HILLSBORO, Ore. – After playing their first 18 games on the road, the Portland State softball team opened its home slate but it was not the home coming they were looking for. The Vikings dropped a pair of games to the Ohio State Buckeyes Tuesday afternoon at the Gordon Faber Recreation complex. 
 
Portland State (8-12 overall) hit under .200 for the doubleheader and tallied just 10 hits over the two games. Jessica Flanagan went 2-for-4 in the first game, while Rachel Menlove combined to go 2-for-7 over the two games with a run scored and a run batted in. 
 
Sala Pedebone gave the Vikings their biggest hit of either game, a two-run home run in the opening game of the doubleheader. 
 
Ohio State (13-6) plated four runs in the top of the third inning in game one after back-to-back home runs off PSU starting pitcher Katie Schroeder. Portland State broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom half thanks to Pedebone's two-run home run, her third of the season. 
 
The Buckeyes added two more in the fifth on a two-run home run before adding a solo home run in the top of the sixth, which forced Schroeder from the game. Schroeder picked up the loss after allowing seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits. She walked one and struck out one. 
 
Serafine Parrish came in and got the Vikings out of the inning with no more damage done. 
 
Kaela Morrow led off the bottom of the sixth by reaching on an error. After moving to second on a wild pitch, Morrow came in to score on a double from Menlove. After the Vikings loaded the bases in with one out, Darian Lindsey, in her final at bat of the game, grounded into a fielder's choice but was able to beat the would-be double play at first to allow Menlove to score to make it a 7-4 game. 
 
Lindsey came into the game riding a 17-game hitting streak, but that come to an end Tuesday after going 0-for-4 against the Buckeyes.  
 
Ohio State added a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to make it an 8-4 game, which would be the final margin. 
 
The Buckeyes plated four runs in the top of the first in game two off starter Haley Schimmel. After struggling to find her grove in the first, Schimmel found it and threw three-straight scoreless innings, including back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. 
 
Portland State had two runners on in the bottom of the first in game two thanks to a walk and an error but a double play and a groundout ended their scoring chances. The Vikings could get nothing going against OSU starting pitcher Morgan Ray. They worked four walks but did not reach safely via a hit in the game. 
 
Ohio State added three more in the top of the fifth off Schimmel. It could have been worse but Parrish was able to come in and once again stop the bleeding with an inning ending double play. 
 
Parrish threw a scoreless sixth and a perfect seventh to close out the game. She allowed just one hit, over 2 2/3 innings and struck out three in game two. Over the two games, Parrish allowed just one run, on three hits, over 4 2/3 innings. 
 
Schimmel was tabbed with the loss in game two after allowing seven earned on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. She fell to 2-3 with the loss. 
 
The Vikings will be back in action this Saturday and Sunday when they head to Seattle, Wash. for the first-of-two weekend tournament at Seattle University. They will open the weekend with a familiar foe in North Dakota, which left the Big Sky Conference following last season. They will play the Fighting Hawks twice as well as host Seattle twice.