LEESBURG, Fla. — Florida Vik found bitten by gopher, out-racing bulldog. Such may be the "Florida Man"-style headline that would describe the Portland State softball team's day Saturday at The Spring Games tournament at Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex.
 
The Vikings found themselves on the wrong side of a pitching gem in their first game of the day, losing 8-1 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers out of the Big Ten Conference. They bounced back with a 6-4 win in extra innings against the Butler Bulldogs, leaving them 1-1 on the day and 2-2 on the season.
 
Game 1: Minnesota 8, Portland State 1
Minnesota pitcher Autumn Pease carried a perfect game into the bottom of the sixth inning until Alexa Cepeda reached on an error with two outs. That took the remaining drama out of the game, after Minnesota went up 6-0 with five runs in the top half of the inning.
 
The Golden Gophers (3-1) tacked on two more in the top of the seven, while the Vikings pushed their lone run across in the bottom half of the inning off back-to-back doubles from Emily Johansen and Logan Riggenbach.
 
The Vikings stayed within reach early in the game thanks to working out of multiple jams. Freshman pitcher Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung showed composure in her first career start, as she stranded multiple runners in scoring position early. The Golden Gophers left six runners stranded in scoring position through the first five innings, keeping it a 1-0 game going into the final two innings.
 
The Golden Gophers had runners on second and third in the top of the first when Nakoa-Chung got a fly out. She stranded another runner on second in the top of the second before the Golden Gophers broke through for their first run with back-to-back doubles to lead off the top of the third.
 
Minnesota put runners on second and third with only one out in the top of the fifth, but Nakoa-Chung induced a ground out, then a fly out to get out of the jam.
 
The floodgates opened after that, of course, but Nakoa-Chung still equated herself well in her first start.
 
"We are very proud of Ua [Sherreigh] in her first collegiate start," Portland State head coach Meadow McWhorter said afterwards. "She held a very powerful offense to minimal runs for several innings."
 
Game 2: Portland State 6, Butler 4 (8 innings)
Logan Riggenbach, an All-Big Sky first-team selection a year ago, picked up where she left off last season with a two-run home run in her first at bat Friday. Saturday, she repeated another hallmark of her 2022 season, delivering a game-winning RBI single in the top of the eighth inning against Butler.
 
Last season, Riggenbach had two different walk-off home runs within Big Sky play, the first coming against Montana on March 26 while the other coming against Northern Colorado on April 9. Saturday, she got her first game-winning hit of the season, singling in Maddie Thompson to put the Vikings up 5-4 in the top of the eighth. She'd score herself a little later, as Ellie Babbitt brought her around with an RBI single.
 
A three-up, three-down inning for the Viking defense in the bottom of the eighth then closed the door, wiping away the taste of the loss to Minnesota earlier in the day.
 
"This win was gritty – a combo of timely hitting, quality hitting and stellar defense," McWhorter said. "I was extremely proud of this group's determination from start to finish."
 
They opened the game with a hot start, pushing two across in the top of the first. Babbitt and Olivia Dean hit back-to-back RBI singles to plate Emily Johansen and Paetynn Lopez, respectively.
 
Riggenbach brought home another run with an RBI single in the top of the second, plating Alexa Cepeda, after Butler pushed one across in the bottom of the first. Butler scored twice in the bottom of the third to tie it up at 3-all. The teams then traded runs in the fifth inning, leaving it at 4-all.
 
The Vikings got runners in scoring position in the top of the seventh. Shea Garcia and Dean reached second and third, respectively, with two outs, but Butler got out of the jam with a groundout.
 
Dean finished the game 3-of-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Babbitt matched her with three hits, going 3-of-5 with two RBI. Riggenbach finished 2-of-4 with a run scored and two RBI.
 
Allicitie Frost started in the circle for the Vikings, pitching two and a third innings before giving way to Olivia Grey. Grey gave up only one run in five and two-third innings in relief, picking up her second win in as many appearances this season.
 
The Vikings close out The Spring Games with a final game Sunday, when they'll face Michigan at 6 a.m. PT / 9 a.m. ET.