ATHENS, Ohio – Toledo scored first and led early in both contests, but the Rockets suffered back-to-back one-run defeats to Ohio on Saturday at the Ohio Softball Field.
 
UT led 7-0 at the end of the fourth inning in Game 1, but the Bobcats evened the score and forced the game into an eighth frame. OU won the contest, 8-7, off an RBI single. Toledo then jumped into a 2-0 lead in the nightcap but eventually fell to Ohio, 3-2.
 
UT has now dropped six one-run contests so far in 2017.
 
Freshman Samantha Golden (3-for-5) and senior Chandler Rice (3-for-8) led the Toledo offensive charge against the Bobcats in the doubleheader. Golden and Rice each notched a double and two runs scored on the day. Sophomore Megan Choate (2-for-5) and junior Kylie Gross (2-for-7) also recorded multi-hit performances.
 
Ohio 8, Toledo 7 (8 inn.)
In the circle for the Rockets, starter Heather Webb allowed six runs on five hits with six walks in 4.2 innings of work. Sophomore Kailey Minarchick (3-7) was saddled with the loss after replacing Webb in the fifth. Minarchick permitted one earned run on six hits with a walk and one strikeout over 2.1 frames of relief.
 
Toledo threatened immediately in the top of the first as Rice doubled to left, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch. UT loaded the bases off three walks and a hit batter forced in a run. The Rockets ended the frame with a 4-0 lead after a single down the right-field line by Choate brought two runners home.
 
UT improved its advantage to 6-0 in the top of the third on the strength of an RBI single to left by Gross and a sacrifice fly by Rice. The Rockets scored their last run of the contest off a passed ball in the fourth.
 
Ohio exploded in the fifth inning for six runs to cut Toledo's advantage to one. The Bobcats knotted the score in the seventh off a two-out RBI single up the middle.
 
After Toledo couldn't put a runner on base in the eighth, the Bobcats clinched the 8-7 victory off a single to left.
 
Ohio 3, Toledo 2
Webb (7-8) suffered the loss in relief in the nightcap after allowing two earned runs off four hits with one walk in 2.2 innings. Freshman starter Leah Allison permitted no runs on three hits in 4.0 innings of work.
 
The contest was scoreless until the fourth inning when Toledo scored on an RBI single by Golden. Senior C Ashley Maynard then reached first with a leadoff single in the fifth. Junior Courtney Heinritz pinch ran for Maynard and advanced to third off a sacrifice bunt by Choate and a single to left by Gross. Rice grounded out to short, which brought Heinritz home and extended Toledo's lead to 2-0.
 
Ohio finally broke through in the sixth frame with a run scored off a sacrifice fly. The Bobcats secured their second win of the day after another two-out RBI single up the middle brought two runners home.