Rockets Fall to Kentucky in NCAA First Round
Friday's Scoreboard
Toledo 2, Kentucky 7
Kent State 0, Liberty 4
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Toledo 2, Kentucky 7
Box Score
Lexington, Ky. - The Toledo softball team opened the NCAA Lexington Regional today with a 7-2 loss to Kentucky.
Toledo took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on five consecutive singles, but the Wildcats countered with four runs in the bottom of the first and added three more in the fifth to clinch the victory.
Toledo's eight hits in the contest matched Kentucky's, but the Rockets were not able to get any timely hits after the first inning. Sophomore Erin Hunt took the loss, pitching well for much of the game despite the final score as she struck out four batters on the day.
"The better team came out on top but we're proud that we showed that we can we play with this type of team," head coach Joe Abraham said. "Because of the way we played in the MAC tournament last week we were confident throughout this whole game, even going into the seventh inning."
The Wildcats finished the regular-season ranked 16th in the NCAA RPI with a 34-22 overall record and 14-10 record in the SEC. Despite being a powerhouse, Abraham and the Rockets weren't phased coming into the game.
"In that first inning we weren't the least bit intimidated so it didn't surprise me that we came out with two runs in the first," Abraham said. "Our girls can flat out rake. I'm surprised we didn't get more, frankly."
Toledo saw eight of nine batters record a hit, and today's runs were brought in from sophomore Bekah Yenrick and junior Morgan Paaverud.
The Rockets' next game is tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. where they'll face Illinois in an elimination game. The winner of the that contest will play the loser of the Kentucky-Virginia Tech game, which will be played at noon tomorrow.
Kent State 0, Liberty 4
Box Score
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Kent State (28-25) fell to the host Liberty (39-20) 4-0 in the winner's bracket final in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) on Friday evening.
The Flames scored twice in the first inning and twice more in the sixth and controlled the KSU bats the entire game.
Maria Cegledy reached base twice with a walk and a single and also recorded her fifth outfield assist of the year.
Bailey Brownfield set a new school record playing in her 218th career game and also moved into sole possession of second place in career history with 206 hits.
Kent State is back in action on Saturday, May 18th at 10 a.m. against either George Washington or Marshall in the elimination bracket final.
