outs on the day and drove in eight runs with two outs.
 
The Vikings got the scoring going in the top of the first in game one when Smith led off the game with a single up the middle and came around to score on a Hendrickson single to left field to go up 1-0.
 
Seattle scored two runs in the bottom of the second before Portland State tied the game at 2-2 after Smith tripled and scored on a Hendrickson sacrifice fly in the top of the third.
 
The Redhwaks plated two more in the fourth and one in the fifth to go up 5-2. Hendrickson singled and scored in the top of the sixth but the Vikings fell 5-3 in game one.
 
Melissa Masters started in the circle for the Vikings and took the loss. She allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits over four complete innings.
 
Smith again got the scoring started in game two with a leadoff solo home run to right field for her first home run as a Viking. Lexi Goranson singled and scored in the top of the second to put PSU up 2-0.
 
Hendrickson singled to center with one out in the top of the third. Two batters later, Alex Flores singled to put two runners on with two outs. Brianna Celaya brought in both runners on a double to center field. Goranson then singled in Celaya to put the Vikings up 5-0 going into the bottom of the third inning.
 
The Redhawks scored two runs off Portland State starting pitcher Megan Hendrix in the bottom of the third and then three more in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5.
 
The Vikings retook the lead with four runs in the top of the sixth inning to go up 9-5 and were six outs away from victory. The Redhawks would not make it easy as they again tied the game with four runs in the bottom of the sixth off PSU relief pitcher, Kristen Crawford.
 
After neither team did anything in the seventh, the game went into extra innings. With international tied breaker rules coming into effect, Aubrey Nitschelm was placed at second to start the inning.
 
Nitschelm move to third on a fielder's choice, which put runner on the corners with one out. Jenna Stanford singled in Nitschelm from third to give the Vikings the lead. Masters then doubled in Celaya, who reached on the fielder's choice. Stanford moved to third on the play.
 
After Seattle got the second out of the inning, Smith doubled in both Stanford and Masters. A double by Rayleen Pallan put two runners in scoring position before a double from Hendrickson plated two more runs to go up 15-9.
 
Seattle added a run in the bottom of the eighth but Portland State took the gam 15-10 in eight innings.
 
Crawford picked up the win to improve to 4-8 on the season. She allowed five runs, none earned, over 3 1/3 innings on five hits.
 
Portland State improved to 8-26 overall while Seattle fell to 12-25.
 
The Vikings return home this weekend for a three-game Big Sky Conference series with Northern Colorado. The series will begin Friday, April 3 with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The series finale is slated for Saturday, April 4 at noon.