TOLEDO, OH - Game one's first pitch was delayed two hours due to rain, but Toledo's softball team scored three quick runs in the first inning and held on for a 3-2 win over Northern Illinois Friday at Scott Park. The Rockets rallied late but dropped the nightcap, 8-6, in 10 innings.

Hannah Rockhold performed yeoman's work on the rubber for Toledo, pitching complete games in both ends of the doubleheader and yielding six earned runs in 17 innings of work. Erinn Wright had three hits in the twinbill and Kate Ricchio scored three times while swiping four bags in game two.

After scoring just five runs in their last four games, UT jumped on Northern Illinois ace Morgan Bittner in the bottom of the first inning in game one. Ricchio walked, and back-to-back singles by Sam Toy and Wright loaded the bases. Jillian Spink followed with an RBI grounder, and consecutive RBI hits from Brooke Gates and Lacey LeVier staked UT to the 3-0 lead.

Rockhold settled into a groove early and was only touched up by a pair of solo home runs, one in the second and one in the fourth. She was aided in the fourth by a nifty defensive play, as the Rockets doubled off NIU's Ashley Cann on a flyball to left, with the relay throw just beating her back to the bag at first.

The senior right-hander also induced another double play in the sixth and worked out of a bit of trouble in the seventh. Alex Wulbecker reached on an error to lead off the inning and went to second on a sacrifice. But Rockhold closed out the game with a strikeout and a weak flyout to Ricchio in center for the victory.

Wright had two of Toledo's six hits in the first game, though UT had just two baseknocks after the first inning. But Rockhold allowed just three hits herself, fanning five and walking two to help snap UT's five-game losing skid.

Much like the first game, game two was a nip-and-tuck affair between the two MAC West Division foes. This time, it was Northern Illinois' turn to strike first in the opening frame with three tallies, as a UT error helped pave the way for two of those runs to score.

The Rockets, though, clawed their way back. Spink doubled to the wall in right-center to leadoff the second, and Gates followed with a liner down the right field line to score Spink. Later in the frame, Mica Sanchez lifted a sacrifice fly to right that scored Gates and narrowed the Huskie lead to 3-2.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the fifth when Ricchio manufactured a run. The junior centerfielder reached on a fielder's choice, then stole second and third during Toy's at bat. She came in to score on Toy's infield single which knotted the game at three.

Northern Illinois seemed to take control of the game in the seventh, re-gaining the lead on a two-out walk with the bases loaded. A two-run single up the middle plated two more runs and put the Huskies in front, 6-3.

But the Rockets, with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" playing throughout the park, refused to yield. Sanchez reached on an error and Lindsey Tobias was hit by a pitch to put the first two runners on. Both advanced on Melissa Rons' groundout, and Ricchio blasted a triple to straightaway center to score the duo and bring Toledo to within a run at 6-5.

Toy followed with a flyout to shallow center field, and Ricchio did not attempt to tag up. Wright stepped into the box with two down and ripped a single in the hole between short and second base to score Ricchio and tie the game again at six.

Neither team could generate any offense in the eighth or ninth innings, and the Huskies finally broke through for good in the tenth, plating two unearned runs with two outs.

Rockhold tallied five more strikeouts in game two to give her 323 for her career, which moves her past Kristy Kassotis for fifth on the school's all-time list (317, 1997-2001). She's started 20 games this season and gone the distance in 12 of them, and her 118 career appearances place her fifth on the all-time list as well.

After today's doubleheader, the Rockets stand at 8-27 overall, 2-6 in the MAC. UT plays host to Western Michigan at 2 p.m. Saturday at Scott Park, and fans are encouraged to make donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation as part of the Breast Cancer Awareness day.

Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu