OGDEN, Utah - The Southern Utah softball team took their first loss in the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament Friday afternoon, losing 5-6 in nine innings. The Thunderbirds will drop down into the losers bracket and play Montana, who beat Sacramento State in game eight, tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.
Kalena Shepherd went 3-for-4 in the contest with a home run, a double, a single, and two runs scored. Josey White had just one hit in the game, but it was a double that scored three runs to put the T-Birds on top in the fifth inning.
Tyler Denhart threw seven innings in the circle, giving up just three earned runs and only one walk.
The Thunderbirds got on the board first as Shepherd hit a solo shot to right field to open the scoring in the fourth inning. Up until that point, the two teams had combined for just four hits in the game.
Portland State answered right back in the bottom of the fourth however, as they scored two runs on a fielder's choice and a T-Bird error to make it 2-1.
In the fifth inning, the Thunderbirds loaded the bases with one out as Mikelle Magalogo doubled and both Makall Whetten and Dayna Hokanson walked. White came to the plate with two outs and smacked a single to center field that scored all three runs, putting Southern Utah on top 4-2.
The Vikings scored one run in the sixth inning and then down to their last out in the seventh, put together a single and a double to tie the game at 4-4 and send it to extra innings.
The Thunderbirds would cash in a Shepherd leadoff double in the eighth inning, but a solo home run from the Vikings would send the game to the ninth with things tied at 5-5.
The T-Birds would fail to score in the top half of the inning, setting up the walk-off groundout by Portland State that would send Southern Utah to the losers bracket.
The Thunderbirds will need to beat Montana for a chance to play in the championship game where they would take on the Vikings at noon.
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