PORTLAND –  After earning the second Big Sky Championship in program history, the Portland State softball team will head to Seattle for NCAA Regionals this weekend. The Vikings are one of four teams in the Seattle regional which also includes No. 6 Washington (41-11), No. 20 Michigan (36-6), and Seattle (29-19).

The Regional will take place at Husky Softball Stadium. The Michigan Wolverines will take on Seattle in the opening game of the weekend on Friday at 5:00 PM PT. The Vikings will take the field at 7:30 PM PT to face the Huskies in the second game of the day on Friday.

The Vikings finished the regular season 11-24 overall and 8-10 in conference play. With a 4-0 showing in Ogden, Utah last weekend, the Vikings will enter Friday with a 15-24 record, after making Big Sky history as the first-ever No. 5 seed to win the title. Portland State is as hot as anyone in the nation at the moment, having won ten of its last 13 games.

LIVE GAME COVERAGE

Friday's matchup between Michigan and Seattle will air on ESPN 2. The Vikings' opening game against the Huskies will show on ESPN 3. Portland State will be providing an audio stream for all of its games this weekend. The link can be found via goviks.com

Game Links vs. Washington 

Live Stats 
ESPN 3  
PSU Audio Stream  

VIKINGS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Portland State will make its first NCAA Regional appearance this weekend since 2013. This will be the sixth division I appearance in program history as the Vikings previously made it in '06, '09, '12, and '13. PSU is 2-10 all-time in NCAA Division I postseason play. Portland State has faced the Huskies twice in NCAA Regional action (2011 and 2013), falling in both games. 

This weekend marks PSU's fourth Seattle Regional in program history, the most recent one occurring in 2013. 

ALL-TIME RECORDS AGAINST OPPONENTS

Washington holds a 43-1 series lead over PSU and is 2-0 against the Vikings in 2021.Michigan leads the all-time series 1-0 after defeating the Vikings in 1999. Portland State leads the all-time series against Seattle 27-13 but are 0-2 against the Redhawks this season. 

BIG SKY CHAMPIONS

Portland State was stellar through four games at the Big Sky tournament last weekend. En route to the program's second Championship, the five seed Vikings defeated No. 4 Northern Colorado and No. 1 Weber State before earning a pair of victories over No. 2 Southern Utah to clinch the title. Through four games, the Vikings tallied 42 hits for a team average of .333. The defense suffered just three errors while allowing just seven runs over the three-day affair. Olivia Grey earned three of the four wins in the circle after starting all four games. Marisol Gaona earned the other win for PSU as she was the only other Viking pitcher to make an appearance over the weekend.

The Vikings landed four on the all-tournament team following the Championship game. Grey was named Most Valuable Player while Paetynn Lopez, Emily Johansen, and Rachel Menlove also notched all-tournament honors.  

ALL-BIG SKY SELECTIONS

First Team - Marissa Bruno (RS Senior, RF) - First time of her career 
Second Team - Tayler Gunesch (RS Senior, CF) - Second time of her career
Second Team - Rachel Menlove (Senior, C) - Third time of her career 
Honorable Mention - Olivia Dean (Junior, SS) - First time of her career
Honorable Mention - Olivia Grey (RS Freshman, P) - First time of her career
Honorable Mention - Emily Johansen (RS Freshman, 1B) - First time of her career
Honorable Mention - Maddie Thompson (Freshman, 2B) - First time of her career
Honorable Mention - Paetynn Lopez (Freshman, DH) - First time of her career

RANKED OPPONENTS

Going into the 2021 season, the Vikings faced one of the toughest schedules in the country. Over the course of their first 13 games, Meadow McWhorter and her team faced eight Top 25 opponents. Dropping all eight of those contests, the Vikings began their season with a 1-12 record.

ONE RUN BALLGAMES 

Before hitting their stride, the Vikings lost a series of one-run games midway through the season. In 14 games, Portland State dropped six games by a single run, including two extra-inning losses. Entering the weekend the Vikings have played in nine one-run games , only winning three of them.  

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Entering their final home series of the year, the Vikings had won just two of their nine conference matchups. Over those nine games, the Viking's offense was stellar combining for 102 hits and 56 runs against Montana, Northern Colorado, and Southern Utah.

PSU found their groove as they put all th pieces together in their final home series against Sacramento State. The Vikings pitching staff turned a corner against the Hornets, allowing just 12 hits in three games holding them to just a single run. Portland State's offense recorded 34 hits in the series while posting 25 runs en route to the series sweep.

DOMINANT OFFENSE 

• The Vikings rank tenth in the nation with a .329 batting average entering the weekend
• PSU has ten players that are hitting above .300 
• They average nine hits per game and have posted double digit hit totals in eight of their last ten games
• The Vikings shattered a pair of single season program records this season: batting average (.329) and slugging percentage (.443) 

SOLID DEFENSE 

• The Vikings suffered the least amount of errors in the Big Sky (35)
• They enter the weekend with a .965 fielding percentage
• The Vikings played errorless defense in two different Big Sky series 
• Portland State went five-straight games without recording an error earlier this season
• They have recorded zero errors in six of their last seven games

BRUNO LEAVING HER MARK

Marissa Bruno became the Vikings' all-time career triples leader with 12 triples over her five-year career. In addition, Bruno possesses the Vikings' top career stolen base total (D1 era) with 41 steals, including 19 this season. 

Bruno finished the regular season with a .429 average and broke the single-season record (D1 era) for batting average while entering the conference tournament as the 42nd-best hitter in the country. The redshirt senior also finished conference play with a 1.000 fielding percentage.

AS CLUTCH AS THEY COME

Freshman Paetynn Lopez first made a name for herself when she belted a pinch-hit grand slam against Idaho State to help guide the Vikings to an 8-4 win on April 17. Since then, Lopez has had ice in her veins during high-pressure situations. In the Vikings 6-5 extra-inning win over Southern Utah in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament, Lopez hit a two out double to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. She later brought in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. 

Lopez is 2-4 with the bases loaded and is hitting .367 with runners on base. The designated hitter has tallied nine RBIs with two outs and ranks second on the team with 24 RBIs despite only having 88 at bats and 25 starts.

GREY IN THE CIRCLE

Olivia Grey has been nothing short of phenomenal for the Vikings in her last nine starts. In those nine starts, Grey has tossed seven complete games, four shutouts, and a pair of one-hitters. Starting all four games for the Vikings, she held her opponents to a .200 batting average at the Big Sky tournament, leading to a 1.47 earned run average and three wins.  
 

SEATTLE REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Friday, May 21

 Game 1 -- #2 seed Michigan vs. #3 seed Seattle, 5 p.m. PDT

 Game 2 -- #1 seed Washington vs. #4 seed Portland State, 7:30 p.m. PDT

Saturday, May 22

 Game 3 -- Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 3 p.m. PDT

 Game 4 -- Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 5:30 p.m. PDT

 Game 5 -- Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 8 p.m. PDT

Sunday, May 23

 Game 6 -- Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 5 p.m. PDT

 Game 7 (if necessary) -- Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, 7:30 p.m. PDT