AKRON, Ohio - The Toledo softball team fell behind early and could not mount a comeback in a 10-2 loss to No. 7 seed Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference semifinals on Thursday.

Junior Katie Cozy went 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored, while freshman Kylie Norwood was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

Northern Illinois 10, Toledo 2 (5 innings)
The Rockets found themselves in a 3-0 hole after the top of the first inning and trailed 5-0 after two and half frames. Toledo pulled to within 5-2 with runs in the bottom of the third and the bottom of the fourth, but could get no closer the rest of the way.

On the strength of the grand slam, Northern Illinois put together a five-run fifth inning to close out the run-rule shortened game.

How it Happened

• Northern Illinois jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. A walk and back-to-back singles loaded the bases with one out. A Toledo error and a pair of fielder's choices plated the runs to put the Huskies ahead early.
• NIU manufactured two more runs in the top of the third to take a 5-0 lead. 
• The Rockets got on the board to cut the deficit to 5-1 in the bottom of the inning. Junior Kaitlyn Bergman drew a lead off walk and scored from first on a ringing RBI double off the fence by Norwood.
• Toledo kept chipping away with another tally in the fourth. Junior Katie Cozy started the frame with lead off double and moved to third on a ground out. Junior Megan Choate lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center field cut NIU's lead to three, 5-2.
• The Huskies put the game away with a five-run outburst in the fifth inning. The big swing came in the form of Jenny Van Geertry's two-out grand slam.

The Rockets will play No. 5 seed Western Michigan in an elimination game tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at Firestone Stadium.


Highlights from UT's game against Northern Illinois.