SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The bats cooled off Sunday as the Vikings dropped a pair of games on the final day of the San Diego Tournament. Portland State fell to Marshall by a score of 7-4 before falling to Cal Poly 7-3.
Marshall took an early lead with three runs in the top of the second in game one. The Herd added another run in the top of the fourth off starting pitcher
Haley Schimmel before the Vikings were able to get on the board.
Marissa Bruno led off the bottom of the third by reaching on a fielding error.
Darian Lindsey doubled to move two runners into scoring position.
Kaela Morrow dropped down a bunt and was thrown out at first. On the play Bruno came in to score when the second baseman, who was covering first, threw the ball away. Two batters later,
Alexxis Ponce singled through the left side to bring in Lindsey to make it a 3-2 game.
Marshall added three more runs in the top of the fifth off
Serafine Parrish, who came on in relief of Schimmel in the third, to make it 7-2.
The Vikings added two runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by Lindsey and an RBI groundout from Ponce to pull within three. The Vikings had a pair of runners on in the seventh but hit into a game-ending double-play.
Lindsey went 2-for-2 in the game with a pair of doubles. She also walked and was hit by a pitch in her other two at bats.
Schimmel was tabbed with the loss after allowing four earned runs on three hits over 2 1/3 innings pitched.
Portland State struggled to get anything going at the plate in game two of the day against Cal Poly. The Vikings scratched out just three base runners over the first five innings as the Mustangs built a 7-0 lead with five runs in the second and two more in the fourth.
The Vikings finally got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the sixth but it was not enough to mount a comeback and they fell 7-3.
Katie Schroder picked up the loss after allowing seven runs, four earned, on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings pitched.
Portland State will hit the road again next weekend for five games at the DeMarini Invitational hosted by Stanford University Feb. 15-17.
