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FIRST PITCH
     After an early season bye week, the Portland State softball team heads back to the Lone Star State to take part in a three-day tournament hosted by the UTEP Miners Feb. 23-25. The Vikings will take on UTEP three times and the New Mexico State Aggies twice. The Vikings open play on Friday, Feb. 23 against the Aggies at 10:30 a.m. MT. 
     Portland State opened the season with a win, defeating Sam Houston State, 8-2, on Feb. 9 at the Bobcat Classic hosted by Texas State University. The Vikings then dropped their final three contests, two to No. 9 Florida State, before their tournament finale against Texas State was canceled due to weather concerns. 

ONLINE: Live stats will be available for all five games at the UTEP Tournament. Links are available on the Softball schedule page at GoViks.com.

LIVE VIDEO: Live video of the Portland State vs. UTEP games is available for a subscription fee. There will be no live streaming for games not involving UTEP. Links are available on the Softball schedule page at GoViks.com.  

SOCIAL MEDIA: Stay informed with Portland State Softball on social media. See below for everything related to Portland State Softball.
Twitter - @PSUViksSB
Instagram - @PSUViksSB
Facebook - @PSUViksSB
YouTube - @GoPortlandState

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OPENING DAY WIN: Portland State picked up an 8-2 win over Sam Houston State to open the season. It was the first win to open the season for the Vikings since they opened the season with a 9-7 win over Nevada in 2015. Portland State is 4-6 in its last 10 games to start the season. 

GRAND SALAMI TIME: JR C Kaela Morrow became the first Viking since Brittany Hendrickson in 2014 to hit a grand slam. Morrow came up with the bases loaded in her first at bat of the season and hit her first home run in the top of the first against Sam Houston State.  

CAREER DAY: JR C Kaela Morrow started the season off with a career day. She went 2-for-4 with a run scored, her first career home run, which just happened to be a grand slam, and a career-high 5 RBIs. She became the first Viking since Alex Flores in 2016 to record five RBIs in a game. 

IMMEDIATE IMPACT: SO IF Darian Lindsey has had a tremendous impact on the Portland State roster in just four career games on the Park Blocks. She opened her PSU career with a 2-hit 3-RBI performance against Sam Houston State in a win. She doubled and scored against No. 9 Florida State before hitting her first career home run for the Vikings in the second game against Sam Houston State. She hit .364 with a .417 on-base percentage and a team-best .909 slugging percentage over her first four games. 

COMPLETE GAMES: JR RHP Alyssa Burk started the 2018 season right where she ended in 2017. She opened the year with a complete-game win over Sam Houston State. She allowed just two earned runs on two hits, she walked four and struck out five. It was her ninth-consecutive complete game, dating back to last season. She closed out the 2017 season with eight-straight compete games in Big Sky Conference play, going 3-5 in the process. 

UP NEXT: After a pair of road trips to Texas, the Vikings head north next week to take part in the UW Softball Husky Classic hosted by the University of Washington.  The Vikings will take on No. 1 Washington, No. 10 Alabama, BYU, and Northwestern. 

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LAST SEASON
Portland State went 9-36 overall and finished eighth in the Big Sky Conference with a 7-14 record. The Vikings missed out the on the Big Sky Tournament a year ago after making it in 2016. 

THE ROSTER
Portland State has a very young roster again in 2018 with 18 underclassmen (7 freshmen and 11 sophomores).The Vikings return 12 letterwinners from a year ago, including a pair of pitchers. They add 10 newcomers, including a trio of sophomore transfers. 

BIG SKY TOURNAMENT
The Big Sky Conference Championship will be held  May 10-12 in Ogden, Utah. It will be hosted by Weber State due to the Wildcat's regular season championship in 2017. Six teams will qualify for the double-elimination tournament with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.