EAST LANSING, Mich. – Toledo rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning and then took the lead in extra innings vs. Michigan State in East Lansing on Wednesday, but ultimately fell to the Spartans, 5-4, in 11 innings.
The Rockets trailed 3-1 but tied the game in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by freshman
Kendra VanderLugt and an RBI single by senior
Bri Robeson. The score remained knotted at 3-3 until seniorÂ
Aubrey Reed hit a leadoff home run in the eighth, her third of the season. MSU tied the game in the bottom of the eighth on a home run of its own, then won it in the 11th with a walk-off single.Â
Freshman
Sophia Knight went the distance for the Rockets, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits. She threw 166 pitches in a season-high 10.2 innings surpassed the second all-time individual game record. She passed Marla Gooding who pitched 10 innings vs. Miami on April 4, 2016. Senior outfielder
Anna Dixon went 2-for-5 with two runs scored to lead the Toledo offense.
"Tonight we looked more like the Toledo softball club we know," head coach
Joe Abraham said. "
Sophia Knight was fantastic all night, our defense played really well, and we had some huge hits.
Bri Robeson coming up with an 0-2 count when
Raelyn Nyren went down, and getting it done was just awesome. You can't be put in a tougher spot than that.
Aubrey Reed hit that huge home run to give us the lead, and we thought we had them.
"We face the best pitchers in the league in our next six games, so we're hoping this game can give us a nice boost of confidence going into those."
Toledo will travel down I-75 to face rival Bowling Green for a three-game series at Meserve Softball Field this Friday and Saturday. First pitch between the Rockets and Falcons is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Friday followed by a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The series can be watched locally on BCSN.
Michigan State 5, Toledo 4
- Michigan State took a 1-0 lead in the first on a leadoff home run by Jessica Mabrey.
- Toledo tied the game on a bases loaded walk by Sidney Griffith in the top of the second but then left three runners stranded.
- MSU scored runs in the second and fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
- Toledo tied the game in the sixth on a sac fly by Kendra VanderLugt and an RBI single by Bri Robeson.
- The Rockets took the lead in the eighth on a homer by Aubrey Reed, but MSU's Caitie Ladd tied it up with round-tripper in the bottom half of the inning.
- Â MSU's Alexis Barroso ended the game in the 11th with a walk-off single.
