Lexington, Ky. – The Toledo softball team battled to the very end but saw its dream season come to an end on a two-run walk-off home run in a 2-0 loss to Illinois at the NCAA Lexington Regional today. 

Sophomore Erin Hunt pitched a brilliant game, shutting down the Illini until Kiana Sherlund belted a 2-0 pitch just over the left-field wall with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. The loss ended the season and the Cinderella story for Toledo (29-28), which made its first appearance in the NCAA Championships since 1992 after winning the MAC Tournament as a No. 7 seed last weekend. With the win, Illinois advances to an elimination game vs. Virginia Tech later today. The winner of that game will face No. 14 seed Kentucky on Sunday.

"We just talked in the locker room about how proud we are of this team and how far they've come," said head coach Joe Abraham. "Once again, this team showed they can play with anybody, including the top Power Five teams in the country. We were right there in the seventh inning and Erin was dealing. Illinois had to earn everything, and while it stinks to lose you can live with it. Erin is upset, but she was playing in Division II last year and now she's shutting out Illinois and holding down Kentucky fairly well."

For nearly the entire game, Hunt had Illinois off balance, striking out six and forcing the Illini hitters to swing at tough pitches. She worked out of jams in the third, fourth and sixth but Illinois never really hit her hard until Sherlund's line-drive homer.

"I'm living every little girl's dream," said Hunt. "I don't take anything for granted. Every pitch, I'm happy to be here, lucky to be here. As Coach Joe said, I came from D-II and never thought I'd be on this stage. I looked at D-I schools, but no one ever bit. Coach Joe was actually the only coach who did and without him I wouldn't be playing college softball. I'm just taking it all in and enjoying the experience." 

Toledo had its best chances to score in the third and fourth innings when it put two runners on each time, but the Rockets were never able to get the hit they needed to get on the scoreboard.

Despite ending the season with a tough loss, Abraham said an experience like this will be one he and his team will remember for the rest of their lives.
 
"It's already sunk in for me," Abraham said. "I couldn't be more proud of this team. As it sinks in for them, it's going to be pretty cool thing to look back on in the upcoming months and years." 
 
How it happened: 

• The game was a true pitchers' duel as neither team scored until the final play of the game.
• Toledo stranded two runners in the third and fourth innings but could not get the two-out hit it needed.
• Illinois put runners on second and third on a single and an error in the third, but Hunt got the strikeout on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.
• Illinois led off the fourth with a double down the left-field line that was lost in the sun by Samantha Golden. Hunt mowed down the next three batters to get out of trouble, including a huge strikeout with one out and a runner on third.
• Katie Cozy doubled with two outs in the fifth but the inning ended when Kaitlyn Bergman struck out.
• Hunt walked the first two batters in the sixth but got out of the jam with three straight pop-ups to the circle.
• Toledo got one runner on with a walk to Kylie Norwood in the top of the seventh but could not advance her.
• With two outs and a runner on first, Kiana Sherlund hit a 2-0 pitch just over the left-field wall to win it for Illinois.

Head Coach Joe Abraham post-game.