MUNCIE, IN - Toledo's softball team pushed Ball State to the edge, but could not come through as the Cardinals hit a walkoff homer in the bottom of the seventh to nip the Rockets 13-12 on Sunday.

The Rockets wiped out a 7-2 deficit with two runs in the fifth and eight in the sixth, but the Cardinals answered with four runs of their own in the sixth and the two-run homer to end it.

Erinn Wright went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, while Mica Sanchez and Lindsey Tobias also homered for UT. Wright and Tobias both drove in three as well.

Sanchez's homer in the second tied the score at one and was her third in the past four games. Wright then homered in the third - her second of the season - and brought the Rockets to within a run, 3-2, after the Cardinals scored twice in the second.

Ball State (32-13, 10-4 MAC), the MAC West Division co-leader, seized early control of the contest, though, answering Wright's homer with four more runs in its half of the third to make it a 7-2 ballgame.

The Rockets climbed back into the game with two tallies in the fifth. Ashley Herr walked and stole second, and Wright's single put two runners on for Jillian Spink. The team's top run producer (30 RBI) delivered with a two-run double down the right field line to make it 7-4.

UT's offense then exploded in the sixth, scoring eight runs in an inning for the second time over the weekend. Lacey LeVier doubled, and Tobias' second home run in as many days made it 7-6. But UT wasn't done there. A single, a walk and a fielder's choice loaded the bases, and Wright singled to score two and give the Rockets their first lead of the series.

Sanchez and Brooke Gates followed with RBI hits to extend the lead, Spink scored on an error, and Tobias hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 12-7 in favor of the visitors.

The Cardinals struck right back, though, sending 10 hitters to the plate in their half of the sixth and taking advantage of two Rocket errors and three walks to score four times and make it 12-11. After the Rockets went scoreless in the seventh, Ball State's Amanda Carpenter hit the two-run shot to end it.

The 12 runs matched a season-high for UT, as did the three home runs. Wright's four hits were a career high and the most by a Rocket since McKenna Smith had four hits against Fairfield (March 13).

With the setback, Toledo dropped to 9-32 on the season, 3-11 in the MAC. The Rockets will step out of conference play with a doubleheader Wednesday at Cleveland State.

Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu