LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Illinois softball team opened play at the 2019 NCAA Lexington Regional, suffering a 6-2 setback to No. 22 Virginia Tech on a sunny Friday (May 17) afternoon at John Cropp Stadium.
The Illini, who move to 32-24 on the season, will now have to battle back from elimination in a win-or-go home game on Saturday (May 18) at 1:30 p.m. CT. The Illini will face the loser of the Kentucky-Toledo contest.
"I thought we had a good game plan and offensively strayed from it just a little bit early in the game, then started to find our stride," said head coach Tyra Perry. "I 100 percent believe that we are a great team, that we deserve to be here and that we had a lot of chances to come out on top in that game. A lot of the reason that we had such a good chance in that game was because of Taylor Edwards and her performance. I thought she really spun the ball and kept us in the game throughout her entire time on the mound. Virginia Tech is a great team, this is just the beginning. We have a chance to fight back tomorrow."
Edwards (5-9) went 5.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits and four walks and struck out three in the outing.
"I wish we would've won today, but knowing that the next game that we play could be our last allows us to put a lot more fight, a lot more heart behind every pitch," said Edwards. "This team is a very close-knit group of girls and we love playing together. Just step on the field knowing it could be our last, I think we will put a lot of special stuff behind each ball that's thrown or each ball that's hit."
After the Hokies (46-9) opened the scoring with an RBI double in the bottom of the second inning, sophomore Katie Wingerter wasted little time in knotting the score at 1-1 with her sixth home run of the season in the top of the third.
VT again took a one-run lead with an RBI sacrifice fly in the fifth, before the Illini came back to tie things at 2-2 in the sixth as Illinois loaded the bases with no outs for senior Veronica Ruelius, who brought in classmate Annie Fleming on a double play ground out.
Heading into the bottom half of the inning, the Hokies put together a four-run rally on a three-run home run and an Illini fielding error to pull ahead for good at 6-2.
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