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

HILLSBORO, Ore. – After nearly taking the first game of the day, the Portland State softball team picked up a run-rule win in game two to split a non-conference doubleheader with Oregon State. The Beavers took the first game by a score of 2-1 before the Vikings won 9-1 in five innings in game two.
 
Senior IF Brittany Hendrickson kept up her hot hitting, going 3-for-6 on the day with two runs scored, three runs batted in, two walks, and her sixth home run of the year.
 
Rayleen Pallan went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, a run driven in, and four walks on the day. Alex Flores added a pair of hits and a bases clearing three-run double to break open the second game.
 
For as well as the Vikings did at the plate, hitting .311 as a team with 14 hits and 10 runs scored, the story had to be the Vikings' pitching staff. The Vikings threw all five pitchers over the course of the two games and combined to give up just three runs, two earned, on six hits. They combined for a 1.17 ERA and a 1.50 batting average against.
 
Junior RHP Kristen Crawford, the reigning Big Sky Conference Pitcher of the Week, picked up right where she left off throwing four innings of no-hit ball in the second game to pick up her third win in as many outings. Karyn Wright started game one for the Vikings and threw three shutout innings allowing just three hits.
 
Wright got herself into a jam in the top of the first inning of game one after loading the bases with one out. She got out of the inning unscathed when an Oregon State hitter hit a soft popup to Hendrickson at first who caught the ball and tagged her base for an inning ending double play.
 
The score remained scoreless through the first three innings before Hendrickson hit a long fly ball to deep right field that hit off the top of the fence and over for her sixth home run of the season, 20th of her career. The ball seemed to jump off her bat but was held down by strong winds and just had enough to go over and put the Vikings up 1-0.
 
Oregon State tied the game in the top of the fifth after a lead off hit by pitch came around to score on a two-out base hit up the middle. The Beavers took the lead in the top of the sixth after a walk came around to score to put them up 2-1.
 
The Vikings had a great opportunity to tie the game, or win it, in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Hendrickson worked the count to 3-1. She took a pitch on the outside corner that she thought was ball-four as she tossed her bat and headed to first base.
 
Unfortunately for Hendrickson and the Vikings, the umpire called it strike-two, bringing her back to the plate. Hendrickson grounded out on the next pitch to end the game as the Beavers took game one, 2-1.
 
The Vikings did not waste any time putting runs on the board in game two as they plated three runs in the bottom of the first. After three walks in the inning loaded the bases, Flores doubled to deep left center field to clear the bases and put the Vikings up 3-0.
 
Portland State added a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning on a pair of RBI singles to go up 5-0.
 
After walking two batters in the top of the first, Crawford got herself out of a jam with a strikeout to end the inning. After a perfect second inning, she worked her way around a walk and an error to keep Oregon State scoreless in the top of the third.
 
Crawford worked a perfect fourth inning before being relieved to start the top of the fifth by Meagan Hendrix. Oregon State led off the top of the fifth with a double down the left field line for its first hit of the ballgame. That runner came around to score and unearned run as the Beavers made the score 5-1.
 
 A leadoff single and two walks loaded the bases with two outs for the Vikings in the bottom of the fifth. Two straight walks plated two runs and they lead 7-1. A wild pitch made it 8-1 with the Vikings needing just one more run to win via the run rule.

With two runners in scoring position, Aubrey Nitschelm grounded the ball to the first baseman who let it roll right between her feet which allowed Lexi Goranson to score from third base as the Vikings won 9-1 via the walk-off error.
 
It was the Vikings first win over Oregon State since a 1-0 win in May of 2011 and their first win over a Pacific-12 Conference opponent since defeating Utah, 2-0, in 2012.
 
Crawford improved to 7-10 with the win. She threw four innings and did not allow a hit. She walked three and struck out two.
 
Portland State improved to 14-31 overall while Oregon State fell to 30-20.
 
The Vikings will be back home this weekend for a pivotal three-game Big Sky series with Montana. The series will open with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 25 beginning at 1 p.m. The series finale is slated for 12 p.m. the following day.