TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo softball team was victorious in two games over I-75 rival Bowling Green on Saturday to sweep the season series. The Rockets defeated the Falcons by scores of 5-4 and 5-1 to retain first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division with a 9-1 record. The Midnight Blue & Gold is now 25-13 overall, while BGSU drops to an even 18-18 overall, 1-8 in league play.

Toledo 5, Bowling Green 4
The Rockets rallied from a 4-1 deficit to score four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and complete the come-from-behind win. Toledo led 1-0, but a Bowling Green grand slam gave the Falcons a 4-1 edge late. UT sent nine batters to the plate in the sixth to regain the lead for good and take the win.

Freshman Brittney Davis and senior Ashley Rausch each delivered two-run singles to lead the Rockets. Freshman Kylie Norwood was the lone Rocket to record a multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance. Sophomore Leah Allison tossed 1.1 scoreless innings to earn her first win of the season in the circle.  

How it Happened

• Junior starting pitcher Kailey Minarchick started off strong and blanked the Falcons for the first four innings. The Rockets were kept off the board themselves until the bottom of the fourth. A long fly ball to left field by junior Kaitlyn Bergman was dropped, allowing freshman Ami Ill to score all the way from first.
• A walk, a single and an intentional walk loaded the bases for Bowling Green in the next half inning. The Falcons needed to capitalize on the inning and did with Kali Holcomb's grand slam.
• The Rockets' rally in the sixth started with a lead-off bunt single by junior Megan Choate. Bergman walked and Norwood singled to load the bases. Davis then dropped in a base hit to shallow left field to bring in Choate and sophomore pinch-runner Alissa Noble. Freshman Bailey Curry walked for the fourth time in the game, the third-straight time on four pitches, to fill the bags with Rockets. Rausch made the Falcons pay with a seeing-eye single through the left side to put Toledo ahead 5-4.
• Junior Heather Webb came on in relief to retire three of four batters in the seventh to record her first save of the year.

Toledo 5, Bowling Green 1
Toledo's late-game dramatics were not necessary in the second game of the doubleheader as the Rockets led wire-to-wire for the win.

Senior Sam Showalter sparked the offense with two hits, including a three-run home run to get the offense rolling. Freshman Bailey Curry finally saw a pitch to hit and crushed her 11th home run of the season and her second of the weekend series.

Junior Heather Webb went the distance in the circle to record her 12th win of the campaign. Webb allowed one run on six hits and two walks while striking out six.

How it Happened

• Junior Megan Choate reached on a fielder's choice and junior Kaitlyn Bergman walked to put a pair of runners aboard. Showalter wasted no time in her at-bat as she launched the first pitch over the center-field fence. Showalter's first home run of the season put Toledo up 3-0 in the second inning.
• The Rockets tacked on two more in the bottom of the third. Freshman Kylie Norwood singled down the left-field line and trotted the bases on Curry's two-run blast. Curry is now just two home runs shy of Rhonda King's single-season record of 13 home runs. Curry's next big fly would pull her even with Chandler Rice's 2017 mark of 12 HRs.
• Webb set down six-straight batters in the third and fourth innings, but ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth. A lead-off double and a two-out single plated the lone run of the contest for Bowling Green.
• Webb worked around a lead-off double in the sixth and a one-out single in the seventh to close out the game and the series on a high note.

The Rockets travel to Eastern Michigan for a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday, April 11. Toledo will be the home team in one of the two games as a makeup for a cancellation earlier in the season.