Rocket softball team prepares to open NCAA Regionals against Kentucky

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The Toledo softball team (29-26) will face No. 14 seed Kentucky (33-22) at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 17, in Lexington, Ky., in first-round regional action of the 2019 NCAA Softball Championships.

The game from John Cropp Stadium will be carried on ESPN3.

The Rockets are coming off a weekend in which they won the first Mid-American Conference Tournament title in program history. Toledo won six games in the tournament as the No. 7 seed, including a five-game tear in the loser’s bracket, taking down No. 4 Northern Illinois, No. 2 Kent State, No. 1 Miami and No. 3 Ohio.

Toledo most recently won the MAC regular-season title in 1992, but this was the first MAC Tournament crown for the program.

The winner of the Toledo-Kentucky game will play the winner of the Illinois-Virginia Tech game Saturday, May 18, at noon. The first-round losers will meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

The champion will be determined by one or two games Sunday, May 19.

The NCAA Regionals are played in a double-elimination format, meaning it takes two losses to be eliminated from the tournament.

Go to the NCAA website to see the full tournament bracket.