HILLSBORO, Ore. – The Portland State softball team split its doubleheader with Montana Saturday afternoon at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex in Hillsboro, Ore. The Vikings took the first game 11-9 in nine innings before falling 3-2 in game two.
 
Senior IF Brittany Hendrickson had herself a day at the plate going 4-for-8 with three runs scored, a pair of home runs and six runs driven in. She matched her season-high hitting streak of seven games by hitting safely in both games Saturday.
 
Hendrickson is hitting .557 (15-for-27) with 10 runs scored, three doubles, five home runs, and 17 RBIs in her last seven games. She is also slugging 1.222 and has an on base percentage of .636 over her hitting streak.
 
Ashley Smith went 6-for-10 with three runs scored and a home run of her own. Aubrey Nitschelm went 5-for-9 and drove in three. Nitschelm also hit a home run as the Vikings hit four in the first game. The Vikings hit well as a team combining for a .375 batting average over the two games.
 
Hendrickson got the Vikings on the board with a laser home run to right field in the bottom of the first to put them up 2-0. Nitschelm added a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to put PSU up 4-0.
 
After Montana plated a run on back-to-back doubles in the top of the fourth, Hendrickson drove in two more runs with a bases loaded two-run single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Vikings up 6-1.
 
Montana added an unearned run off Portland State starting pitcher Meagan Hendrix in the top of the fifth to make the game 6-2. Hendrix had held the Grizzlies to just two runs on four hits through the first five innings.
 
Smith increased the Vikings' lead with a two-run home run to right field. The Montana right fielder had the ball in her glove but it bounced out and over the fence for the two-run shot. Nitschelm added a run with an RBI single later in the inning to go up 9-2.
 
The Vikings were one run away from winning the game via the run rule and had a runner in scoring position for Alex Flores. Flores ripped a shot up the middle but the shortstop was just able to stretch out and make the play for the final out of the inning.
 
The leadoff batter for the Grizzlies in the top of the sixth hit a solo home run to straight away center field to make the score 9-3. After stranding two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth, the Vikings were three outs away from the win but those would prove to be the hardest three outs of the game.
 
The Grizzlies loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh after two walks and a single. Another single plated two runs to make the score 9-5. A double drove in another run to make the score 9-6. The next batter reached on a fielding error, which also allowed another run to score to pull the Grizzlies within two at 9-7.
 
Hendrix struck out the next batter, which would have been the last out if not for the error. The next batter following the strikeout singled to center to drive in two runs to tie the game at 9-9 and send it into extra innings.
 
Both teams stranded runners in scoring position in the eighth inning and Montana was unable to score in the top of the ninth.
 
Smith led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rayleen Pallan. Hendrickson then hit a game-winning two-run home run to right field to give the Vikings an 11-9 win in nine innings. Portland State is now 2-1 on the season in extra inning games.
 
The Vikings picked up where they left off in the bottom of the first inning in game two. After the first two batters recorded outs, four straight hits drove in two runs to put PSU up 2-0.
 
Kristen Crawford got the start in the circle for the Vikings in the second game and threw four no-hit innings to start the game. Crawford finally gave up a hit in the top of the fifth. Two batters later, the Grizzles hit a two-run home run down the left field line to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Neither team did anything in the sixth before Montana took its first lead of the day with a solo home run in the top of the seventh to go up 3-2. The Vikings went down in order in the bottom of the inning to lose the one-run game.
 
Portland State improved to 15-32 overall and 7-10 in Big Sky Conference play with the split while Montana moved to 16-30 and 8-9.
 
The Vikings will attempt to take the series Sunday at noon in the rubber-game. The series finale will also be Military Appreciation Day.