AKRON — The University of Toledo softball team had a tall task in front of them this week at the Mid-American Conference tournament.
The Rockets won seven of 10 games to close out the regular season just to earn the No. 7 seed.
But after making it to championship round Saturday with two wins Friday, the Rockets survived the gauntlet of one game with No. 1 seed Miami and two games with No. 3 seed Ohio, the last team standing in the winner’s bracket.
What’s three more Toledo upsets in a tournament filled with them?
The Rockets capped their historic run by beating the Bobcats 9-2 in the winner-take-all championship game to claim their first MAC tournament championship, becoming the lowest-seeded winner in the tournament’s history.
“We have a bunch of battlers,” first-year Toledo coach Joe Abraham said. “Just one week ago, we were fighting to get into the tournament and I still kind of feel like that is where we are at, and then all the sudden we won it. We were fighting to get in the tournament and that was such a good feeling just to get that and that win over Central Michigan [on May 4] and literally one week later, here we are as MAC champions. It’s beyond belief. I literally can’t believe it.”
Toledo pitcher Erin Hunt, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, turned in a complete-game gem in the final game, allowing two runs in seven innings of work.
The Rockets (29-26) got five runs in the fourth and four in the fifth as Ohio (34-21) committed five errors in the game.
Toledo leadoff hitter Kylie Norwood was 3 for 4 with four RBIs to lead the Rockets on offense. Megan Choate and Aubrey Reed added two hits each.
In the first game against Ohio, the Rockets’ title hopes seemed to be slipping away, but Toledo battled back from a 5-0 deficit with three in the sixth and three more in the seventh for a dramatic 6-5 win.
Kaitlyn Bergman launched a two-run home run and Morgan Paaverud added an RBI single in the sixth. In the seventh, Bergman and Bekah Yenrick had bases-loaded walks before Reed brought home the winning run on a sacrifice fly.
Toledo used four different pitchers in the game, but Hunt (17-11) pitched the final two innings to earn the win.
To start the day, Hunt threw a complete-game shutout in a 5-0 win against the top-seeded RedHawks (35-16).
The Rockets got to Miami freshman starting pitcher Bri Pratt, a Perrysburg grad, early for three runs in her two innings.
Raelyn Nyren provided an early spark with a solo home run in the second, then and Choate added a two-RBI single for an early 3-0 lead.
Bergman then notched a two-run single in the fourth. That was all Hunt and Toledo would need.
Hunt struck out 11 RedHawks on the way to the win.
Toledo won six of its seven games in the tournament, with its only loss coming Thursday to Ohio. The Rockets beat No. 2 seed Kent State twice and No. 4 seed Northern Illinois as they battled back from the loser’s bracket to claim the title.
The Rockets will travel to the Kentucky Regional where they’ll square off with the host Wildcats, who finished the season 33-22 and bowed out in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. The other half of the regional features Virginia Tech (45-9) and Illinois (32-23).
First Published May 12, 2019, 1:58 a.m.
