GREELEY, Colo - The Portland State softball team's hopes of finishing the regular season with a series victory were derailed by Northern Colorado on Friday, as the Bears took both games of the series-opening doubleheader, 6-3 and 6-5 at Gloria Rodriguez Field.

The Vikings fell to 15-24 overall and 6-8 in Big Sky action. UNC improved to .500 on the year as they head into the regular season finale tomorrow at 20-20 and 8-6 in conference play.

The Vikings entered the series 11-1 when holding a lead after the fourth inning. Friday was a different story.

Olivia Dean opened game one with a leadoff triple before Emily Johansen brought her home to give the Vikings their first lead of the afternoon. In the fourth, Trinity Holden and Ellie Babbitt strung together back-to-back RBI to extend the lead to three.

The tide began to turn in the bottom of the fourth when the Bears knotted the game at three. They continued that momentum into the fifth, tacking on two more to go ahead 5-3. After adding one more in the bottom of the sixth, the Bears defense shut down the Viking bats to secure the 6-3 comeback victory.

Freshman right-hander Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung started the series opener for Portland State, holding the Bears scoreless through three. Olivia Grey took things over in the fifth but the loss was given to Nakoa-Chung as she fell to 2-6 on the year. The Vikings were out-hit 10-6 in the contest. Logan Riggenbach and Holden combined for four of the Vikings' six hits, each recording two.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, game two had a similar narrative. The bats got hot in the early going but were ineffective after the fourth. Once again, Johansen opened the scoring for PSU with a two-RBI double in the top of the first. The Vikings used an RBI single from Natalia Martinez and a two-RBI single from Thompson to extend their lead to five. Similarly to the first game, the Bears' bats woke up in the fourth. After a two-run fourth inning and a solo home run in the sixth, the Vikings' lead was down to two as they entered the seventh.

UNC came out swinging in its final at-bat, opening the inning with back-to-back base hits. A triple tied the game at five before the Bears loaded the bases with back-to-back walks. With the bases full and the winning run on third, Allicitie Frost found herself behind in a 3-0 count. The junior battled back to a full count before hurling her sixth strikeout of the evening and securing the second out. One batter later, a Viking error led to UNC's winning run as the Bears clinched the series in walk-off fashion.

The Vikings tallied nine hits in the nightcap, while the Bears recorded 12. Thompson led PSU with a team-high three hits. Despite a solid showing on the rubber, Frost was given the loss as she dropped to 4-6 on the season.

Portland State will return to Gloria Rodriguez Field on Saturday, April 29 for its 40th and final game of the 2023 regular season. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m. PT against the Bears.