HONOLULU, Hawaii – Portland State won back-to-back games for the first time this season with an 8-7 win over Utah Valley and a complete game shutout of Hawaii (1-0) on the second day of comp at the Hawaii Invitational in Honolulu.
 
"It was a total team effort all day today," Head Coach Barb Sherwood said following the game. "A big shout-out to Alyssa Burk for her first collegiate win. The defense was stellar all day as well. I am proud of every one of our players."
 
The Vikings got contributions from all around the diamond in both games Saturday. Freshman Alyssa Burk recorded her first collegiate win with a complete game shutout of Hawaii in the second game of the day.
 
Burk had a no-hitter through 4 2/3 innings before finally allowing a hit. She finished the game allowing just two hits. She walked one and struck out a career-high 10 batters. She became the first Viking since Anna Bertrand in 2013 to strike out 10 batters in a game.
 
Sophomore Kortney Craker led the Vikings at the plate on the day. She hit .571, going 4-for-7, with her second game-winning home run in as many days.
 
Senior Lexi Goranson scored a pair of runs on the base paths and came up with two run-saving throws from center field.
 
Game 1 – Portland State 8, Utah Valley 7
 
Portland State got on the board with an unearned run in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0. Utah Valley quickly tied the game with a solo home run off PSU starting pitcher Meagan Hendrix.

After the Vikings scored another unearned run in the top of the second, the Wolverines took their first lead of the game on a two-run home run to go up 3-2.
 
Neither team got anything going in the third inning. In the top of the fourth the Vikings plated four runs, two unearned, to go up 6-3.  
 
Kristen Crawford started the bottom of the fourth in the circle for the Vikings and gave up a run to make it a 6-4 game.
 
Portland State plated a run in the fifth and both teams plated a run in the sixth to make it an 8-5 game heading to the final inning.
 
The Vikings could not plate any insurance runs in the top of the seventh as the game moved to the bottom of the inning with the score still 8-5.
 
The lead off batter singled for the Wolverines. The next two batters struck out swinging for the first two outs of the inning.  
 
The next UVU batter reached on a fielding error, putting runners on the corners with two outs. An infield single scored the runner from third to make it an 8-6 game.
 
After a walk loaded the bases, a base hit up the middle scored the runner from third to make it an 8-7 game. The runner from second tried to score but Goranson came up firing and hit the cutoff man who relayed it on to the plate for the third and final out of the inning to secure the win for the Vikings.
 
Crawford earned her first win of the season after allowing four runs, two earned, on seven hits over the final four innings of the game.
 
Game 2 – Portland State 1, Hawaii 0
 
Craker supplied the game's only run with a solo home run to left field to lead off the top of the second inning for the Vikings.
 
Burk, making her fourth career appearance, walked the second batter she faced in the bottom of the first before getting out of the inning with a strikeout for the third out.
 
She finished the bottom of the second with back-to-back strikeouts before striking out the side in the third. She struck out the first batter she faced in the top of the fourth, giving her six consecutive strikeouts. She struck out at least one batter in six out of the seven innings in the game.
 
After getting the first two batters out in the bottom of the fifth, Burk gave up her first hit of the game, a double to left center. After a wild pitch moved the runner to third, her ninth strikeout of the game ended the threat.
 
Hawaii led off the bottom of the sixth with another double. The batter moved to third on another wild pitch. The next batter flied out to Goranson in center. The runner from third tried to score on the fly ball but Goranson gunned her down at the plate for the second out of the inning. The next batter harmlessly flied out to left for the third out.
 
The Vikings had a chance to add a run in the top of the seventh but a double play ended their scoring opportunity as the game headed to the bottom of the inning.
 
The first batter lined out to short for the first out. A ground out to third recorded the second out. Burk, who had been the story throughout the game put her exclamation point on it with her 10th strikeout of the game, becoming the first Viking since 2013 to record double-digit strikeouts in a game.
Burk picked up her first win with the complete game shutout and improved the Vikings to 3-11 on the season. The Vikings are now 3-1 at the Hawaii Invitational and are guaranteed a winning record on the weekend.
 
Portland State wraps up play in Hawaii Sunday with a 12 p.m. PT first pitch against Utah Valley.