SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Portland State softball team evened its series in the Gaucho Classic, splitting on day two of the tournament with an 8-5 loss to Bradley before defeating St. Peter's 6-2 at the Campus Diamond on Saturday.
The Vikings improve to 5-14 on the season and 2-2 in the Classic.
Marissa Bruno led with five hits on the day as five Vikings collected multi-hit games while Serafine Parrish pitched a complete game in her start against St. Peters.
GAME ONE: Bradley 8, Portland State 5
The Vikings scored early in the first inning as
Tayler Gunesch led off with a triple to center field. She came around to score as Bruno hit into a groundout to score the run and give PSU a 1-0 lead.
The Braves answered in the top of the second inning, loading the bases before a walk brought in the tying run. Bradley scored on a sac-fly following the walk before scoring its third run on a throwing error to take a 3-1 advantage.
Portland State cut into the lead in the third as Gunesch and Bruno singled before Emily Johansen tallied her first RBI of the game with a sac-fly to center field.
Bradley broke away in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs to take a 7-2 lead. After bringing in a run on an RBI single, the Braves hit a two-run single up the middle before scoring the fourth run of the inning on a PSU error.
Olivia Grey started in the circle for the Vikings, throwing four innings of work with five earned runs off of five hits and four strikeouts. Pitching in relief was Haley Schimmel who finished with two runs off of six hits while collecting three strikeouts.
Johansen added two more runs for the Vikings in the fifth, hitting her sixth home run of the year, bringing her season RBI total to 19.
Down 8-4 in the seventh, Gunesch led off with a walk, advancing to third on a single by Bruno before coming around to score as Darian Lindsey reached on a fielder's choice. The Braves finished out the inning with a double play to seal the win.
GAME TWO: Portland State 6, St. Peter's 2
The Vikings scored again in the first inning as Bruno led off with a bunt to the pitcher before advancing to third on bunts by
Grace Hosman and Lindsey. Johansen singled to left field for the first run while
Ashley Doyle singled up the middle to score Lindsey as PSU took an early 2-0 lead.
With one out in the second, Portland State added to its lead scoring three runs, the first coming off a single by Hosman, scoring Bruno who reached after hitting her fifth triple of the season. The Vikings added two more runs as Hosman stole second before Lindsey hit a triple down the right-field line while Alexis Morrison hit an RBI single up the middle to extend PSU's lead to 5-0.
Bruno hit her sixth extra-base hit of the tournament in the third inning, a double to center field to score Riley Casper who walked in her at bat.
The Peacocks scored their first run in the fourth, hitting a triple to right-center before scoring on a fielding error to make it 6-1. They added another run in the fifth, scoring on an RBI double to left field to cut the lead to 6-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Natalie Munson came in to pinch hit for the Vikings, recording her first collegiate hit, a two-out double to the gap. Bruno and Lindsey each recorded three hits in the game while Hosman added two of her own. Six different Vikings recorded an RBI on the day.
Parrish pitched seven innings of work for the Vikings, allowing two runs off of six hits while collecting seven strikeouts to improve her season record to 3-4.
The Vikings close out the Gaucho Classic tomorrow as they face host Santa Barbara for the second time this weekend.
