FIRST PITCH
Here we go. Portland State hosts Sacramento State on the final week of the regular season. The series opens with a doubleheader on Friday, May 5 beginning at 1 p.m. PT. The series finale, which will also be Senior Day, is slated for a 12 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
ONLINE: Live stats will be available for all three games against Sacramento State. A link can be found on GoViks.com.
LIVE VIDEO: A live video stream will be available for all home games played on Gordon Faber Field 4. If games are moved to the turf field due to weather, a video stream will be unavailable. Links are available on GoViks.com.
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PLAYOFF PICTURE
There is a lot at stake going into the final weekend of the season for every team in the Big Sky Conference. Only Weber State (14-3) and Montana (13-5) have secured tournament bids into next week conference championship. The Wildcats and Grizzlies are separated by 1.5 games and square off this week in Ogden, Utah with the regular season championship and tournament hosting rights on the line. Weber State can claim both with just one win, Montana will have to sweep to claim the honors.
The other six teams in the league are all battling for the final four spots in the tournament. Southern Utah (9-9) and Sacramento State (8-9) can clinch berths with a win this weekend. North Dakota (7-10) and Northern Colorado (7-11) have a little more work to do. Idaho State (6-11) and Portland State (6-12) are currently the two on the outside looking in but both still have chances of qualifying. If the Bengals take their series against Northern Colorado, they will pass the Bears and earn a berth.
For Portland State, it is very simple. The Vikings need to take care of business against Sacramento State and then see if they can get some help from the rest of the league. But first thing is first, game one against the Hornets Friday at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex.
SENIOR DAY
For five outstanding seniors, Saturday's season finale will be the last regular season game of their careers.
Shae Nelson,
Celena Carrisosa , and
Jenna Stanford have been with the program for all four years of their college career.
Katherine Kramer and
SheaLee Lindsey joined the program prior to the 2016 season but all five will leave a lasting imprint on Portland State Softball.
SENIOR CAMPAIGN
Senior IF
Shae Nelson has had a tremendous final season on the Park Blocks. She leads the team with a .349 batting average on the season. She has a team-high 45 hits, seven doubles, and 16 runs batted in. She is slugging .419 and has a team-best .400 on-base percentage.
NELSON IN THE BOOKS
Senior IF
Shae Nelson Has made an impact on the record books in her four season at PSU. She is currently fourth during PSU's Division I era (1996-present) with a .314 career batting average. She is seventh with a .372 OBP, eighth with 164 hits, and 10th with 76 career runs scored.
EXTRA-INNING GAMES
For the first time since the 2015 season, the Vikings played in an extra-inning affair. Portland State and Montana went to extra innings in each of the first two games of their series with the Grizzlies taking both games in eight innings. It was the first time since the 2013 season that the Vikings played back-to-back extra-inning games, they played three straight at Northern Colorado that season. It was the first time since the 1997 season that the Vikings played back-to-back extra-inning games at home. They lost to Oregon State, 2-1 in eight innings before coming back and winning 3-2 in game two of the doubleheader in 13 innings.
EXTRA INNING WIN
Portland State picked up its first extra-inning win since 2015 with a 5-0 win in 10 innings at North Dakota (4/28). The game was scoreless heading into the top of the 10th when the Vikings plated five runs on six hits. PSU seniors tallied four consecutive hits in the rally, capped by a three-run double by senior IF
Celena Carrisosa. It was the longest game for the Vikings since they went to 10 innings at Idaho State in 2013.
SHE'S GOING THE DISTANCE
Sophomore RHP
Alyssa Burk has gone the distance in each of the last five games for the Vikings. It is the longest complete game streak by a Viking since Anna Bertrand went the distance in five straight to end the 2013 season.
TOEING THE RUBBER
Over the past two weeks, sophomore RHP
Alyssa Burk has been masterful for the Vikings in the circle. Over her last six appearances, she has thrown five complete games, including her first compete-game shutout of the season in 10 innings over North Dakota. Over that six-game stretch, Burk is 2-3 with a 0.93 ERA. She has allowed just 11 runs, five earned, over 37 2/3 innings. Over that stretch, she has lowered her season ERA by 2.40 points.
HOME COOKIN'
The Vikings have been two different teams during Big Sky Conference play, one at home and one on the road. On the road they are 2-7 with a 7.60 team ERA after allowing 72 runs, 55 earned, over 50 2/3 innings. At home, the pitching staff turns into a completely different squad. They are 4-5 with a 2.75 ERA after allowing just 31 runs, 24 earned, over 61 innings.
SERIES WIN
Portland State picked up its first Big Sky series win of the season, taking 2-of-3 from the Northern Colorado Bears at home March 31-April 1. The Vikings hit .290 as a team against the Bears but the big story was the Vikings' pitching staff. Freshman
Emma Detamore and sophomore
Alyssa Burk combined for a 1.84 ERA over the three games, allowing just five earned runs over 19.0 innings pitched. Detamore recorded her first complete-game shutout and tallied a career-high nine strikeouts in the series opener. Burk followed with a complete game win of her own in game two to take the series.
4 FOR SHAE
Senior IF
Shae Nelson posted the team's first four-hit game of the season, going a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, and a run batted in against Seton Hall. She added her second four-hit game of the year, going 4-for-4 with a run scored and two driven in against Northern Colorado (3/31).
FIRST WIN
Portland State picked up its first win of the season with a 4-3 win over Rhode Island in the final game of the GCU Invitational on Feb. 26 in Phoenix, Ariz. Not only did the Vikings get their first win of the year, but it was the first NCAA Division I win for first-year Head Coach
Meadow McWhorter.
YOUNG SQUAD
Portland State added 11 freshman to the roster heading into the season. The 11-member freshman class is tied for the largest in the country this year.
UP NEXT
If the Vikings can take care of business this week and get some help from the league, they will play next week in the Big Sky Softball Championship, which will be hosted by either Weber State or Montana May 11-13.
SACRAMENTO STATE HORNETS
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Team: Sacramento State is 18-25-1 overall on the season and 8-9 in Big Sky Conference play. The Hornets are 4-9 on the road overall and 2-4 on the road in league play. After falling to 4-9 in league action, Sacramento State has won its last four games, the longest active winning streak in the Big Sky. Sacramento State is hitting .260 at the plate and is third in the league with a 3.33 team ERA.
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Hitting: Suzy Brookshire has started 43-of-44 games for Sacramento State and leads the team with a .363 batting average. She has team highs in hits (49) and runs scored (37). She is fourth in the Big Sky Conference with 34 runs batted in and leads the league with 13 home runs. Mo Spieth is hitting .279 with three doubles, eight home runs, and a team-high 41 runs batted in.
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Pitching: Sacramento State has three pitchers with over 80 innings and an ERA under 4.00. Taylor Tessier is 5-11 on the season with a team-best 3.10 ERA. She leads the team with 113 innings pitched on the year and 120 strikeouts. Celina Matthias is 8-7 on the year with a 3.57 ERA. Matthias was named Big Sky Pitcher of the Year and an All-Pacific Region Third Team selection last year.
vs. SACRAMENTO STATE
All-Time: Sacramento State leads the all-time series 46-20, dating back to the 1979 season. The vast majority of the games have been played at Sacramento State with the two teams only meeting 20 times over the years at PSU. The series it tied at 10-10 in games played at PSU. The Hornets have dominated the series of late, going 9-1 in the last 10 games. The last Portland State win was a 6-5 extra-inning affair in which the Vikings won in nine innings at home in 2013. Since that game, Sacramento State has swept Portland State in the season series each of the last three years.
