HILLSBORO - The Portland State softball team was edged out by New Mexico State in back-to-back games on Tuesday.
 
The Aggies improved to 15-13 overall following their 3-2 and 5-4 victories while the Vikings dropped to 3-14.
 
New Mexico State struck first in game one, slamming a home run in the top half of the opening frame to give themselves a quick 1-0 lead.
 
Viking catcher Rachel Menlove added to her team-high three home runs in the fourth inning, belting her fourth homer of the season to tie things at one. NMSU added two more to extend their lead to 3-1 before heading into the final frame. The Vikings opened the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back base hits but Marissa Bruno was the only one to bring a run across for PSU as the Aggies escaped the jam with a strikeout to secure a 3-2 win.
 
Bruno led the Vikings' offense after going 3-4 at the plate. Allicitie Frost got the start in the circle, tossing 5 innings before Seraffine Parrish finished things off. Frost faced 21 batters, tallying five strikeouts and giving up five hits. Parrish held the Aggies hitless in her two innings of action.
 
The Vikings set the tone early in game two when Alexa Cepeda put PSU on top 1-0 with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the second. With the Aggies taking a 2-1 lead in the third, Portland State answered with a pair of home runs from Menlove and Bruno to take their biggest lead of the day at 4-2.
 
NMSU was able to cut the Viking lead to one before heading to the seventh, where they used late inning magic to snatch a 5-4 lead. The Vikings were unable to respond in the final frame, dropping another one-run game to end the day.
 
Five different Vikings saw multi-hit games while they out-hit the Aggies 12-9 in game two. Olivia Grey got the start in the circle for Portland State, facing 21 batters and recording nine strikeouts. Katie Schroeder took the loss after taking things over in the sixth inning.
 
The doubleheader wraps up non-conference action as Head Coach Meadow McWhorter and the Vikings look ahead to Big Sky play this weekend against Montana. Portland State will take on the Grizzlies in a doubleheader on Saturday before closing out the series with a single game on Sunday.  All three games will be played at Gordon Faber Field 4 and will mark the Vikings' first conference series since 2019.