LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Portland State softball team dropped both games of Friday's doubleheader at Smith Field, falling 5-1 to LMU before a 7-4 loss to Southern Utah.
The Vikings dropped to 8-14 on the year while LMU improved to 18-9 and Southern Utah moved to 12-15.
Portland State kept its opening game against the Lions within reach for the majority of the contest. After LMU took a 1-0 lead in the second, the Vikings answered in the third. Jacobi Coombs led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Grace Johnson before Nichole Orozco lined a two-out RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 1-1. LMU responded with runs in the fourth and fifth and added an insurance run in the sixth to pull away.
Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung went the distance in the circle, her sixth complete game of the season. The Vikings finished with five hits, getting one apiece from Johnson, Orozco, Jolee Benson, Coombs and Sierra Llamas.
Game two saw Portland State jump out early against Southern Utah. Johnson singled to open the bottom of the first and later scored on an RBI single from Mia Martinez. A pair of passed balls brought home another run to give PSU a 2-0 lead.
After the Thunderbirds cut into the deficit in the second, the Vikings added on in the bottom half when Alison Harris singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Johnson to make it 3-1. Llamas extended the lead in the third, launching a solo home run to left to put Portland State ahead 4-1.
Southern Utah chipped away in the sixth, tying the game at 4-4, before capitalizing on a pair of Viking errors in the seventh to take the lead for good.
The Vikings totaled nine hits in the loss. Johnson, Harris and Llamas each recorded two. Gracie Walters started in the circle, allowing four runs (three earned) over 5.2 innings before Giselle Pantoja took the loss in relief.
Portland State returns to action Saturday to close out the weekend. They'll take on LMU at 10:00am before finishing the tournament against Southern Utah at 12:30pm.
