OGDEN, Utah – Portland State had the game-tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh but a groundout ended the Vikings' comeback chances as they fell to the Montana Grizzlies, 6-3, Thursday morning in the first game of the 2018 Big Sky Softball Championships in Ogden, Utah. 
 
Kaela Morrow and Marissa Bruno both tallied three-hit games for the Vikings and combined to go 6-for-7 with a run scored and a run batted in. Unfortunately, the other Viking hitters were unable to contribute, going a combined 1-for-21. 
 
Portland State (17-34 overall) took an early lead with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the first. Bruno led off the game for the Vikings with a single through the right side. Jessica Flanagan laid down a sacrifice bunt to the third baseman, who throw the ball away, which allowed Bruno to go all the way to third base. 
 
As the right fielder got the ball back to the infield, it got away from the second baseman, which allowed Bruno to score and Flanagan to move to third. Two batters later, Morrow singled to center field to drive in Flanagan and put the Vikings up two. 
 
PSU starting pitcher Alyssa Burk worked two perfect innings before allowing a run on two hits in the top of the third. Montana tied the game at 2-2 with a leadoff home run to open the fourth. The Grizzlies looked poised to add more after loading the bases with two outs but Burk got out of the inning with a fly ball to center for the third out. 
 
The game got away from the Vikings in the fifth when Montana plated four runs on five hits to take a 6-2 lead. Burk got two quick outs to start the inning before back-to-back hits put two runners on. A single down the left field line scored a run to give Montana the lead. Burk hit the next batter to load the bases. 
 
Second-year Head Coach Meadow McWhorter made the call to the bullpen and brought on sophomore Emma Detamore in relief. After giving up back-to-back singles that plated three more runs, all attributed to Burk, Detamore got the final out of the inning on a fly ball to center but the damage was already done. 
 
Detamore allowed just one base runner over the final two innings to keep it a four-run game heading to the bottom of the seventh.  
 
After a ground out to start the bottom of the seventh, Tayler Gunesch reached on a fielding error. The Grizzlies got a strikeout for the second out before Bruno singled to short for her third hit of the game. 
 
Flanagan drove in Gunesch from second, moved Bruno to third, and advanced to second on the throw to make it a 6-3 game. That brought tying run to the plate but, unfortunately, a ground out to short ended the game. 
 
The loss drops Portland State into the loser's bracket. The Vikings will have to win five games over the next three days to earn the Big Sky Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
Portland State will play again Friday, May 11 at 12 p.m. MT against either No. 2 Weber State, No. 3 North Dakota, or No. 6 Northern Colorado.