LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 2019 Illinois softball season came to a close on Saturday (May 18) evening, as the Illini fell in an elimination game in the NCAA Lexington Regional to Virginia Tech, 5-1, at John Cropp Stadium.
The Illini wrap up the fourth season under head coach Tyra Perry with a 33-25 overall record and earned a trip to their third NCAA Regional in the last four seasons. With the loss, the careers of nine Illini come to an end as Carly Thomas, Annie Fleming, Veronica Ruelius, Danielle Brochu, Alexis Carrillo, Kiana Sherlund, Emily Oestreich, Taylor Edwards and Stephanie Abello finish their time in the Orange and Blue with 171 victories, five Big Ten Tournament appearances and three trips to the NCAA postseason.
"It was another tough loss to Virginia Tech, who has a very good team," said head coach Tyra Perry. "Again, to kind of to echo what I said in our first game, I really thought we had our chances. Taylor Edwards did a great job to starting us off and Danielle Brochu came in there at the end and did a great job for us as well. We had a great senior class who has shown a lot of leadership throughout our entire season. But in situations like this all you can ask for are opportunities and we had those. So, we talked a lot to our returners about taking the ques that our nine seniors have left us with and expounding on those to make us better and stronger for next season."
"[Head coach Tyra Perry] has been awesome and the whole coaching staff has been amazing," said Fleming on the growth of the program. "The competitiveness that they bring and the expertise, the trust I have in them is something I can't explain. This is just going to keep growing and growing and I cannot wait to come back and watch this team in the next few years."
The Hokies (47-10), who advance to the Lexington Regional final against No. 14 seed Kentucky on Sunday, struck first on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the opening frame, but sophomore Katie Wingerter evened things up at 1-1 in the bottom of the second with an RBI single to left field, scoring freshman Kailee Powell from second base.
VT the broke the tie in the fifth with a three-run frame on a pair of home runs for the 4-1 advantage and then added to the lead with an RBI double in the sixth to go for the 5-1 win.
Edwards (5-10) went four innings for the Illini, giving up four earned runs on five hits and four walks and striking out one in the outing. Classmate Brochu entered in the fifth and allowed just one unearned run on three hits and struck out two in three frames.
Freshman Avrey Steiner led the Illini offensively with a 2-for-3 effort, while Wingerter added a hit and an RBI.
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