HILLSBORO – The Portland State softball team completed its first Big Sky series sweep of the season scoring a season-high fourteen runs to down Sacramento State 14-3 on Saturday at Gordon Faber Recreation Complex.

The Vikings improved to 10-22 (7-8 BSC) on the year following three victories this weekend while the Hornets fell to 12-21 (6-6 BSC) on the year.

With a chip on their shoulder, the Hornets came out swinging in the opening inning using a two-run home run to jump out to an early lead. Stringing together a pair of hits in the second inning brought one more across as the Hornets held a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.

Emily Johansen tied the game for PSU in the bottom half of the second with a three-run home run to light a fire under the Viking offense. Mariah Rodriguez, Ariana Abalos, and Alexa Cepeda knocked a trio of hits to load the bases for Marissa Bruno who sent a single through the left side to give Portland State a grab the lead at 4-3. Olivia Dean came through with the sixth-straight hit of the inning to score Cepeda which Rachel Menlove followed, belting a three-run bomb to cap off the nine-run inning. Putting together another big inning in the third, the Vikings extended their lead to 11 following RBI base hits from Dean, Menlove, and Paetynn Lopez.

Senior Haley Schimmel finished things off in the circle in the fifth to clinch the 14-3 run-rule victory. Schimmel was the third pitcher of the day for the Vikings after Marisol Gaona replaced starter Bailey Rose at the beginning of the third inning. Gaona earned her third victory of the season to close out the series.

Nine different Vikings crossed home plate in the contest, while the same nine each added at least one hit to the Viking's total (14). Abalos led the offense with a season-best three hits, while Menlove recorded five RBI on the day.

UP NEXT:
The Vikings will look to extend their win streak into next weekend as they head to Ogden, Utah to close out the regular season schedule in a series against Weber State.