Tournament Central

TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo softball team travels to Western Kentucky University this weekend for the WKU Hilltopper Classic from Friday, Feb. 23 - Sunday, Feb. 25. The Rockets will take on Indiana State (12:30 p.m.) and the host Hilltoppers (5:30 p.m.) on Friday and battle Wisconsin-Green Bay (10:00 a.m.) in the last of three round robin matchups on Saturday.

The final two games of the weekend will be a semifinal contest on Saturday afternoon and either the championship game or a consolation battle on Sunday to round out the weekend.

Toledo
The Rockets began their season with the first 3-0 start in program history. Wins over Fairleigh Dickinson, Detroit Mercy and Morgan State launched UT into the season, but losses to defending NISC Champion Liberty and Morgan State brought Toledo's record to 3-2 after the opening weekend.

Toledo's pitching staff was stellar and combined for a 1.24 ERA over five games. Junior Kailey Minarchick tossed a one-hit shutout against FDU en route to 12.2 scoreless innings on the weekend. Minarchick was named Mid-American Conference West Division Pitcher of the Week by the conference office for her efforts last week.

Freshmen Bailey Curry and junior Kaitlyn Bergman led the Midnight Blue & Gold offense early in the season. Curry leads the team with a .313 average and five hits, while Bergman launched a home run, drove in a pair of runs and walked three times.

Toledo trails Western Kentucky 0-2 in the all-time series and has yet to play Indiana State or Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Indiana State
The Sycamores opened their 2018 season with a 5-1 mark in the Chattanooga Challenge last weekend. ISU was shutout in its opener to Sacred Heart before rattling off five-straight wins. ISU defeated Chattanooga, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State before getting revenge with a shutout over Sacred Heart and run-ruling Tennesse State, 14-1.

Brooke Mann leads the Sycamores, hitting .474 (9-for-19) with a home run, four doubles and has scored six runs. Rebecca Gibbs provides the power in the ISU lineup with a team-best three home runs. In the circle, Abbey Kruzel has accrued a 2-0 record with a 1.20 ERA in 11.2 innings of work. 

Western Kentucky
The host for this weekend started the year by going 3-1 in the Gardner-Webb Tournament. The Hilltoppers swept two games from Hampton, defeated Youngstown State, but fell by a run to GWU. In the same Chattanooga Challenge as Indiana State, WKU took two from Tennessee State, beat Sacred Heart and defeated Chattanooga, but dropped both contests against Tennessee Tech to enter the weekend at 7-3.

The Hilltoppers' offense has six players who have started all 10 games and are hitting .333 or higher. Leading that group is Jordan Thomas with a .429 clip with five double and five RBIs. Kelsey Aikey was named conference co-pitcher of the week after hurling an extra-inning no-hitter in a 1-0 win over Sacred Heart.

Wisconsin-Green Bay
The Phoenix hold a 1-4 record after a tough opening weekend two weeks ago. Green Bay was shutouts twice by Drake and fell to both Northern Iowa and South Dakota State. UWGB's lone win came over Missouri-Kansas City, 7-6. Like Toledo, the Phoenix was off last weekend.

On the season, Morgan Bihun leads the team hitting .429 (6-for-14), including a home run and a pair of doubles. Chyanne Onstad is also at the .400 mark and currently tops the team with five RBIs. Green Bay pitching has struggled so far this year to the tune of a 8.87 ERA. UWGB has allowed 9.4 runs per game thus far.

Next For UT
After this weekend, Toledo takes its 10-day spring break trip. UT starts with a trip to Knoxville, Tenn. for the Tennessee Invitational before heading west. The Rockets will play double headers at Seattle and Portland State and close out the trip with the Oregon Invitational in Eugene, Ore.