PORTLAND – The fifth-seeded Portland State softball team will head to Ogden, Utah for its fifth Big Sky Tournament appearance in program history on Thursday. The Vikings earned a berth to the conference tournament after finding a rhythm at the tail end of their schedule, winning five of the last seven games to close out the regular season at 11-24 overall and 8-10 in Big Sky action. 

Portland State will open the double-elimination tournament by taking on No. 4 Northern Colorado on Thursday (8:30 am PT). The winner will face the top-seeded Weber State Wildcats later that afternoon.

No. 2 seed Southern Utah, No. 3 Sacramento State, and six seed Montana are also vying for the title in Ogden. The Championship game will take place on Saturday, May 15. The Tournament Champion will earn the Big Sky's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

All games will be broadcasted live on Watch Big Sky. 

 SEASON QUICK HITS

• Final Record: 11-24 overall (.314), 8-10 BSC
• PSU is 7-6 when playing at home, 4-11 on the road and 0-7 in neutral-site contests
• PSU faced eight top-25 teams in its opening 13 games of the season
• The Vikings clinched its only two Big Sky series wins against Idaho State (2-1) and Sacramento State (3-0) 
• PSU posted its longest win streak of the season, after winning five-straight against Idaho State, Sacramento State, and Weber State
• After beginning conference play 1-5, the Vikings turned their season around, winning six of their last nine games during the regular season.

OFFENSIVE DOMINATION

This Spring, the Vikings smashed a pair of single-season program records at the plate, posting a team batting average of .328 and a combined slugging percentage of .439 to mark their spot in the record book

Averaging nine hits per game Portland State has knocked ten or more in its last five contests. The Vikings saw double-digit hits in 14 of their 18 Conference games.

The Viking lineup features ten players hitting above .300 against Big Sky competition. Marissa Bruno (.429), Olivia Dean (.376), and Rachel Menlove (.375) are among the top ten averages in the conference.

16TH IN THE COUNTRY

Entering the tournament, the Vikings' team batting average of .328 ranks 16th among all Division I teams.  Bruno's .429 average ranks 42nd in the country.

HITTING STREAKS

Olivia Dean – 11 games
Marissa Bruno – 8 games

BASE THIEVES

Portland State remains the Big Sky leader in stolen bases with 48.

Marissa Bruno (16), Maddie Thompson (15), and Olivia Dean (9) hold the top three stolen base counts in the conference. In 29 of PSU's 35 games, the Vikings have stolen at least one base, averaging 1.37 stolen bags per game.

SCORING EARLY AND OFTEN

The Vikings scored in the opening two innings of more than half of their conference games and were the first to get on the board in eight of their final 12 contests. 

MAKING HER MARK

Redshirt senior Marissa Bruno has been excellent in her 5th year with the Vikings. The right fielder ended the regular season with a .429 batting average including a staggering .493 average in conference play. Her batting average crushed the single-season program record which previously sat at .415.

With a .467 on-base percentage, she ranks second in the conference entering the weekend. Bruno has knocked at least one hit in 30 games this season, including multiple hits in sixteen of those contests. The lefty has struck out just nine times in 126 at-bats.

The final six games of the regular season saw Bruno go 14-for-20 at the plate for a .700 batting average.

Defensively, Bruno has started all 35 games for the Vikings in the outfield and has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage against Big Sky opponents.

SHUTOUT QUEEN

During conference play, redshirt freshman Olivia Grey found her groove in the circle. In her last five starts, the right-hander has tossed four complete games, three of which were shutouts. Grey earned a win in four-straight Big Sky series' to close out the regular season.

She gave up just one hit in each of her last two starts, holding her opponents to a .054 (2-37) batting average in 12 innings of action. During those outings, Grey struck out 11 and walked just one batter. She leads the Big Sky after holding opponents to a .241 batting average heading into the postseason.

ERRORLESS BALL

With the third-best fielding percentage in the conference and the fewest number of errors, Portland State's defense has done a stellar job backing up its pitching staff. The Vikings played error-free defense in ten of their 18 Big Sky games, including a 1.000 fielding percentage in two separate series. 

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

This weekend will be the Vikings' fifth tournament appearance in program history. PSU is 5-5 overall and 2-3 with Meadow McWhorter at the helm. Three of the Vikings' five tournament losses have come against Montana.

Thursday will mark McWhorter and her squad's first postseason contest since 2019. They completed their 2019 campaign going 1-2 at the tournament, falling to both Weber State and Montana.

GAME 1 vs. #4 NORTHERN COLORADO

The Vikings fell 2-1 in their series against Northern Colorado earlier this season. The Bears pulled off a pair of wins in the opening day of the series (6-3 and 7-10) before the Vikings took game three 9-6 in extra-inning fashion to cap off the weekend.

Despite two losses, the Vikings tallied 38 hits and a .378 batting average against the Bears pitching staff. The offense out-performed UNC in nearly every category, as the Bears recorded 32 hits and a .348 average over the two-day affair.

Northern Colorado enters the tournament as the four seed following a 12-25 (8-10 BSC) regular season.

SERIES HISTORY

Thursday will mark the first-ever postseason meeting between the two teams. Portland State will look to add another win to their 22-13 all-time series lead over the Bears.