TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Ball State on Saturday afternoon at Scott Park. The Cardinals posted a 10-2 victory in the opener before downing the Rockets by a 9-5 margin in the nightcap.
Junior Riley Mohr led the way offensively for the Rockets with two hits, including her second collegiate home run, and three RBIs in Game Two. Senior Anna Dixon also collected two hits during the doubleheader.
Freshman Sophia Knight took the loss for the Rockets in the opener, allowing seven hits and six runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings. The Cardinals' Angelina Russo earned the victory by yielding just three hits and two runs in a complete-game effort.
Sophomore Annika Johnson was saddled with the defeat in Game Two. She allowed six runs (two earned) and four hits in 2.1 innings. Deborah Jones threw all seven innings for Ball State in the circle to pick up the win.
"Today was disappointing," head coach Joe Abraham said. "Just when it looked like we're putting it together, we go back to the walks, errors, lack of clutch hitting and pitchers not hitting spots and paying the price. Sophia Knight is battling so hard, but we're just being forced to use her too much and teams are getting too many looks at her.
"We will go right back out and battle Central Michigan this week and keep fighting to win one of these series."
Toledo is back in action on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 19-20 when it travels to Mount Pleasant, Mich. to face Central Michigan.
HOW IT HAPPENED
GAME ONE – Ball State 10, Toledo 2
- Ball State plated three runs in the first despite registering just one hit. The Cardinals took advantage of two walks, an error and a hit batter to take the early lead.
- Toledo answered with a pair of runs in the second on senior Aleah Marra's run-scoring groundout and sophomore Arika Reed's RBI single.
- The Cardinals tacked on single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to extend their lead to 6-2. Haley Wynn delivered a sac. fly in the fourth, Jazmyne Armendariz doubled in a run in the fifth and a passed ball accounted for BSU's run in the sixth.
- Wynn's three-run homer in the seventh highlighted a four-run seventh that accounted for the final margin of victory.
GAME TWO – Ball State 9, Toledo 5
- BSU's Samantha-Jo Mata opened the game's scoring with an RBI double to right in the first inning.
- Toledo responded in the bottom of the frame with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. Sophomore Lauren Erickson's RBI double evened the score with the go-ahead run coming across on a Cardinal error.
- Ball State erupted for seven runs in the third with Kaitlyn Mathews getting things started with a leadoff homer.
- Junior Riley Mohr brought the Rockets within 8-5 with a two-run homer, a career first, to right center in the third and an RBI double to left in the fifth.
- The Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh on Emma Richards' RBI double to right-center.