OGDEN, Utah – The five-seed Portland State softball team punched its ticket to the Big Sky semifinals with a pair of wins in the opening day of the Big Sky Tournament. The Vikings began the day with a 4-0 victory over No. 4 Northern Colorado and capped off the afternoon with a 2-1 victory over top-seeded Weber State.
The Vikings all-time tournament record improved to 7-5 while Meadow McWhorter and her squad moved to 13-24 on the season.
The Vikings turned to Olivia Grey to pilot the defense in back-to-back contests. The redshirt freshman stepped up to the task with a pair of stellar performances. The Woodland, Wash. native proved why she is as hot as anyone in the nation right now, throwing two complete games (14 innings) giving up just a single run and six hits over two games. Grey held her opponents to a .127 batting average and walked just one batter.
Entering the tournament with the 16th best batting average in the country and the best in the Big Sky, the Vikings were as solid as ever at the plate against the Bears combining for 14 hits in the contest.
Paetynn Lopez set the tone in game one with an RBI triple to score Maddie Thompson to put the Viks up 1-0. PSU tacked on another in the second off a Marissa Bruno sacrifice fly en route to a 2-0 advantage.
With Grey paving the way, the Vikings held on to their two-run lead before Tayler Gunesch and Ariana Abalos added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
Grey retired three-straight batters in the final frame to lock in her fourth shutout over five appearances and clinch the 4-0 win.
Rolling into game two with momentum on their side, the Vikings used a two-RBI triple from Gunesch in the top of the third to take a 2-0 lead over Weber State. The Wildcats were unable to get on the board until the bottom of the fourth when they pushed one across to cut the lead to 2-1.
Hanging on to a one-run advantage, Grey showed what she's made of in the final three innings of the day. Her arm showed no signs of weakness as she closed out her 14-inning affair without allowing a single hit. A pumped-up Viking team closed the door in the final inning to clinch a spot in the semifinals with a 2-1 victory over the regular season champions.
The Vikings offense combined for 21 hits on the day. Alexa Cepeda led the way against the Bears with three hits while Rachel Menlove knocked a team-best two hits in game two.
Portland State will take on two-seed Southern Utah tomorrow at 1:30 PM PT. The winner will advance to the Big Sky Championship on Saturday.
