LEXINGTON, Kent. — The University of Toledo softball team lost its NCAA tournament opener to No. 14 Kentucky 7-2 on Friday afternoon at John Cropp Stadium.
The Rockets will face Illinois on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. after the Illini fell to Virginia Tech in the earlier game.
In its first NCAA tournament since 1992, Toledo came out swinging with five straight hits with two outs in the first inning, scoring two runs with Bekah Yenrich and Morgan Paaverud hitting RBI singles.
Kentucky got four runs, however, in the bottom half of the inning with the big blow coming on a 2-RBI double from SEC player of the year Abbey Cheek.